The final stops on the road to the Frozen Four in Buffalo, N.Y., come this weekend as six New England programs compete across all four NCAA tournament regions in Manchester, N.H.; Providence, R.I.; Allentown, Pa.; and Fargo, N.D.
Both New England-based brackets feature a pair of teams from the region, though Friday’s opening game of the entire tournament sees two of them squaring off in Manchester. In the Granite State, it will be No. 2 overall seed and Hockey East regular-season champion UMass facing Harvard. Providence makes the short trip downtown to Dunkin’ Donuts Center with the potential for a second-round clash with league rival Northeastern.
While four teams were placed into brackets close to home, the remaining two will have to venture outside of the region for their tournament games.
Quinnipiac meets Arizona State at the Midwest Region in Allentown, Pa., in which defending national champion Minnesota Duluth is the top seed. The Bobcats were not in the NCAA tournament during either of the last two years. Atlantic Hockey champion American International will cap Friday night’s West Regional doubleheader against No. 1 St. Cloud State in Fargo, N.D.
