2025 Men’s D-III New Year’s Tournaments!

The NCAA D-III hockey break is coming to an end. Just as I covered yesterday for the women’s tournaments, we’re now looking at the men’s tournaments to start the new year. This year we have a quintet of events to cover. They’re the following: the 59th Annual Codfish Bowl, the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament, Oswego State Hockey Classic, Tampa College Hockey Invitational, & finally, the Boston Landing Invitational.

Lots of great hockey to be played this weekend on both men’s and women’s sides, respectively, so without further ado, lets get into it!

59th Annual Codfish Bowl (Edward T. Berry Ice Rink – Boston, MA)

The first event we have on the slate is the 59th Annual Codfish Bowl which is played at the Edward T. Berry Ice Rink in Boston, MA. The teams involved this year include the host, UMass-Boston (4-7-0) and the visiting teams are: UMass-Dartmouth (4-4-0), Fitchburg State (7-2-0), & all the way from Wisconsin – #15 UW-Superior (8-3-1).

The schedule is as following; 

Friday – January 3, 2025

UMass-Dartmouth @ UMass-Boston – 1pm ET

#15 UW-Superior vs Fitchburg State – 4pm ET

Saturday – January 4, 2025

3rd place game – 1/4pm ET

Championship game – 1/4pm ET

For the first time in a couple of seasons, UW-Superior enters the tournament ranked in the DIIIHockeyNews.com Week Seven poll, coming in at #15. The Yellowjackets are off to one of the best starts they’ve had in years, granted, their SOS (strength-of-schedule) is rated #75 per NPI on 1/2/25, but regardless, they’ve got wins over former #10 UW-River Falls and an overtime loss to formerly-ranked UW-Stevens Point. Look for Superior to get a Codfish Bowl win this weekend.

Now, Fitchburg State has been putting a couple of wins together, but the only caveat is their SOS as well… Much similar to UW-Superior. Fitchburg snagged a few transfers, most notably from St. Scholastica. They’ll be put to the true test vs Superior.

UMass-Dartmouth started the year 4-1, but has dropped their last three games, they’re hoping to pick up a rebound win against the Beacons and make their way into the championship game Saturday.

As for the Beacons of UMass-Boston, when you look at their record, it’s nothing to call home about. Howver, if you take a quick look at the teams they have played, it’s been nothing but top-ranked teams. 7 out of their 11 games have been against top-ranked teams, including #1 Hobart, so don’t count them out based on record alone as they’ve been tested early, unlike the others in the event.

Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament (Kreitzberg Arena –  Northfield, VT)

Up next on the docket is the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament which is hosted by Norwich (4-3-2). The invited opponents are: Plymouth State (6-4-1), Williams (3-5-0) & #13 Hamilton (6-3-0).

The games will be played on Friday and Saturday at the stellar Kreitzberg Arena with the matchups looking like this:

Friday – January 3, 2025

Plymouth State vs #12 Hamilton – 4pm ET 

Williams @ Norwich – 7pm ET

Saturday – January 4, 2025

3rd place game – 3:30pm ET

Championship game – 7:30pm ET

Now for this tournament, there’s not a clear team you can predict as the projected winner, it’s looking like a wildcard.

Norwich is struggling this year, they are unable to find a groove, this includes getting swept by New England College earlier this season, nearly unheard of in the history of Norwich. Their longest win streak this season is two, again, very uncommon for the Cadets. One thing they have to their advantage is that they are 2-0 at home.

The Panthers of Plymouth State enter this event having dropped a couple of close games they for sure want back and are hoping to rebound this weekend with two wins. The Panthers are looking to make their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament, they’ve been to the dance five of the last six years, seven times since 2012.

Hamilton on the other hand, comes into this event with the best record and the only ranked team. They’ve shown signs of greatness this season, while also showing signs of the complete opposite. We will see if the Continentals can pick up a few wins.

Williams College enters this event on a three game losing skid including a loss 5-1 road loss to Hamilton. They’re looking to rebound and get back to .500 with two wins this weekend.  

Oswego State Hockey Classic (Deborah F. Stanley Arena & Convocation Center – Oswego, NY) 

The third tournament we’re covering is the Oswego State Hockey Classic. Hosted by none other than, you guessed it: Oswego State (4-4-2). The schools that are coming to compete and hope to leave with some hardware are Alvernia (4-6-0), Lebanon Valley (4-5-1) & Neumann (7-1-2). You could also call this event the Pennsylvania Invitational.

