Four Local Teams Still Skating In NCAA Hockey Tournament
BOSTON (CBS) - The bracket is set for the NCAA Men's College Hockey Tournament, and four local teams will be looking to finish the season in the Bay State when the Frozen Four comes to the TD Garden.
Boston University, Boston College, Harvard, and Providence are all still alive, with BU earning one of the four No. 1 seeds after clinching Hockey East Saturday night with a win over UMass-Lowell.
Boston University is the first Boston-area team to put their season on the line when they face Yale Friday afternoon in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Terriers, led by freshman sensation Jack Eichel, have had a wonderful season en route to boasting the nation's top offense.
Aside from the Hockey East title, BU also won the Hockey East regular season crown as well as the Beanpot--all part of a 23-7-5 season under head coach Dan Quinn.
"When the season started we felt we had a chance to win a national title if everything went right. If we stayed healthy and worked hard, we felt we had the talent. We've put ourselves in that position," head coach David Quinn said Sunday.
The Terriers won't have it easy on Friday, as Yale enters the tournament with the top-ranked defense in the country and hungry for a second national title in three years.
Up the street from BU is the Boston College Eagles, who have clinched an at-large bid and will face Denver in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday in a rematch of last year's first round matchup in the tournament. BC hopes to have a repeat of that playoff game, as they easily downed the Pioneers 6-2. The two schools also met twice in the regular season as both squads won one game apiece, 2-1.
Meanwhile in Rhode Island, the Providence Friars basketball team may be done in the Big Dance, but the men's hockey team looks to pick up the slack when they take on Miami-OH in their first back-to-back tournament appearance in school history. Oddly enough, PC will stay put in Providence for their first game and potentially a second should they win in the East Regional.
"It's a terrific regional. You have four teams that are all big-time teams. It's probably the toughest regional. Definitely, on paper it is. It's going to be great hockey,'' said PC coach Nate Leaman.
The Friars have had an impressive year, going 22-13-2 behind the play of junior goalie Jon Gillies, who was selected as a Hockey East First Team All-Star for the second time in his career.
The fourth and final local team looking to skate their way to the Frozen Four is the Harvard Crimson. Harvard is coming off an ECAC Conference Championship over Colgate and will play Nebraska Omaha Sunday afternoon on the campus of Notre Dame. This will be the 22nd overall tournament appearance for the Crimson and first since 2006.
"I'm particularly proud of the way they've handled themselves through a number of different circumstances, whatever came their way," said Harvard coach Ted Donato.
The Nebraska Omaha Mavericks will be a tough foe for the Cambridge puck team, as they went 18-12-6 to earn a two seed in the region. Harvard is the third seed in the region, ending the regular season with a record of 21-12-3.
They're all fighting for a trip to Boston in a couple of weeks, as the Frozen Four will be held at the TD Garden on Thursday, April 9, with the NCAA Championship game on Saturday, April 11.
