# 2001 NCAA Division III men's ice hockey tournament

The 2001 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2000–01 season, the 18th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Plattsburgh State defeating RIT in the championship game 6-2. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Rochester, New York.

## 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. No formal seeding was used while quarterfinal matches were arranged so that the road teams would have the shortest possible travel distances.
| East | East | East | East | East | East | West | West | West | West | West | West |
| School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid | School | Conference | Record | Berth Type | Appearance | Last Bid |
| Lebanon Valley | ECAC Northeast | 18–7–2 | Tournament Champion | 1st | Never | Saint John's | MIAC | 15–10–4 | Tournament Champion | 3rd | 1997 |
| Middlebury | NESCAC | 23–2–1 | Tournament Champion | 7th | 2000 | Wisconsin–River Falls | NCHA | 21–8–2 | At-Large | 8th | 1998 |
| New England College | ECAC East | 20–8–0 | Tournament Champion | 2nd | 1984 | Wisconsin–Superior | NCHA | 27–3–1 | Tournament Champion | 9th | 2000 |
| Plattsburgh State | SUNYAC | 25–5–0 | Tournament Champion | 10th | 2000 |
| RIT | ECAC West | 24–0–1 | Tournament Champion | 11th | 2000 |

## Format

The tournament featured three rounds of play. In the Quarterfinals, teams played a two-game series where the first team to reach 3 points was declared a winner (2 points for winning a game, 1 point each for tying). If both teams ended up with 2 points after the first two games a 20-minute mini-game used to determine a winner. Mini-game scores are in italics. Beginning with the Semifinals all games became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game. The teams were seeded according to geographic proximity in the quarterfinals so the visiting team would have the shortest feasible distance to travel.

## Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | National Championship | National Championship | National Championship |
| RIT | RIT | 8 | 10 | - | | | | | | |
| Lebanon Valley | Lebanon Valley | 1 | 2 | - | | | | | | |
| Lebanon Valley | Lebanon Valley | 1 | 2 | - | RIT | RIT | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | Wisconsin–River Falls | Wisconsin–River Falls | 2 | | | |
| Wisconsin–River Falls | Wisconsin–River Falls | 8 | 2 | - | Wisconsin–River Falls | Wisconsin–River Falls | 2 | | | |
| New England College | New England College | 1 | 1 | - | | | | | | |
| New England College | New England College | 1 | 1 | - | | | | RIT | RIT | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | Plattsburgh State | Plattsburgh State | 6 |
| Wisconsin–Superior | Wisconsin–Superior | 5 | 4 | - | | | | | | | Plattsburgh State | Plattsburgh State | 6 |
| Saint John's | Saint John's | 4 | 0 | - | | | |
| Saint John's | Saint John's | 4 | 0 | - | Wisconsin–Superior | Wisconsin–Superior | 3 | Third Place Game | Third Place Game | Third Place Game |
| | | | | | Plattsburgh State | Plattsburgh State | 5 |
| Plattsburgh State | Plattsburgh State | 3 | 5 | - | Plattsburgh State | Plattsburgh State | 5 | Wisconsin–River Falls | Wisconsin–River Falls | 1 |
| Middlebury | Middlebury | 1 | 2 | - | | | | Wisconsin–Superior | Wisconsin–Superior | 3 |
Note: * denotes overtime period(s) Note: Mini-games in italics

## Record by conference

| Conference | # of Bids | Record | Win % | Frozen Four | Championship Game | Champions |
| NCHA | 2 | 5–3–0 | .625 | 2 | - | - |
| SUNYAC | 1 | 4–0–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ECAC West | 1 | 3–1–0 | .750 | 1 | 1 | - |
| NESCAC | 1 | 0–2–0 | .000 | - | - | - |
| ECAC East | 1 | 0–2–0 | .000 | - | - | - |
| ECAC Northeast | 1 | 0–2–0 | .000 | - | - | - |
| MIAC | 1 | 0–2–0 | .000 | - | - | - |