The 2022 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 twenty-second (twenty-first completed) time a national championship tournament at the Division III level had been held and was the twentieth (nineteenth completed) one sanctioned by the NCAA.
Format
Ten teams qualify for the single elimination tournament. The conference tournament champions of the CCC, MIAC, NCHA, NEHC, NESCAC, NEWHL, and UCHC received automatic bids to the tournament. Three at-large bids were also selected. There were no bids guaranteed to a school from a non-automatic-qualifier conference this season. This was the first year in which the CCC received its own automatic bid, after assuming operations of the departing Colonial Hockey Conference. Coming off of the COVID-19 pandemic, no Pool B at-large bid was awarded this year for a school from a non-automatic qualifying conference. Thus, an additional Pool C bid was added for any at-large school. The first round games were held at campus sites on March 9. The quarterfinal games were held at campus sites on March 12. The semifinal and final rounds were held March 18 and 19 at Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena of Middlebury College, the highest remaining seed in the tournament.
Bids
Automatic Bids
- Commonwealth Coast Conference champion: Endicott Gulls (3rd appearance)
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion: Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties (15th appearance^)
- New England Hockey Conference champion: Elmira Soaring Eagles (17th appearance)
- New England Small College Athletic Conference champion: Middlebury Panthers (17th appearance^^)
- Northeast Women’s Hockey League champion: Plattsburgh Cardinals (17th appearance)
- Northern Collegiate Hockey Association champion: Aurora Spartans (1st appearance)
- United Collegiate Hockey Conference champion: Nazareth Golden Flyers (1st appearance)
At-Large Bids
Pool C (Teams from all conferences)
- Colby Mules – NESCAC (1st appearance)
- Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds – WIAC (4th appearance)
- Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons – WIAC* (13th appearance)
^^ = Middlebury appeared in the 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
^ = Gustavus appeared in 1 of 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
* = Top ranked WIAC team did not qualify for a Pool B bid for this specific season. However, UWRF still qualified as a Pool C bid.
Misc.
- Seven of the ten schools who earned bids appeared in the previous NCAA tournament.
- This is the 10th of an active 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for Plattsburgh.
This is the 9th of 9 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Elmira.
This is the 4th of 4 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for UW-Eau Claire.
This is the 3rd of an active 7 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for UW-River Falls. - This is the 2nd of 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Gustavus.
- This is the 2nd of 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Middlebury.
- This is the 1st of an active 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for Nazareth.
- The WIAC gets two bids for the third consecutive tournament.
- The NESCAC gets two bids in back-to-back tournaments.
- As of 2026, this serves as UW-Eau Claire’s last NCAA Tournament appearance.
- As of 2026, this serves as Aurora’s only NCAA Tournament appearance.
- Adrian misses its first NCAA tournament since 2015.
- Norwich misses its first NCAA tournament since 2015.
- River Falls becomes the highest seed (#2) to ever play in the play-in round.
- Middlebury hosts the Frozen Four for the first time since 2009.
Seeding (Determined by Pairwise Rankings)
- Middlebury (24-0-0)
- UW-River Falls (26-1-0)
- Plattsburgh (24-2-1)
- Nazareth (27-1-0)
- Elmira (24-2-1)
- Gustavus (22-3-2)
- UW-Eau Claire (23-5-0)
- Colby (16-5-1)
- Endicott (19-4-1)
- Aurora (21-6-0)
Results
First Round
Held at campus sites
-Hunt Arena- River Falls, WI
-Don Roberts Ice Rink- St. Peter, MN
Quarterfinals
Held at campus sites
-Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena – Middlebury, VT
–Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena- Plattsburgh, NY
-Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex – Brighton, NY
-Hunt Arena- River Falls, WI
Semifinals
Hosted by Middlebury College: Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena – Middlebury, VT
Third Place
Hosted by Middlebury College: Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena – Middlebury, VT
Championship
Hosted by Middlebury College: Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena – Middlebury, VT
2022 NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey National Champion Middlebury Panthers
Bracket
Tournament Notes
- After two years of a champion not being crowned, Middlebury wins its fourth national championship, breaking the tie with Elmira for 2nd most in history.
- Middlebury wins the title for the first time since 2006.
- Gustavus finishes 2nd, highest in program history, and becomes the fourth west team in five tournaments to reach the title game. (GAC did finish as national runner-up in the 2001 AWCHA tournament, coincidentally, losing to Middlebury.)
- Plattsburgh reaches its 14th Frozen Four, finishing in Third Place for the 4th time, in what ends up being the final third place game ever played.
- Elmira reaches its 11th Frozen Four, dropping the 3rd place game for the first time. (Was previously 3-0)
- Middlebury becomes the first women’s Division III team to go undefeated. (27-0-0)
- Middlebury becomes the first NESCAC team to win the national title since Amherst in 2010.
- Gustavus ties the national championship game with a miniscule 0.1 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Statistics
Skaters
Top Scorers |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Pos. | Yr. | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | SOG |
| Callie Hoff | UW-River Falls | F | 5th | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| Hailey Holland | Gustavus | F | Jr. | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 21 |
| Tina Press | Gustavus | F | Sr. | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| Kora Torkelson | UW-River Falls | F | 5th | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Kylie Quinlan | Middlebury | F | So. | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Annie Katonka | Plattsburgh | F | 5th | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| Jenna Letterie | Middlebury | F | Jr. | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Ivy Boric | Plattsburgh | F | Jr. | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
Goaltending
Top Goaltenders (minimum 110 minutes played) |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Yr. | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| Sophia Merageas | Middlebury | So. | 3 | 3 | 0 | 69 | 4 | 1.24 | 0.942 | 1 | 193:11 |
| Katie McCoy | Gustavus | Jr. | 4 | 3 | 1 | 89 | 7 | 1.67 | 0.921 | 1 | 252:03 |
| Leonie Kuehberger | Elmira | Fr. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 92 | 7 | 2.37 | 0.924 | 0 | 177:00 |
| Sami Miller | UW-River Falls | Sr. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 5 | 2.52 | 0.894 | 1 | 119:01 |
All-Tournament Team
- F: Hailey Holland- Gustavus
- F: Madie Leidt- Middlebury
- F: Jenna Letterie- Middlebury
- F: Tina Press- Gustavus
- G: Katie McCoy- Gustavus
- G: Sophia Merageas- Middlebury (MVP)
