Crab Pot Tournament

The Crab Pot Tournament (also stylized as CrabPot Tournament or Navy Crab Pot) is a men's college ice hockey tournament hosted annually by the United States Naval Academy. The Midshipmen have competed in every edition of the tournament, with local schools such as the University of Maryland and Towson University being regular participants.

The Crab Pot

Tournament information
Sport	College ice hockey
Location	Annapolis, Maryland
Established	1978; 47 years ago (1978)
Format	Single-elimination
Venue	Dahlgren Hall (1978–2006) McMullen Hockey Arena (2007–present)
Teams	4
Current champion
Navy Midshipmen (2025, 21st title)

It is the oldest college hockey tournament operating at the non-varsity level and one of the oldest extant tournaments for any level of play.

History

Navy Hockey began as an informal student group in the early 1960s and was officially formed as a club (non-varsity) sports team in 1971.^[1] In 1975, Steven Gordon became the head coach of the hockey program. Gordon, a former goalie at Northeastern University in the 1970s, had played in the Beanpot tournament in Boston. He and the team created their own version of the competition for the 1977–78 season.^[2] The original tournament was slatted to include Ramapo College, the University of Delaware, and Penn State University.^[3] Penn State was eventually replaced with Rutgers University.

Crowds of hundreds to thousands regularly attend the two-day tournament at the Naval Academy.^[4] In its early years the Crab Pot regularly overlapped with Super Bowl weekend, with the championship game coinciding with the NFL game. This tradition was abandoned in the 1980s and now the tournament regularly takes place in mid-February. Initially the Crab Pot sometimes included varsity NCAA teams. However the majority of the tournament field, and in later years the entirety, has been made up of other non-varsity programs.

The winning team receives the Crab Pot Trophy and has its name hung on a large banner above the ice rink.^[5]

Format

The tournament is two rounds over two days, with the first day having all four participants play in semifinal games. The second day features the consolation game and the championship game.

Year-by-year results

Note: If a final standing is not listed in the third column that either means the consolation game did not take place that year or that the information is unavailable.

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Other Participants (Final standing)	References
1978	Navy Midshipmen	6–4	Ramapo College	University of Delaware (3rd) Rutgers University (4th)	[6][7][8]
1979	Ramapo College	7–6 (OT)	Navy Midshipmen	University of Delaware (3rd) St. John's University (4th)	[9]
1980	Navy Midshipmen	8–3	Ramapo College	West Chester State College (3rd) St. Bonaventure University (4th)	[10]
1981	Navy Midshipmen	5–4	Penn State University	Ramapo College (3rd) West Chester State College (4th)	[11][12]
1982	Penn State University	11–2	Navy Midshipmen	Upsala College (3rd) Suffolk University (4th)	[13]
1983	Navy Midshipmen	6–2	Penn State University	Canisius College (3rd) University of Delaware (4th)	[14]
1984	Iona College	3–0	Penn State University	Navy Midshipmen Western New England College	[15][16]
1985	Penn State University	3–1	Iona College	Navy Midshipmen Curry College	[17][18]
1986	Penn State University	6–5	Navy Midshipmen	University of Delaware West Chester University	[19][20]
1987	Penn State University	7–4	Navy Midshipmen	University of Delaware West Chester University	[21][22][23]
1988	Community College of Rhode Island	[a]	Navy Midshipmen	University of Delaware (3rd) Fairfield University (wd)	[24][25]
1989	Community College of Rhode Island	[b]		Navy Midshipmen University of Delaware Worcester Polytechnic Institute	[26][27]
1990	Villanova University	10–2	Navy Midshipmen	University of Pennsylvania West Chester University	[28][29]
1991	Navy Midshipmen	5–3	West Chester University	University of Rhode Island (3rd) Fordham University (4th)	[30]
1992	University of Maryland	6–5 (OT)	Navy Midshipmen	University of West Virginia Unknown	[31][32]
1993	Eastern Michigan University	5–4	Navy Midshipmen	Worcester Polytechnic Institute (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[33][34][35]
1994	Eastern Michigan University	8–4	Towson State University	Royal Military College Saint-Jean (3rd) Navy Midshipmen (4th)	[36]
1995	Navy Midshipmen	7–3	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Lehigh University (3rd) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4th)	[37]
1996	Navy Midshipmen	5–2	University of Rhode Island	Unknown Unknown	[2][38]
1997	University at Buffalo	2–1	Navy Midshipmen	Marquette University (3rd) Drexel University (4th)	[39][40]
1998	University at Buffalo	5–1	Navy Midshipmen	United States Coast Guard Academy (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[41][42]
1999	Towson University	5–3	Navy Midshipmen	University at Buffalo (3rd) United States Coast Guard Academy (4th)	[43][44][45]
2000	Towson University	3–2	Navy Midshipmen	University of Maryland Hofstra University	[46][47][48]
2001	Eastern Michigan University	8–2	Saint Louis University	Villanova University (3rd) Navy Midshipmen (4th)	[49][50]
2002	Navy Midshipmen	5–1	Lehigh University	University of West Virginia (3rd) Mercyhurst College (4th)	[51]
2003	Navy Midshipmen	9–3	Mercyhurst College	Villanova University (3rd) Lehigh University (4th)	[52]
2004	Mercyhurst College	5–2	Navy Midshipmen	Towson University (3rd) Villanova University (4th)	[53]
2005	Mercyhurst College	7–2	Navy Midshipmen	Robert Morris University (3rd) Villanova University (4th)	[54]
2006	Navy Midshipmen	4–3	Robert Morris University	Villanova University (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[55][56][57][58][59]
2007	Liberty University	11–7	Navy Midshipmen	University of Maryland Villanova University	[60][61]
2008	Towson University	4–1	Navy Midshipmen	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[62][63][64]
2009	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	7–4	Navy Midshipmen	Towson University (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[65][66][67][68]
2010	Towson University	4–1	Navy Midshipmen	University of Maryland (3rd) Salisbury University (4th)	[69][70]
2011	Navy Midshipmen	6–2	Towson University	Penn State Berks (3rd) Lehigh University (4th)	[71][72]
2012	Navy Midshipmen	8–4	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Towson University (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[73]
2013	Navy Midshipmen	4–0	Towson University	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[74]
2014	Navy Midshipmen	4–2	Penn State University	University of Maryland (3rd) Towson University (4th)	[75]
2015	University of Central Oklahoma	6–1	Navy Midshipmen	Penn State University (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[76][77][78]
2016	Navy Midshipmen	6–2	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	University of Maryland (3rd) Georgetown University (4th)	[79][80]
2017	Towson University	5–4	Navy Midshipmen	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[81][82]
2018	Towson University	7–2	Wagner College	Navy Midshipmen (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[83][84]
2019	Navy Midshipmen	4–3 (SO)	University of Rhode Island	University of West Virginia (3rd) Towson University (4th)	[85] Final[86]
2020	Navy Midshipmen	9–2	Towson University	Stevenson University (3rd) University of Maryland (4th)	[87][88]
2021	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Navy Midshipmen	3–1	Stevenson University	University of Maryland (3rd) Towson University (4th)	[89][90][91][92]
2023	Navy Midshipmen	6–3	University of Maryland	Stevenson University (3rd) Towson University (4th)	[93][94][95][96]
2024	Navy Midshipmen	4–3 (SO)	Towson University	The College of New Jersey (3rd) Stevenson University (4th)	[97][98][99]
2025	Navy Midshipmen	4–1	University of Maryland	The College of New Jersey (3rd) Towson University (4th)	[100][101][102][103][104]
2026				Navy Midshipmen The College of New Jersey Towson University University of Maryland

