This past weekend there have been buzzer beaters, upsets, and teams moving on in the NCAA Basketball tournament to the Sweet 16. There is another NCAA event about to hit the ice. That is the NCAA Hockey Division 1 Tournament starting this upcoming weekend. It is single elimination.
The field has 16 teams. Six of them qualify by winning their conference championship tournament. Those conferences include the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA), Big Ten, Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), Hockey East Association (HEA), National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). The remaining ten are at large bids. The committee discusses which ten teams should be in that didn’t win a conference championship as well as ranking each team in the regionals. They are ranked 1-4 in the West, Midwest, Northeast and West. Team 1 will face team 4 while #2 takes on #3. Those who win two games will head to the Frozen Four which will be April 7 and 9th at the Tampa Bay Times Forum located in Tampa Bay, Florida.
The bracket came out on Sunday. The defending champions, Providence, are in as a # 1 seed in the Northeast Regional. They are also the #4 team overall in the tournament. The other teams in their region are Minnesota Duluth, Harvard, and Boston College. In the Midwest Region North Dakota received the #1 seed. They will face Northeastern. The other two teams are Notre Dame and Michigan. The East has Quinnipiac as the #1 seed for the Regional as well as the number one team overall. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Yale, and UMass Lowell are also in this region. The final region is the West. St. Cloud State is the #1 seed. Joining them are Ferris State, Boston University, and the only local Colorado team, Denver University.
These regionals start play on March 25 and end on the 27. The Northeast and Midwest Regional final are March 26th. The East Regional and West Regional finish up on March 27. Those that win will head to the Frozen Four.
Coverage of the regionals will be on ESPNU. The Frozen Four is on ESPN2. It should be exciting to watch it play out. Who knows who will win it? There are 16 decent college hockey teams who earned their way into it. Watch the Frozen Four on April 7 and 9th to see who will be the National Champions of Division 1 Hockey.
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