The games will be played at the Deborah F. Stanley Arena & Convocation Center under the following schedule;

Friday – January 3, 2025

Alvernia vs Lebanon Valley – 4pm ET

Neumann @ Oswego State – 7pm ET

Saturday – January 4, 2025

3rd place game – 1pm ET

Championship game – 4pm ET

This years tournament field is a little weaker than normal, but that won’t take away from some good hockey. Oswego’s currently coming off a 5-0 win against Morrisville and hopes to continue their good play into this weekend in hopes of winning at home. Oswego’s had a tough recent past involving their home tournament, they’d like to change that and win this one with a weaker-than-normal-field.

Neumann is making a case for being the favorite coming in as the only team over .600. One thing that works to Neumann’s favor is their stellar play on the road. They’re 5-0-1 when playing as the away side. As for Alvernia, they’re hoping to flip the script on Lebanon Valley as they got swept by the Dutchmen earlier in the season, being outscored 6-2 and shut-out in one of the games.

Meanwhile, Lebanon Valley, winners of their last three of four games, are hoping to continue their good play and pick up a win or two this weekend.

Tampa College Hockey Invitational (AdventHealth Center Ice – Tampa, FL)

Up next, we travel down south to the sunshine state of Florida for the Tampa College Hockey Invitational which is hosted by Overspeed Hockey. The teams that were invited to play are Albertus Magnus (4-4-1), Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) (3-7-1), Suffolk (6-4-2), & Tufts (4-4-1). This event takes place at the AdventHealth Center Ice.

Here are the times and dates of the games; 

Friday – January 3, 2025

Albertus Magnus vs Suffolk – 4pm ET

MSOE vs Tufts – 7:30pm ET

Saturday – January 4, 2025

3rd place game – 4pm ET

Championship game – 7:30pm ET

This event is very unique, MSOE is on their second major trip this year, as they traveled to Europe, Latvia to be exact, for a tournament with Castleton University this year which was also hosted by Overspeed Hockey. It’s a busy (and expensive) year for the Raiders. MSOE is hoping to start the new year off right as they ended 2024 with only one win in their last five games.

Suffolk this year is already exceeding expectations under Head Coach McEachern. In the last two seasons they had six and five wins. This year, they’ve already equalled that and are hoping to tack on two more.

When you take a look at Albertus Magnus, this their first (and last) year in their new conference (NEHC) are hoping to pick up two non-conference wins. Next year it’ll be off to the UCHC for them as the NEHC will be no longer.

Tufts out of the NESCAC is currently on a two game losing skid, being outscored 10-7 in those games. As long as they can clean up their goaltending and defense, they should be able to possibly come away with a win or two.  

Boston Landing Invitational (Warrior Ice Arena – Boston, MA)

Finally, we travel back to Boston for the Boston Landing Invitational as this is the last event to be covered. The event is being hosted by Nichols College (4-5-2). The traveling teams (including Nichols) are Canton (5-7-0), Salem State (5-4-0) & Middlebury (4-4-0).

They play their games on the 4th and the 5th under the following event schedule;

Saturday – January 4, 2025

Salem State vs Nichols – 4pm ET

Canton vs Middlebury – 7:30pm ET

Sunday – January 5, 2025

3rd place game 2:30pm ET

Championship game – 5:30pm ET

Salem State is coming into this event with lots of momentum. Just before break, they captured a massive overtime win against ranked Endicott College, who’s loaded with D-I transfers. So look for them to look to capture this events title.

Middlebury is looking to pick up some steam in Head Coach Jack Ceglarski’s 2nd season. They’ve already won half of the games they did all of last year.

On the other hand, this is SUNY Canton’s first year in the SUNYAC conference so this is a good weekend for them to come away with two wins to start their rebuild. they played a heavy SUNYAC schedule as an independent, but now they’ve got something more to play for at the end of the year, an auto-bid for the NCAA tournament. 

Finally, Nichols is looking to continue their hot streak just before break, winning two out of their last three games. They outscored their competition 11-3 including one shutout.

That’s all of the main feature events this weekend as we begin the 2025 calendar year. There’s lots of good hockey to be played so tune in! Not including the regularly-scheduled non-tournament games of many other D-III teams that begin their new 2025 calendar year as well!