New England will be well represented – even by the region’s own lofty standards – in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament, which begins this Thursday. In fact, half of the 16-team field is from New England, something that has only happened once before.
Hockey East leads the way with six teams, tied for the most they – or any conference – has ever sent to NCAAs. The league also had six teams make it in 2016, which was also the only other time there were eight New England teams in the tourney.
Regular-season champions Boston College are the No. 1 overall seed, holding on to the top spot in the Pairwise rankings despite getting upset by Northeastern in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament. The Eagles will open in Manchester, N.H. on Friday afternoon against Atlantic Hockey champs and Boston-area neighbors Bentley, who are making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Hockey East tournament champs Maine are also a one-seed and will open with a tough matchup against Penn State in Allentown, Pa. Friday night. Because Penn State is the host school for the Allentown regional, the Nittany Lions needed to be placed there despite being a four-seed.
UConn, the team Maine beat in the Hockey East championship game, will also be in Allentown as the two-seed. The Huskies, in their first-ever NCAA tournament, will open up against fellow Nutmeggers Quinnipiac, the ECAC regular-season champs.
Providence College will join BC and Bentley in Manchester as the two-seed there. In one of the most intriguing first-round matchups, the Friars will take on defending national champs Denver in the second game Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Boston University and UMass, also at-large teams from Hockey East, will be heading out west. The Terriers will be the two-seed in Toledo, Ohio, but might as well be the road team for their first-round matchup with three-seed Ohio State, which will be the opening game of the tournament Thursday afternoon.
The Minutemen, a three-seed, will definitely feel like the road team in Fargo, N.D., where they’ll take on two-seed Minnesota in a Thursday night primetime game at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Below is the full schedule for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. First-round games will be played on Thursday and Friday, followed by the regional finals on Saturday and Sunday. The winners of each regional will advance to the Frozen Four, which begins April 10 in St. Louis and concludes with the national championship game on April 12.
The winner of the Manchester regional will face the winner of the Fargo regional in one national semifinal, while the winners of the Toledo and Allentown regionals will meet in the other.
Toledo, Ohio
Thursday, March 27
2. Boston University vs. 3. Ohio State (2 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
1. Michigan State vs. 4 Cornell (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Saturday, March 29
Regional Final (4/6:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Fargo, North Dakota
Thursday, March 27
1. Western Michigan vs. 4. Minnesota State (5 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
2. Minnesota vs. 3. Massachusetts (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Saturday, March 29
Regional Final (4/6:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Manchester, New Hampshire
Friday, March 28
1. Boston College vs. 4. Bentley (2 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
2. Providence vs. 3. Denver (5:30 p.m., ESPN+)
Sunday, March 30
Regional Final (4:30/7 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Friday, March 28
2. Connecticut vs. 3. Quinnipiac (5 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
1. Maine vs. 4. Penn State (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Sunday, March 30
Regional Final (4:30/7 p.m. ET, ESPN2)