New England Is Well Represented In NCAA Hockey Tournament
BOSTON (CBS) -- College hoops gets the majority of the attention from the sporting world from March into April. But if you're a fan of college hockey in New England, your tournament time is about to start.
And New England is well represented once again. Really well represented, making up over a third of the schools in the field of 16 vying for an NCAA championship. Boston College and Boston University aren't in the mix, but the University Of Massachusetts is out to defend its title and five other schools from the northeast will be looking to knock them off. The Frozen Four and title game will take place at TD Garden on April 7 and 9, respectively.
Most of the New England action in the opening round will take place throughout the day on Friday, but there are a pair of local teams in hitting the ice on Thursday:
Thursday
12 p.m.: (4) Harvard vs. (1) Minnesota State in Albany, NY
9 p.m.: (4) UMass Lowell vs. (1) Denver in Loveland, CO
Friday
12 p.m.: (4) Northeastern vs. (1) Western Michigan in Worcester, MA
3 p.m.: (4) AIC vs. (1) Michigan in Allentown, PA
6 p.m.: (3) Massachusetts vs. (2) Minnesota, in Worcester, MA
8 p.m.: (3) St. Cloud State vs. (2) Quinnipiac in Allentown, PA
Harvard (21-10-3) is coming off an overtime win over Quinnipiac for the ECAC Hockey Championship, earning an automatic bid by beating the top-seeded Bobcats. The Crimson are now dancing (or skating, however you see fit) in late March for the fifth time in the last seven years.
First-year forward Matthew Coronato scored the OT winner in the title game and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He led the team in scoring with 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists). Junior goaltender Mitchell Gibson made 47 saves in the victory over QU, and was 18-9-1 with a .919 save percentage.
They face a tough foe in Minnesota State, who at 35-5-0 captured the CCHA regular season championship before winning the conference tournament. The Mavericks have logged 15 straight wins and own the No. 2 scoring offense in the country at 4.17 goals per game. They're a pretty stout defense too, allowing just 1.27 goals per game -- also second-best in the country.
Update: Harvard fell to Minnesota State 4-3.
UMass-Lowell is back in the tourney for the first time since 2016-17. The River Hawks went 21-10-3 during the regular season, including 15-8-1 against the Hockey East to finish tied for second in the conference. After crushing Merrimack 7-2 in the Hockey East quarterfinals, UML lost to UMass, 3-1, in the semis.
Now they'll face Denver (27-9-1) for the 12th time, but Thursday will be their first meeting in an NCAA tournament game. The Pioneers are 9-2-0 all-time against UMass-Lowell, and won their most recent matchup, 4-1, in December 2018 in Lowell.
Northeastern is back in the tournament for the third time in the last five years, this time as an at-large bid for the first time since 2017-18. The Huskies went 25-12-1 during the regular season and 15-8-1 in Hockey East play, falling to UConn in the Hockey East semis, 4-1. Junior forward Aidan McDonough of Milton led all Huskies scorers with 38 points (24 goals, 14 assists) and tallied five game-winning goals.
The Huskies will now face a 1-seeded Western Michigan (25-11-1) team that also had one of the nation's best scorers in Ethan Frank, who lit the lamp 26 times during his graduate season. This will be the sixth time that the two schools meet, with the Huskies leading the all-time series 3-1-1. While WMU is the higher seed, the game will be played at the DCU Center in Worcester, giving Northeastern a bit of a home-ice advantage.
American International College is back in the NCAA Tournament following a 22-12-3 season, including a 17-6-2 record in the Atlantic Hockey Association. AIC were the AHA regular season champs for the fourth straight season, and captured its third postseason title with a 7-0 win over Air Force last weekend. This is their third trip to the NCAA Tournament.
They have the daunting task of taking on the No. 1 overall seed in Michigan, whom they've faced twice in school history. The Wolverines won both of those previous matchups.
But AIC has taken down Goliath before, beating the top-seeded St. Cloud State 2-1 in their first-ever NCAA postseason game in 2019.
Massachusetts will start its 2021 title defense Friday night, looking to build on its 8-2 all-time record in the NCAA tournament, including 7-1 under head coach Greg Carvel. UMass is 3-0 in first round contests in the tourney.
The Minutemen went 22-12-2 during the season and are fresh off their second straight Hockey East Tournament title, scoring a 2-1 win overtime over UConn last Saturday at TD Garden. They'll look to make a return to TD Garden in the coming weeks, and it starts with a showdown with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Senior forward Bobby Trivigno is coming off a 34-point season (11 goals, 23 assists) for Massachusetts and tallied a goal and an assist against UConn. Goalie Matt Murray picked up his 21st win last weekend, breaking the UMass record for single-season victories -- besting his own record.
Minnesota (24-12-0) has claimed a lot of NCAA Tournament records, with 39 overall appearances, 56 wins, 21 Frozen Four berths and five titles. They are 4-0-0 all-time against Massachusetts, but this will be their first meeting in the tourney. Minnesota is also just 1-3 in tournament games played in Worcester, and 8-7 overall in tourney games played in Massachusetts.
You have to go a little south to Hamden, Connecticut to find Quinnipiac, but the Bobcats are no strangers to the NCAA Tournament. They are dancing for the eighth time in program history, with seven appearances in the last nine tournaments. Quinnipiac 7-7 all-time in tournament play with a pair of title game appearances, coming up just short of a title in both 2013 and 2016.
Quinnipiac won the ECAC regular season title with a 31-6-3 record, but fell to Harvard in the conference tournament final. Goaltender Yaniv Perets is coming off a spectacular season in net, going 21-5-2 with 11 shutouts and a .949 save percentage, earning him ECAC Player of the Year honors.
They get to play St. Cloud State (18-14-4) in Allentown, PA, with the Huskies looking to make it back to the title game for the second straight year.
