NCAA Ice Hockey: A Comprehensive Guide

Hockey is a sport known for its fast-paced action and strategic gameplay. For new fans, understanding the nuances of NCAA ice hockey can enhance the viewing experience. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of NCAA ice hockey, covering everything from basic rules to the playoff system.

The Rink and Zones

The game is generally played on a sheet that is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. There are three zones: defensive, neutral, and offensive. The offensive and defensive zones are formatted the same. They are on opposing ends of the ice, characterized by two dots to the left and right of the goal cage and a blue line separating it from the neutral zone. These zones are where teams attack and defend. The neutral zone is the area between the two blue lines, with a red line in the middle marking the center point of the ice. The neutral zone has five dots for faceoffs.

Game Structure and Overtime

Hockey is played with three 20-minute periods, separated by intermissions. After three periods, if a game ends in a tie, the game will go to overtime. This will be a three-on-three sudden-death overtime, so the first team to score wins. Regular-season overtimes are five minutes, sudden death, played 3-on-3 (unless penalties carry over from regulation or are called during overtime). In the NCAA, if neither team scores in overtime in the regular season, the game can end in a tie, although conferences may elect to use a three-person shootout to award points in league standings after the initial five-minute OT.

Player Positions and Line Changes

Teams may dress up to 19 skaters and three goalies per game. Both teams start with five skaters on the ice. This does not include either team’s goaltender. Forwards are right wings, left wings, and centers. There are two defenseman who play on the right or the left side. The same five players do not play on the ice at all times. Instead, teams have lines and defensive pairings. The first line is the strongest group of forwards. The first-line center is, in most cases, the best player on a team. The second line is also a solid line of talented offensive players. The third and fourth liners bring the physicality and the grit. They are often called “grinders” or “enforcers.” Defensive pairings are important as well. Most teams play with three pairings. Line changes happen on the fly when the players on the ice get tired. They are usually on the ice for thirty seconds to one minute per shift. They can either happen on the forecheck, backcheck, or during a stoppage.

Common Penalties and Special Situations

Offside occurs when an attacking player crosses the defending team’s blue line before the puck crosses, and touches it, causing a stoppage in play. Icing is called when the defending team clears the puck down to the other end without crossing the center red line. The team that iced the puck can not change players. This usually happens when the team on defense is hemmed in their zone and needs a way to get the puck out, or as a result of an errant breakout pass. When the opposing team takes a penalty (ex, a tripping call), they are forced to play with one less player on the ice than the other team (five on four). The penalty can last either two, four, or five minutes, depending on the severity of the call. The opposite of a power play. A player who takes a penalty is forced to serve the time of the infraction in the penalty box, while their team plays down a player. If another player on the opposing team takes a penalty at the same time the first penalty is called or while the team is in the process of killing the first penalty, the power play will be a five-on-three instead of a five-on-four. If a team scores on a delayed penalty in the NCAA, they will still receive a power play.

If a team is trailing by one or more goals with the time winding down in the third period, a coach almost always will pull the goalie to add an extra skater on the ice. It’s like a makeshift power play, but with one glaring problem. The net is empty. The purpose of this is to give the team the benefit of having an extra offensive player on the ice, and hopefully scoring a goal. It works fairly often, but most of the time it results in an “empty netter” for the other team.

Key Rule Differences Between NCAA and NHL

NCAA hockey follows a rulebook that closely resembles the NHL, but with several key differences.

Goal Scored During Delayed Penalty: If a team scores a goal during a delayed penalty call, that call is still enforced and the penalty served.
Contact to the Head: Any time a player makes direct contact with the head or neck of an opponent it is a major penalty and game misconduct at a minimum. The responsibility lies with the player making the hit to avoid contact with the head and neck area of an opposing player. When the initial force of the contact is a shoulder to the body of the opponent and then slides up to the head or neck area, this is not classified as contact to the head.
No Trapezoid: No trapezoid behind the goal, goalies can play the puck behind the goal line anywhere with no penalty.
Hand Passes: Hand passes are not allowed in the defensive zone in NCAA play, with those situations whistled down as they would be elsewhere on the ice.
Fighting: All fighting is illegal. Any player who fights will be penalized with a 5-minute major and a game misconduct. Any player who fights will be penalized with a major penalty and a game disqualification, possibly including suspension from the following game.
Body Checking: Body checking is allowed in men’s hockey, but it is completely illegal in women’s hockey. A body check in a women’s hockey game will typically be penalized, and the player will receive a two-minute minor penalty.
Face Shield: All players must wear a full face shield, traditional metal cage or "fishbowl" clear mask.
Sticks: NCAA rules allow all players to use sticks up to 65 inches in length (NHL rules require players to seek a waiver for use of sticks between 63 and 65 inches).
Faceoffs: In faceoffs in an offensive zone, the defending team will put their stick down first for the faceoff. In all neutral-zone faceoffs, the visiting team puts their stick down first. On an initial faceoff violation, the center shall not be removed.

