NCAA Tournament Field Announced

It’s Selection Sunday for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Tournament, following last night’s conference championship games. The top 20 or so teams waited anxiously to hear their names called and to see where they had been seeded ahead of next weekend’s Regional round. 16 teams are selected to the tournament: the six conference champions – Boston University of Hockey East, Notre Dame of the Big Ten, defending champ Denver of the NCHC, red-hot Princeton of the ECAC, Michigan Tech of the WCHA, and Air Force of Atlantic Hockey – and ten at-large bids. Four each, seeded 1 through 4 in each region, will play a single-elimination tournament (#1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The hosts of the Regionals this year are Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) for the Northeast Region, Fairfield (Bridgeport, CT) for the East Region, Penn State (Allentown, PA) for the Midwest Region, and 2016 title-holders North Dakota (Sioux Falls, SD) for the West Region. Of the four host schools, only Penn State qualified for the tournament. Below is how the selections and seedings shook out when the entire 2017-18 season was taken into account by the NCAA Selection Committee:

Northeast

1. Cornell (ECAC)
2. Michigan (Big 10)
3. Northeastern (HE)
4. Boston University (HE)

East

1. Notre Dame (Big 10)
2. Providence (HE)
3. Clarkson (ECAC)
4. Michigan Tech (WCHA)

Midwest

1. Ohio State (Big 10)
2. Denver (NCHC)
3. Penn State (Big 10)
4. Princeton (ECAC)

West

1. St. Cloud State (NCHC)
2. Minnesota State (WHCA)
3. Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC)
4. Air Force (Atlantic)

While all four regions have more than their fair share of talent, the location to watch is the Northeast, where top-seed Cornell is rewarded with a match-up against BU, the team with perhaps the most NHL talent on their roster. The winner faces the survivor of Michigan-Northeastern, quite the showdown in it’s own right. The easiest path to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota belongs to St. Cloud State, the #1 overall seed in the tournament. Air Force poses little threat to the Huskies, while they went 4-2 against Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth combined this season.

The biggest surprises of the selections? With the Big Ten leading the way with four teams earning a spot, some notable teams were left out. No absence jumps out as much as North Dakota, who hasn’t missed the NCAA tournament since 2002. North Dakota has been extremely successful in recent years and even this year was ranked #14 in the final Pairwise rankings. However, it just wasn’t enough and neither was #13, as the Minnesota Golden Gophers were the highest-ranked team to not qualify for the tournament. Perennial contender Boston College was also left out of the action. It is the first time since 1977 that all three of BC, Minnesota, and North Dakota are absent for the National Tournament, perhaps exemplifying the growth of the college game in recent years. Other teams that some may be disappointed to see snubbed are Harvard, and Olympic star Ryan Donato, and an upstart Bowling Green squad that fell just short of a surprise appearance.

Regardless of the teams not selected, those who did qualify present a fantastic group of talent. The 2018 NCAA Hockey Tournament is one worth watching and the last few years have shown that this tournament is never short on drama and excitement. Enjoy the best of the best in college hockey over the next few weeks.