2010 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 2010 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Tournament was a tournament to determine the Division III national champion in women's ice hockey. This was the eleventh time a national championship tournament at the Division III level had been held and was the ninth one sanctioned by the NCAA.
==Format==
Seven teams qualify for the single elimination tournament.  The conference tournament champions of the ECAC East, ECAC West, MIAC, NCHA, and NESCAC received automatic bids to the tournament. Two at-large bids were also selected. The Amherst Lady Jeffs were the top seed, earning a bye to the semifinals. For the first time, the NCAA exercised the rule passed in the 2006-07 season, that the championship shall not be held in the same region more than three times in a period of four consecutive years. Because of three prior eastern Frozen Fours, the semifinal and final rounds were forced to be played in the western region. The first round games were held at campus sites on March 13. The semifinal and final rounds were held March 19 and 20, at Don Roberts Ice Rink of Gustavus Adolphus College, the highest seed in the western region.
== Bids ==
=== Automatic Bids ===
* Eastern College Athletic Conference East champion: Norwich Cadets (2nd appearance)
* Eastern College Athletic Conference West champion: Elmira Soaring Eagles (8th appearance)
* Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion: Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties (8th appearance^)
* New England Small College Athletic Conference champion: Amherst Lady Jeffs (4th appearance)
* Northern Collegiate Hockey Association champion: Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons (3rd appearance)
=== At-Large Bids ===
==== Pool C (Non-champs from all conferences) ====
* Plattsburgh Cardinals - ECAC West (7th appearance)
* Trinity Bantams - NESCAC (1st appearance)
^ = Gustavus appeared in 1 of 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
== Misc. ==
* Six of the seven schools who earned bids appeared in the previous season's NCAA tournament
* This is the 7th of 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Gustavus.
* This is the 7th of 7 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Plattsburgh.
* This is the 4th of 4 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Amherst.
* This is the 3rd of 3 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Elmira.
* This is the 2nd of 9 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for UW-River Falls.
* This is the 2nd of 7 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Norwich.
* The Frozen Four is played in the west region for the first time ever.
* Middlebury misses the national postseason for the first time, previously making ten straight trips. (8-NCAA; 2-AWCHA) 
== Seeds ==
East
# Amherst (21-2-4)
# Plattsburgh (23-2-2)
# Elmira (22-4-1)
# Trinity (21-4-2)
# Norwich (18-5-5)
West
# Gustavus (21-4-2)
# UW-River Falls (20-3-6)
== Results ==
=== First Round ===
Held at campus sites
-Don Roberts Ice Rink- St. Peter, MN-Murray Athletic Center Arena- Horseheads, NY
-Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena- Plattsburgh, NY
=== Semifinals ===
Hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College: Don Roberts Ice Rink- St. Peter, MN
=== Third Place ===
Hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College: Don Roberts Ice Rink- St. Peter, MN
=== Championship ===
Hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College: Don Roberts Ice Rink- St. Peter, MN
Category:2010 in hockey
== Bracket ==
== Tournament Notes ==
* Amherst goes back-to-back as national champions, becoming the fourth straight program to win at least two consecutive national titles. (Elmira, Middlebury, Plattsburgh)
* Norwich finishes as national runner-up for the first time in program history.
* Elmira, finishing third, reaches the Frozen Four for the third consecutive season.
* Gustavus becomes the first team to lose both the semifinal round and the third place game on home ice, though they were the lower seeded team in both games.
* With the loss by Norwich, ECAC East teams fall to 0-4 all-time in national championship games.
== Statistics ==
=== Skaters ===
Top Scorers
Player 	Team 	Pos.	Yr.	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	SOG
Sophie Leclerc 	Norwich	F 	Jr.	3 	2	3	5	1 	4 	19
Ellen Swiontkowski	Amherst	F 	So.	2 	0	4	4	4 	2 	3
Randi Zukas 	Amherst	D 	Jr.	2 	0	4	4	1 	2 	3
Emily Vitale 	Amherst	F 	So.	2 	2	1	3	3 	0 	5
Kirsten Dier 	Amherst	D 	Sr.	2 	1	2	3	3 	4 	1
Geneva Lloyd 	Amherst	D 	Fr.	2 	1	2	3	3 	0 	6
Courtney Hanlon 	Amherst	F 	Jr.	2 	0	3	3	1 	2 	4
Alex Bresler 	Elmira 	F 	So.	3 	2	1	3	1 	0 	9
Lauryn DePaul 	Elmira 	F 	Sr.	3 	2	1	3	2 	4 	8
Madison Johnston 	Elmira 	D 	Fr.	3 	1	2	3	0 	0 	6
=== Goaltending ===
Top Goaltenders (minimum 90 minutes played)
Player 	Team 	Yr.	GP	W	L	SA	GA	GAA 	SV% 	SO	TOI
Caroline Hu 	Amherst 	Jr.	2 	2	0	45	2 	1.00	.956	1 	120:00
Danielle Justice	Gustavus	So.	2 	1	1	36	3 	1.52	.917	1 	118:45
Lauren Sullivan 	Elmira 	Fr.	3 	2	1	90	5 	1.67	.944	0 	179:24
Cindy Fortin 	Norwich 	Jr.	3 	2	1	98	11	3.67	.888	0 	180:00
=== All-Tournament Team ===
* F: Kate Dennett- Amherst
* F: Lauryn DePaul- Elmira
* F: Sophie Leclerc- Norwich
* D: Stephanie Clegg- Amherst
* D: Kirsten Dier- Amherst
* G: Caroline Hu- Amherst