Video Replay

During the season, at a conference’s discretion, video replay may be used by the on-ice officials using a monitor at the scorers’ table. All goals are reviewed initially by a replay official. Should a situation occur that the replay official believes requires a review (or if the on-ice referee decides to review a play), the replay official will offer information and assist in the review. Video replay may be used, if available, to determine if a play that led to a goal was offsides or if the attacking team had too many men on the ice. During the regular season, prior to the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime, these reviews require a coach’s challenge. Officials may use video replay during a game to review penalties that would result in the removal of a player to ensure proper enforcement.

NCAA Division I Hockey Landscape

NCAA Division I men's ice hockey comprises 64 teams in the current season, always subject to change with teams adding programs or dropping levels. There is also a Division II and III level, with DIII the only other division having a postseason tournament. Division I women's ice hockey also has 44 teams across its landscape.

Conferences

NCAA ice hockey is split into six different conferences, and each conference has its own geographical base. They differ in size, revenue, and prestige but each finds its niche in the larger college hockey community. Each conference has its own tournament format, standings ranking for during the regular season, and referee crew with all tournaments ending in time for the national tournament in March. Conferences can change as they do in the other major sports, but realignment in hockey is rarer and more impactful than in its counterparts across the NCAA.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Atlantic Hockey America (AHA): Formerly known as Atlantic Hockey before its merger with the women's conference College Hockey America, this conference is one of the major underdogs in college hockey. Its schools are small, but its fanbases are loyal. Atlantic Hockey America's teams, like its name suggests, mostly span the Eastern Seaboard and dip a bit west but nowhere past Western New York and Pennsylvania. Its teams consist of the following eleven schools: Air Force, American International College (AIC), Army (West Point), Bentley, Canisius, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Niagara, Robert Morris, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Sacred Heart.
Big Ten: The Big Ten Conference in hockey consists of many of the conference's full member institutions and was created to bring its traditions to a super-conference in college hockey with all its member teams under the same brand, being announced and beginning play. It consists of some longtime blue-bloods (a school with a longstanding and successful program) and some up-and-coming programs and is the smallest conference in Division I. While its size may lack compared to other conferences, its schools certainly do not as it is made up of the following institutions: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin.
Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA): The CCHA is another one of college hockey's less successful conferences in recent years, but its members hold decades of history in hockey throughout the hallowed halls of home rinks in the Midwest. Its teams spread across Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota with Ohio State once a member of the conference before the Big Ten's founding. Its teams range from startups within the last five years to giants of the game with multiple Frozen Four appearances and national championships. Its members are as follows: Augustana, Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Northern Michigan, St. Thomas.
ECAC Hockey: Home to ageless institutions of college hockey and American education in the Ivy League teams, the conference has continued to thrive despite many of its teams breaking away due to revenue and scheduling concerns. Its teams span New England, New York, and even New Jersey with giants of the game and underdogs who've created their own history in the past few decades. With intense and historic rivalries, teams, and traditions, its teams are as follows: Brown, Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Quinnipiac, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), St. Lawrence, Union, Yale.
Hockey East: This conference can be considered top-to-bottom the most competitive conference in the nation in recent years, and it's not hard to see why. With powerhouses who broke away from ECAC Hockey and teams from across the New England hockey hotbed in massive alumni and local markets, its schools are always seen on the national stage. From five-time national champions to giant state schools with massive fanbases, this conference's teams have no shortage of pride and prestige, and go as follows: Boston College, Boston University, UConn, Maine, Massachusetts/UMass, UMass Lowell, Merrimack, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Providence, Vermont.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC): The NCHC is also rather new to the college hockey community and formed to be used primarily as a home for teams stranded when the WCHA folded its men's conference, just in time to make way for the new Big Ten. Teams from across the Midwest, Great Plains, and Rocky Mountains flocked to its newly opened doors, and it remains a powerhouse with some of the most important schools in college hockey history, and pioneers in nontraditional markets also joining in on one of college hockey's purest conferences, with teams as follows: Arizona State, Colorado College, Denver, Miami (OH), Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota, Omaha, St. Cloud State, Western Michigan.

Independent Teams

Many teams who don't affiliate with a conference are either new to the sport within the last decade still adjusting and waiting for a conference invite or were left without one in the realignment. Despite having no scheduled series with common opponents, these teams symbolize the spirit of playing for the love of the game, and go as follows: Alaska (Fairbanks), Alaska-Anchorage, Lindenwood, Long Island University, Stonehill.