Statistics

	Championships		Runner-up		Semifinalist
	No.	Year(s)	No.	Year(s)	No.	Year(s)
United States Naval Academy	21	1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025	20	1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017	5	1984, 1985, 1994, 2001, 2018

Non-Navy participants

School	Championships		Runner-up
	No.	Year(s)	No.	Year(s)
Towson University	6	1999, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018	5	1994, 2011, 2013, 2020, 2024
Penn State University	4	1982, 1985, 1986, 1987	4	1981, 1983, 1984, 2014
Eastern Michigan University	3	1993, 1994, 2001	0
Community College of Rhode Island	2	1988, 1989	0
University at Buffalo	2	1997, 1998	0
Mercyhurst College	2	2004, 2005	1	2003
Ramapo College	1	1979	2	1978, 1980
Iona University	1	1984	1	1985
Villanova University	1	1990	0
University of Maryland	1	1992	2	2023, 2025
Liberty University	1	2007	0
University of Maryland, Baltimore County	1	2009	2	2012, 2016
University of Central Oklahoma	1	2015	0
University of Rhode Island	0		2	1996, 2019
West Chester University	0		1	1991
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	0		1	1995
Saint Louis University	0		1	2001
Robert Morris University	0		1	2006
Wagner College	0		1	2018
Stevenson University	0		1	2022

Winning Streaks

This is a list of all occasions where a Crab Pot team has won at least two consecutive championships between years. The current winning streak, if any, is highlighted in chartreuse  . Winning streaks with equal numbers of wins are sorted chronologically, with earlier streaks appearing first.

The longest current championship win streak belongs to the U.S. Naval Academy, who has an ongoing streak between 2019 and 2025.

Titles	Team	First Title	Last Title
6	Naval Academy[c]	2019	2025
4	Naval Academy	2011	2014
3	Penn State University	1985	1987
2	Naval Academy	1980	1981
2	C.C.R.I.	1988	1989
2	Eastern Michigan University	1993	1994
2	Naval Academy	1995	1996
2	University at Buffalo	1997	1998
2	Towson University	1999	2000
2	Naval Academy	2002	2003
2	Mercyhurst College	2004	2005
2	Towson University	2017	2018

Notes

1. Final score not known at this time. It is known Community College of Rhode Island won tournament due to the banner in Navy's rink.
2. Limited information about the 1989 edition is available at this time. It is known Community College of Rhode Island won tournament due to the banner in Navy's rink. The current best source, the University of Delaware historical schedule, has the most concreate information regarding scores and participants. However, it is unclear how Delaware lost the first game then played CCRI in the final as it is currently listed. More information and sources are required.
3. 2021 edition cancelled, does not interrupt Navy's streak