Minnesota State, North Dakota, Boston University and Miami got No. 1 seeds for the 2015 NCAA Division I men’s hockey tournament when the brackets were unveiled Sunday.<\/p>\n
The NCAA men’s ice hockey committee placed Minnesota State in the Midwest Regional in South Bend, Ind., while North Dakota is the host of the West Regional in Fargo, N.D.<\/p>\n
Boston University is the top seed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H., and Miami leads the field in the East Regional in Providence, R.I.<\/p>\n
Here are the first-round games:<\/p>\n
• Boston University vs. Yale, 2 p.m. EDT Friday<\/p>\n
• Minnesota-Duluth vs. Minnesota, 5:30 p.m. EDT Friday<\/p>\n
• Michigan Tech vs. St. Cloud State, 3:30 p.m. CDT Friday<\/p>\n
• North Dakota vs. Quinnipiac, 7 p.m. CDT Friday<\/p>\n
• Denver vs. Boston College, 3 p.m. EDT Saturday<\/p>\n
• Miami vs. Providence, 6:30 p.m. EDT Saturday<\/p>\n
• Minnesota State vs. RIT, 4 p.m. EDT Saturday<\/p>\n
• Omaha vs. Harvard, 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday<\/p>\n
The Boston University-Yale first-round game matches the nation’s top offense (BU, 3.89 goals per game) and top defense (Yale, 1.59 goals per game).<\/p>\n
“We don’t know much about Yale, but we know that they’re a good team and obviously all 16 teams who made it this far are really good,” Boston University captain Matt Grzelcyk said. “I wish we could play right now; I know the guys are all really excited, and we’re looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n
Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth will be playing for the fifth time this season, all in different venues.<\/p>\n
“They’re all tough brackets,” Terriers coach David Quinn said. “Minnesota [against] Minnesota-Duluth has a bit of a BU-BC flair. … People were talking before the season started that Minnesota might be the best team on paper, and Duluth has beaten them three times in four games this year and had a good program for a while now, so that’s going to be a battle.”<\/p>\n
Denver split a home series with Boston College in the first half, losing 2-1 before rebounding for a 2-1 overtime victory.<\/p>\n
“It’s a really good opponent that we are familiar with for playing last year and twice earlier this year,” Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery said. “They are very deep.”<\/p>\n
The Omaha-Harvard game features an interesting coaching matchup.<\/p>\n
“Definitely happy that we’re one of 16 teams and happy that we’re seeded eighth,” Omaha coach Dean Blais said. “Knowing [Harvard coach] Teddy Donato, he’s got players who can think and skate because that’s how Teddy was.<\/p>\n
“I’ve heard a lot about his teams and how hard they compete, and it doesn’t surprise me. Teddy played for me on my 1992 Olympic team. I traveled the whole year with him, and he got to be a friend. And now we get to be enemies here next Saturday.”<\/p>\n
Six NCHC teams made the field of 16, tying for the largest amount from any conference in tournament history. In 2008, six of 10 WCHA teams qualified.<\/p>\n
Regionals in Manchester and Fargo are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, while games in Manchester and South Bend are Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
The four regional winners advance to the Frozen Four in Boston April 9 and 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Dakota, Boston University and Miami also are No. 1 seeds in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n