NCAA D3: At the Break, Part 2

The first part of the season is over and players have headed home for the holidays. This is a good time to look at the standings for each of the 10 D3 women’s conferences.

In Part 1, we looked at the 6 conferences with uncomplicated automatic qualifiers (AQs) to the NCAA tournament. Now, we'll look at the remaining 4 conferences, 2 without AQs and 2 which, at first glance, might not seem to meet the standard for an AQ but have one anyway.

The 70 teams that do not get into the NCAA tournament via an AQ will be looking at the 4 at-large berths that remain. These will be awarded to the teams with the highest NPI rankings that did not earn an AQ.

Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference

The MASCAC is one of the 2 conferences without an AQ for the NCAA tournament. Although the conference has 6 members, the minimum required by the NCAA for an AQ, this is the first year the MASCAC has sponsored ice hockey. Furthermore, although the MASCAC is a multisport conference that has AQs in other sports, only half the schools with women’s hockey teams are full members; the other half are associate members. Thus, the MASCAC does not qualify for an immediate AQ and must go through a 2-year waiting period before one is awarded. The conference’s clock has started, and if they maintain a membership of 6 or more for the duration, they should get an AQ for the 2026-2027 season, their third as a hockey conference.

Points: 3 for a win, 2 for an OT or shootout win, and 1 for an OT or shootout loss.

Worcester State holds the top spot by points, but Plymouth State is tops in points percentage (and also in winning percentage, as shown on the website). Although the points show a relatively even distribution, the difference in games played means that the points percentage and winning percentage tell different stories, with a chasm between top 3 and bottom 3. The real question for the MASCAC could be which teams will earn the 2 first-round byes.

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

The WIAC is the other conference without an AQ: they do not meet the 6-member threshold. In the past, the NCAA has set aside a Pool B tournament bid specifically for teams that do not have an AQ available, and the WIAC champion has historically earned that bid. Last year’s WIAC champion, River Falls, earned the Pool B bid and finished the season with a perfect 31-0-0 record as the NCAA champion. However, this year there is no more Pool B, so the WIAC champion will be considered for an at-large bid alongside the teams in the MASCAC, the two independent teams at Hilbert and Keene State, and all the teams that did not win their conference championships. Until the WIAC can add another team and get through the 2-year waiting period, their champion will lack a guaranteed path into the NCAA tournament.

Points: 3 for a regulation win, 2 for an OT or shootout win, and 1 for an OT or shootout loss.

Differing numbers of games lead to a difference in rankings in points earned vs points percentage. River Falls, the defending NCAA champion and leader in points percentage, has won all 3 of their conference games, but needed 1 shootout to get there. Eau Claire has 4 more points than River Falls, but has played 2 more games and counts a loss. River Falls is only one point ahead of Stevens Point, but has a game in hand over them. Superior and Northland seem destined for the midweek play-in game; Eau Claire and River Falls are each in position to host a 2-games-plus-minigame semifinal series.

Middle Atlantic Conference

The MAC is another new multisport conference kid on the block, in its first year of sponsoring a hockey tournament. However, unlike the MASCAC, the MAC has an AQ for its champion, no waiting period required. The difference: only 2 of the MAC’s 8 members are associate members; the other 6 schools are full members. Hood College, a full MAC member, just began playing hockey this year. Neumann and Wilkes left the UCHC and joined the MAC this year as associate members for ice hockey. Those 3 additions gave the MAC enough members to sponsor hockey.

Points: 3 for a regulation win, 2 for an OT or shootout win, and 1 for an OT or shootout loss.

Arcadia is at the top of the MAC with a perfect record through 8 games, 5 points ahead of second-place Wilkes. After that, there’s a regular 4-point progression down to fourth place. The bottom three teams have a climb to get into playoff position. As with other conferences, the most exciting question is likely to be who gets left out of the playoffs, as there is only a difference of 2 points between 4th place (in) Alvernia and 5th place (out) King’s. King’s has played one fewer conference game than Alvernia, and the 2-point difference is less than a game worth. These teams have concluded their season series, with King’s winning both games in regulation and therefore securing the head-to-head regardless of what happens in their final meeting.

United Collegiate Hockey Conference

A 4-team conference doesn’t usually get an AQ, but the UCHC has one. Last year, the UCHC had 11 members and an AQ. However, the UCHC lost 7 members to the MAC this year. Just as new conferences (like the MASCAC) have a waiting period before they get an AQ, a team that falls below the 6-team threshold gets a 2-year grace period, during which they maintain their legacy AQ. The UCHC has one more year in which to add 2 or more teams before losing their AQ.

Points: 3 for a win in regulation, 2 for a win in OT, and 1 for an OT loss or tie. If a game is tied after OT, the teams conduct a shootout that may be used for a tiebreaker.

As of the break, each school has played only 4 conference games, but that’s 1/3 of the total conference schedule. Nazareth, the current leader by 2 points, split their series with second-place Utica (but still gained a point from their OT loss). Manhattanville, in third place, has not yet played Utica, the team directly above them in the standings, and was swept by Nazareth. Chatham, at the bottom of the standings, has not yet played first-place Nazareth. The four teams will be jockeying for seedings throughout their remaining games, aiming for home playoff games.