1999–2000 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey season

27th season of Division III college ice hockey August 2023 March 2025 men iii 1999 250 October 22, 1999–March 18, 2000 Wessman Arena Superior, Wisconsin Norwich Steve Aronson St. Thomas The 1999–2000 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey season began on October 22, 1999 and concluded on March 18, 2000. This was the 27th season of Division III college ice hockey. Conference and rule changes The NCAA began offering automatic bids for conference tournament champions for the first time. Partly due to this development, ECAC East split into two conferences when the NESCAC began sponsoring ice hockey as a sport and its nine existing programs left ECAC East to form the new league. Each team in the ECAC East and NESCAC played one another in one game that counted in their respective conference standings. With the NESCAC now sponsoring ice hockey as a varsity sport, the conference dropped its policy that allowed member schools to play in only one postseason tournament. Member teams could now play in both the conference tournament and the national tournament. Division II With only a handful teams remaining at the Division II level, the NCAA discontinued the Division II Tournament in 1999. Because there was no longer a national tournament, schools that operated varsity ice hockey programs had several options available to them. A D-II program could play in Division I with no penalty, which is what several universities decided to attempt. However, if a school elected against promoting a program, it could continue on as a Division II program and be allowed to be a member of a Division III conference. Any program that played below its school's nominal level would be ineligible for the national tournament. Additionally, any games it played would not be taken into consideration by the selection committee. Despite their unofficial status, five eastern teams chose to continued as Division II programs. After the regular season, they held a separate ECAC Division II Tournament rather than compete in their respective conference tournaments. Minnesota–Crookston joined the MCHA, as a Division II program. While they met conference and NCAA guidelines by not offering scholarships to any players,NCHA Men's History NCHA https://www.nchahockey.org/conference_information/NCHA_MEN September 28, 2019 September 28, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190928213215/https://www.nchahockey.org/conference_information/NCHA_MEN dead the program was still ineligible for postseason play. Regular season Season tournaments Standings Note: Mini-game are not included in final standings 2000 NCAA tournament 2000 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament 3/1/1 QuarterfinalsMarch 10–11 SemifinalsMarch 17 National championshipMarch 18 Third-place game Norwich 4 5 - RIT 1 1 - Wisconsin–Superior 3 4 - Concordia 2 1 - St. Thomas 6 10 - Wentworth 0 3 - Middlebury 1 4 0 Plattsburgh State 1 4 1 Norwich 5* Wisconsin–Superior 4 St. Thomas 7 Plattsburgh State 1 Norwich 2 St. Thomas 1 Wisconsin–Superior 0 Plattsburgh State 2 Note: * denotes overtime period(s) See also 1999–2000 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season References 50em External links NCAA