# 2004 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

The 2004 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2003–04 season, the 21st such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Middlebury defeating St. Norbert in the championship game 1-0 in overtime. All First Round and Quarterfinal matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Northfield, 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 | Norwich | ECAC East | 23–3–0 | Tournament Champion | 7th | 2003 | 1 | St. Norbert | NCHA | 25–2–2 | Tournament Champion | 6th | 2003 |
| 2 | Middlebury | NESCAC | 24–3–0 | Tournament Champion | 10th | 2003 | 2 | Wisconsin–River Falls | NCHA | 20–5–4 | At–Large | 10th | 2003 |
| 3 | Plattsburgh State | SUNYAC | 22–4–3 | Tournament Champion | 12th | 2002 | 3 | St. Thomas | MIAC | 17–7–3 | Tournament Champion | 11th | 2002 |
| 4 | Curry | ECAC Northeast | 24–3–1 | At–Large | 1st | Never |
| 5 | Wentworth | ECAC Northeast | 16–8–4 | Tournament Champion | 4th | 2003 |
| 6 | Hobart | ECAC West | 15–7–5 | Tournament Champion | 1st | Never |

## 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 10 | First Round March 10 | First Round March 10 | Quarterfinals March 13 | Quarterfinals March 13 | Quarterfinals March 13 | Semifinals March 19 | Semifinals March 19 | Semifinals March 19 | National Championship March 20 | National Championship March 20 | National Championship March 20 |
| | | | W1 | St. Norbert | 3 | | | | | | |
| W2 | Wisconsin–River Falls | 3* | W2 | Wisconsin–River Falls | 0 | | | | | | |
| W3 | St. Thomas | 2 | | | | W1 | St. Norbert | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | E3 | Plattsburgh State | 1 | | | |
| | | | E3 | Plattsburgh State | 5* | | | | | | |
| | | | E4 | Curry | 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | W1 | St. Norbert | 0 |
| | | | | | | | | | E2 | Middlebury | 1* |
| | | | E2 | Middlebury | 9 | | | | | | |
| | | | E5 | Wentworth | 1 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | E2 | Middlebury | 3** | | | |
| | | | | | | E1 | Norwich | 2 | | | |
| | | | E1 | Norwich | 9 | | | | | | |
| | | | E6 | Hobart | 5 | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

## Record by conference

| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
| NCHA | 2 | 3–2 | .600 | 1 | 1 | - |
| MIAC | 2 | 0–2 | .000 | - | - | - |
| NESCAC | 1 | 3–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ECAC East | 1 | 1–1 | .500 | 1 | - | - |
| SUNYAC | 1 | 1–1 | .500 | 1 | - | - |
| ECAC West | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |
| ECAC Northeast | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | - | - | - |