History Of The NCAA College Hockey Tournament
The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship is the competition that decides the very best college men's ice hockey team in Divisions I and III. Since 1999, the semifinals and the finals of the Division I championship have been affectionately known as the Frozen Four. The National Collegiate champion is determined in an elimination tournament which has been in place since 1948. 16 teams showcasing all 5 conferences take part in the tournament and the ground is seeded to ensure the maximum competitiveness.
The listing of teams winning the maximum number of championships is headed by Michigan with nine followed by North Dakota and Denver with 7 each. The Division II Championship was stopped after 1999 due to the lack of schools prepared to sponsor the event. Boston College was the number one seed for the 2012 tournament and the Boston College Eagles have the chance to add a fifth tournament to their 4 wins in 1949, 2001, 2008 and 2010. They had earlier won their 12th Hockey East regular season title, which was also their third straight conference tournament win.
The National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship is one of the leading women's ice hockey tournaments in the United States (another is the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA)) and is sponsored by the NCAA. The winner of the tournament is regarded as the top college women's ice hockey team in the US.
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The NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey has 34 participating colleges and 4 conferences, specifically College Hockey America, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The thirty plus games that a participating team could wind up playing alllow for a demanding and punishing playing timetable. The key impetus for a women's hockey team arises from the law generally known as Title IX, which prohibits discrimination against females in government funded education programs. Consequently, women ice hockey players have entitlement to the exact same terms and advantages as men.
The tournament has existed since the 2000-2001 season and participating teams are from Divisions I and III. Women's ice hockey doesn't need a Division II. The tournament follows an individual elimination format composed of eight teams for Division I and 7 teams for Division III. The semifinals and finals are called the Women's Frozen Four in line with the phrase used by the men's championship. The maximum number of championships continues to be won by Minnesota, then Wisconsin. During the tournament in 2011, Wisconsin defeated Boston University 4-1 in the final.
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