2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season

After Robert Morris suspended its program in the summer of 2021, a successful fundraising campaign allowed the team to return for this season.[1][2] The program rejoined Atlantic Hockey, bringing the number of conference members back up to 11.

The same summer, Augustana University proceeded with plans to promote its athletic department to Division I. In concert with that decision, the school finalized the addition of a new ice hockey program that would begin with this season.[3] In the interim, the program was accepted into the CCHA as the ninth member team and would play its first two seasons using a transition schedule before becoming a full member in 2025.[4]

On July 5, 2023, Arizona State University was accepted as the ninth member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) beginning with the 2024–2025 season. This will mark the Sun Devils' final season as an independent program.[5][6]

• October 4, 2023 – The Division I Council approved changes to the transfer window for all sports. In winter sports other than basketball, including men's and women's ice hockey, the transfer portal now opens for a total of 45 days, starting 7 days after the NCAA tournament field is set.[7]

The PairWise Rankings (PWR) are a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the 16-team NCAA tournament. Although the NCAA selection committee does not use the PWR as presented by USCHO, the PWR has been accurate in predicting which teams will make the tournament field.

For Division I men, all teams are included in comparisons starting in the 2013–14 season (formerly, only teams with a Ratings Percentage Index of .500 or above, or teams under consideration, were included). The PWR method compares each team with every other such team, with the winner of each “comparison” earning one PWR point. After all comparisons are made, the points are totaled up and rankings listed accordingly.

With 64 Division I men's teams, the greatest number of PWR points any team could earn is 63, winning the comparison with every other team. Meanwhile, a team that lost all of its comparisons would have no PWR points.

Teams are then ranked by PWR point total, with ties broken by the teams’ RPI ratings, which starting in 2013–14 is weighted for home and road games and includes a quality wins bonus (QWB) for beating teams in the top 20 of the RPI (it also is weighted for home and road).

When it comes to comparing teams, the PWR uses three criteria which are combined to make a comparison: RPI, record against common opponents and head-to-head competition. Starting in 2013–14, the comparison of record against teams under consideration was dropped because all teams are now under comparison.[8]