# 2005 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

The 2005 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2004–05 season, the 22nd such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Middlebury defeating St. Thomas in the championship game 5-0. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Middlebury, Vermont.

## Qualifying teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of seven different conferences with one at-large bid for the best remaining team from each region.
| East | East | East | East | East | East | East | West | West | West | West | West | West | West |
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid | Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid |
| 1 | Manhattanville | ECAC West | 20–4–1 | Tournament Champion | 1st | Never | 1 | St. Norbert | NCHA | 24–2–3 | Tournament Champion | 7th | 2004 |
| 2 | Middlebury | NESCAC | 20–4–3 | Tournament Champion | 11th | 2004 | 2 | Saint John's | MIAC | 23–2–2 | At–Large | 5th | 2003 |
| 3 | Geneseo State | SUNYAC | 18–6–4 | Tournament Champion | 2nd | 1990 | 3 | St. Thomas | MIAC | 17–5–5 | Tournament Champion | 12th | 2004 |
| 4 | Trinity | NESCAC | 20–3–2 | At–Large | 2nd | 2003 |
| 5 | Curry | ECAC Northeast | 19–5–3 | Tournament Champion | 2nd | 2004 |
| 6 | New England College | ECAC East | 17–11–0 | Tournament Champion | 3rd | 2001 |

## Format

The tournament featured four rounds of play. All rounds were Single-game elimination. For the three eastern Quarterfinals the teams were seeded according to their rankings with the top three teams serving as hosts. For the western quarterfinal, the top-ranked team awaited the winner of a play-in game between the lower-ranked teams.

## Tournament bracket

| First Round March 9 | First Round March 9 | First Round March 9 | Quarterfinals March 12 | Quarterfinals March 12 | Quarterfinals March 12 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | Semifinals March 18 | National Championship March 19 | National Championship March 19 | National Championship March 19 |
| | | | W1 | St. Norbert | 2 | | | | | | |
| W2 | Saint John's | 1 | W3 | St. Thomas | 3 | | | | | | |
| W3 | St. Thomas | 4 | | | | W3 | St. Thomas | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | E4 | Trinity | 1 | | | |
| | | | E3 | Geneseo State | 0 | | | | | | |
| | | | E4 | Trinity | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | W3 | St. Thomas | 0 |
| | | | | | | | | | E2 | Middlebury | 5 |
| | | | E2 | Middlebury | 6 | | | | | | |
| | | | E5 | Curry | 0 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | E2 | Middlebury | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | | E6 | New England College | 2 | | | |
| | | | E1 | Manhattanville | 2 | | | | | | |
| | | | E6 | New England College | 4 | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Record by conference

| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
| NESCAC | 2 | 4–1 | .800 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| MIAC | 2 | 3–2 | .600 | 1 | 1 | - |
| ECAC East | 1 | 1–1 | .500 | 1 | - | - |
| NCHA | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |
| SUNYAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |
| ECAC West | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |
| ECAC Northeast | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |