The 2013âÂÂ14 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began in October 2013 and ended with the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game in April 2014. This was the 67th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held, and the 120th year overall in which an NCAA school fielded a team.
The March 2011 announcement that the Big Ten Conference would start sponsoring men's ice hockey in the 2013âÂÂ14 season, which came shortly after Penn State had announced that it would upgrade its team from club to full varsity status effective in 2012âÂÂ13, led to a major wave of conference realignment in that sport. Once the Big Ten took the ice with six teams, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) faced the loss of three of its mainstays (Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State), while the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) was set to lose two prominent members (Minnesota and Wisconsin).
Several CCHA and WCHA members then entered into talks to break away from their current leagues to form a new conference; six of these schools would soon form the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), which would also take the ice in 2013âÂÂ14. Further moves by both the NCHC and WCHA would eventually lead to the demise of the CCHA after the 2012âÂÂ13 season. The upheaval also gave Hockey East its first non-New England member in Notre Dame.
In the end, the only conferences that neither gained nor lost members for 2013âÂÂ14 were Atlantic Hockey and ECAC Hockey. The former conference would go on to lose UConn to Hockey East, which was already home to the school's women's team, for the 2014âÂÂ15 season.
The top teams in the nation as ranked before the start of the season.
The U.S. College Hockey Online poll was voted on by coaches, media, and NHL scouts. The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll was voted on by coaches and media.
<small>Note: * denotes overtime period(s)</small>
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
<small>â incoming freshman</small><br>