The 12-team NCAA Division 3 tournament field was announced on Monday morning and, as expected, the only four New England teams included are the conference champions from the weekend.
Trinity (NESCAC), Babson (NEHC), University of New England (Commonwealth Coast) and Plymouth State (MASCAC) all earned automatic bids to the tournament, which will begin with first-round games on Saturday.
The Frozen Four is scheduled for March 25-26 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Here is the tournament schedule, and some burning questions surrounding the region’s teams.
FIRST ROUND
Saturday, March 12
Elmira (18-6-2) at Hobart (19-5-2)
St. Olaf (11-14-3) at St. Norbert (23-6)
Trinity (17-7-1) at Babson (19-5-2)
Plymouth State (19-5-2) at UNE (21-3-1)
QUARTERFINALS
Saturday, March 19
Elmira/Hobart winner at Adrian (28-1)
St. Olaf/St. Norbert winner at Augsburg (24-4)
Trinity/Babson winner at SUNY-Geneseo (22-3-1)
Plymouth State/UNE winner at Utica (25-2-1)
SEMIFINALS/CHAMPIONSHIP
At Lake Placid, N.Y.
Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26
Is Trinity peaking at the right time?
Without a doubt. It’s eight straight wins now for the Bantams, a streak that was accelerated with a critical sweep of Wesleyan on the last weekend of the regular season.
With sophomore JP Mella (Stamford, Conn.) entrenched as the goalie, the Bantams allowed just one goal during three NESCAC playoff games, outscoring Conn. College, Williams and Colby 13-1, and putting their December struggles further in the rear-view mirror.
“I knew there’d be growing pains throughout the year,” said coach Matt Greason (North Bridgton, Maine). “I just didn’t expect we’d have as many as we had.”
Lucas Michaud of South Portland, Maine (9-14-23), the NESCAC Player of the Year, Jax Murray (9-12-21) and Gerard Maretta (13-9-22) – who scored twice in the 4-1 win over Colby in the final – have formed a dynamite top line.
“We worked really hard for this and we deserve it,” said Mella after the final. “I’m excited to see how far we’ll go.”
Can Babson keep drawing favorable match-ups?
The NEHC tournament couldn’t have played out any better for the fourth-seeded Beavers, who knocked off heavyweights Norwich and Elmira, then were gifted a home game in the final when sixth-seeded Skidmore upset top-seeded Hobart.
Babson’s 5-3 win in Saturday’s final at the Babson Skating Center was its 21st in the last 22 meetings with Skidmore. Talk about having a team’s number.
The first-round game should be a good one, two teams playing great hockey at the most important time of year. They were supposed to play on New Year's Eve but that game was canceled. The Beavers did go 4-0 against the NESCAC, though, taking wins from Tufts, Bowdoin, Colby and Amherst.
Babson won the NEHC because its best players were its best players. Senior Ryan Black (Pomfret, Conn.) was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by classmates Mike Egan (Billerica, Mass.) and John Corrigan (Stoneham, Mass.), and graduate student Brad Arvanitis (Holliston, Mass.), who made 23 saves in the final.
That will need to continue.
UNE has won 11 straight. Can it extend that streak to 12?
The finish to the CCC season was every bit as exciting as the months that led up to it.
Jared Christy scored on the power play a little more than three minutes into sudden death to give the Nor’easters a 3-2 win over Endicott in front of a sold-out crowd at the Harold Alfond Forum.
That 11th straight win matched UNE’s program record. The opportunity for the 12th will come on home ice against Plymouth, a team it did not face during the regular season but scrimmaged back in October.
"They're a very good hockey team," said UNE coach Kevin Swallow. "When we played them in the preseason it was a very evenly-matched hockey game five-on-five."
Jake Fuss of Fairfield, Conn. (11-26-37), Austin Morgan (10-23-33), Christy (16-16-32) and Dan Winslow of Fairfield, Conn. (12-13-25) have carried the team offensively, and team captains Chris Jones and Liam Darcy (East Waterboro, Maine) have produced points while anchoring the blueline.
"We emphasized team defense down the stretch," said Swallow. "We've always been a team that can score goals."
The Nor'easters are a top-10 offensive team nationally, averaging 4.28 goals a game. And, as impressive as their win streak has been, it's not even close to the longest current one in the tournament. After losing its opener, Adrian has rolled off 28 wins in a row.
Has Plymouth State been tested enough to be dangerous?
The Panthers ran roughshod through their conference, punctuating their latest title with 8-4 wins over Framingham State and Salem State in the playoffs.
While Myles Abbate (Norwell, Mass.) and JR Barone have combined for 37 of the team’s 115 goals (32 percent), the center on that line, cerebral senior Mike McPherson (Somerville, Mass.), has dished out 17 assists.
A real concern is the schedule. The team’s only real foray out-of-conference since the start of the season was a three-game December stretch that saw a win over UMass Boston, and one-goal losses to Wesleyan and New England College.
“We just haven’t had a high-caliber opponent since December,” said coach Craig Russell (Northfield, Vt.). “If we can adjust to that speed and make sure we’re playing a bit quicker, I think we’re going to be fine.”
Another recent concern is the penalty kill, which allowed five goals in the two MASCAC playoff games. Now it must face a high-flying UNE power play that is clicking at a robust 24 percent.
“We need our penalty kill to be better,” said Russell . “I understand the flow of the game is different with us being up … but we need to be better. That goes for the four guys out there plus our goaltender.”
@MikeZhe603
mzhe@hockeyjournal.com