NCAA Tournament and Selection Process

The NCAA Division I Championship is a 16-team, single-elimination tournament, divided into four, 4-team regional tournaments. The winner of each regional advances to the Frozen Four to compete for the national championship. For many years, 5 teams earned automatic bids through winning conference tournament championships, while 11 earned at-large berths through a selection committee. With the addition of the Big Ten hockey conference, the tournament now features 6 automatic qualifiers, and 10 at-large bids.

Six teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments, while the remaining 10 teams are selected on an at-large basis by the committee. The six conferences that receive automatic bids are: Hockey East, ECAC Hockey, Big Ten, NCHC, CCHA and Atlantic Hockey (AHA).

Selection Criteria

The manual notes, "If the points awarded in the RPI for a win in a postseason conference tournament game are fewer than the average regular-season RPI point value per game, then points awarded for the postseason tournament game will be deleted. This is being done so that an institution is not penalized for a win in a postseason conference tournament by having its overall RPI decrease. Head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents, the quality wins bonus (QWB) and home/away weighting are also factored in. Each of the above criteria carries one point, aside from head-to-head competition, "which will carry the number of points equal to the net difference in the results of these games (e.g., if Team A defeats Team B three out of four games, Team A would receive two points in the selection process)." In the comparisons between teams, the team with the most points will be selected.

Programs that are hosting regionals and qualify for the tournament will be placed at home. The committee tries to steer away from matchups between teams from the same conference while also maintaining bracket integrity.

PairWise vs. NPI

It’s important to note that the PairWise rating, which outlets like the USCHO and College Hockey News compile, is not the same thing as the RPI. The PairWise is used to mimic the committee’s process, comparing teams via the RPI, records against common opponents and head-to-head competition. A team receives a point for each comparison it wins.

The top four teams in the field are awarded the No. 1 seeds, the next four the No. 2 seeds, the next four the No. 3 seeds and the final four the No. 4 seeds.

Moving Away from Pairwise: Meet NPI

NPI, or the NCAA Percentage Index, has previously been used in NCAA women’s hockey. However, women’s hockey still uses its own Pairwise system, made up of NPI, record against common opponents, and head to head record. The NPI simply replaced RPI in the women’s hockey Pairwise system.

It seems that for the men, NPI will replace Pairwise completely, becoming the sole determinant of who will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. NPI as a statistical measure is similar to RPI - it’s basically a number that is weighted 25% based on your team’s win percentage and 75% based on strength of schedule (aka, the NPI numbers of your team’s opponents).

We can also expect NPI to be adjusted based on home vs. away wins and overtime vs. regulation wins. There may also be a “Quality Win Bonus” like in the Pairwise, where teams lower in the ranking get an extra bonus for beating teams at the top of the ranking.

Polls

There are two main media polls in college hockey used to evaluate the best teams from around the country. These come from USCHO.com, commonly known as USCHO and USA Hockey. The USCHO poll is largely seen as more accurate due to its expansive network of knowledgeable writers, but neither poll is used for any official purpose, similar to the AP and coaches poll in football or basketball.

Roster Rules

College hockey teams are allowed to carry up to 26 players and provide full scholarships to each. Teams can also dress up to 19 skaters and three goalies during a game, with many choosing to carry the full three netminders during all competitions. This allows for one extra skater and goaltender compared to NHL rosters and can help teams fill voids when injuries happen during games, making emergency backups and call-ups much more rare at the collegiate level.

Eligibility

College hockey players must be deemed eligible for NCAA competition by the NCAA Eligibility Center, a process that examines a student-athlete's academic qualifications and amateur status. All players who enroll and sign for a team can be eligible, and all eligibility is forfeited by the player as soon as they sign a professional contract of any kind, For this reason, and others, many foreign players may skip NCAA hockey and use other junior leagues or systems to get to the NHL when they are drafted at 18, signing contracts when teams see them fit to make the jump to pro hockey. Contrary to sports like basketball and football but similar to baseball, there is no requirement for how long a player must be out of high school when signing an NHL contract, so players can sign after their freshman year or even in some cases as free agents in their college careers if they weren't drafted when they were of age. For the most part, many college players come to school after playing junior hockey while around ages 18-20 and are eligible due to the nonprofessional status of many junior leagues.

NCAA and the CHL

The NCAA voted to lift their rules and allow players from the CHL to eligibility to play in college. In the past, the NCAA considered CHL players professional under their bylaws. Thus, if a player played even one game in the CHL, they were considered ineligible for the NCAA. But not anymore. Because of this rule change, the options are now wide open. A player could play for the CHL and then jump to the NCAA or vice versa. Players in the USHL could head to the CHL before deciding to finish out their junior / college career in the NCAA. All of these leagues (CHL, USHL, NCAA, USports, etc) have various requirements that may also be shifting due to this rule being dissolved.

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