User:SAYH14/sandbox

NCAA Division I College Ice Hockey is ice hockey played between colleges and universities with the competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It is the top level of NCAA hockey.

A list of NCAA Division I champions can be found here NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship.

NCAA


The National Collegiate Athletic Association has conducted national championships for men's ice hockey since 1948.

U.S. 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. Players who have participated in the Canadian Hockey League or any other professional hockey league are considered ineligible.

Men's U.S. college hockey is a feeder system to the National Hockey League. As of the 2010–11 season, 30 percent of NHL players (a total of 294) had U.S. college hockey experience prior to turning professional, an increase of 35 percent from the previous 10 years. That percentage has been maintained the past three seasons, with a record 301 NHL players coming from college hockey in 2011-12.

The NCAA's top level has 59 teams. Twenty-one schools are Division II or III athletic programs that "play up" to Division I in hockey, and 15 schools that are full Division I members are in the Football Bowl Subdivision, 6 of which compete in the Big Ten Conference. 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 for the 2013-2014 season, the tournament will now feature 6 automatic qualifiers, and 10 at-large bids.

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award honors the top player in men's Division I hockey.

Conferences
59 colleges and universities sponsor men's ice hockey in 6 NCAA's Division I conferences. List of NCAA Division I ice hockey programs The conferences are:


 * Atlantic Hockey
 * Big Ten
 * ECAC Hockey
 * Hockey East
 * National Collegiate Hockey Conference
 * Western Collegiate Hockey Association

Outdoor games in the 21st century

 * Cold War – October 6, 2001 Michigan vs Michigan State (Spartan Stadium)
 * Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic February 11, 2006, Ohio State vs Wisconsin (Lambeau Field)
 * Frozen Fenway 2010 Boston University vs Boston College and Northeastern University v New Hampshire(Fenway Park)
 * Frozen Fenway 2012 Northeastern University vs Boston College and Maine vs New Hampshire (Fenway Park)
 * Frozen Fenway 2012 Union College vs Harvard University (Fenway Park)
 * Culver's Camp Randall Hockey Classic February 6, 2010 Michigan vs Wisconsin (Camp Randall Stadium)
 * The Big Chill at the Big House – December 11, 2010 held at Michigan Stadium set the hockey attendance record when 104,173 fans watched Michigan defeat Michigan State 5–0.
 * Frozen Diamond Classic – January 15, 2012 Michigan defeated Ohio State University 4–1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH.
 * North Dakota and Omaha played in an outdoor game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska on February 9. 2013, with North Dakota winning 5-2.
 * Hockey City Classic February 17, 2013 Notre Dame vs Miami University and Minnesota vs Wisconsin (Soldier Field)
 * Hockey City Classic January 17 2014, Minnesota vs Ohio State (TCF Bank Stadium)

Longest-running annual international rivalry
A rivalry between the United States Military Academy (Army) Black Knights and the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins resulted in an annual West Point Weekend hockey game. The series was first played in 1923, and was claimed to be the longest-running annual international sporting event in the world. Army and RMC played continuously from 1949 until 2007, when scheduling conflicts forced the academies to abandon the scheduled game. The series will resume in 2011–12 and continue for the next two seasons at least.