Following this weekend's completion of conference championships across the country, the bracket for the 2019 NCAA Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey Championship was revealed on Sunday night.
Six of the 16 teams in the field hail from the New England, though only two Hockey East teams join champion Northeastern. American International is also an automatic qualifier after earning its first-ever Atlantic Hockey regular-season and tournament titles.
After never posting a .500 season in its Division 1 program history before this year, AIC has rewritten program record books and is set to make its NCAA tournament debut against No. 1 overall seed St. Cloud State. Before the puck drops on AIC’s Friday night game in Fargo, N.D., a pair of regional clubs will do battle closer to home as UMass and Harvard commence the Northeast Regional at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H.
Hockey East rivals Providence and Northeastern join Minnesota State and Cornell in that four-team East Regional field at Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., which will play its games on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s slate also includes Quinnipiac taking on independent Arizona State at the Midwest Regional in Allentown, Pa.
There are often minor tweaks that the selection committee can make to boost attendance at specific locations and/or bring teams closer to home, but this bracket was put together in the most straightforward fashion. The teams were placed together in the exact No. 1-16 order as the final PairWise Rankings.
NEHJ’s latest Division 1 Rankings cover the six teams playing NCAA games. Additional notes on the teams that had their seasons end this past weekend follow.
1. Massachusetts
Record: 28-9 (18-6 Hockey East) / Last week: 1
The Minutemen were shut out for only the third time all season as Boston College earned a 3-0 win in Friday night’s opening Hockey East semifinal at TD Garden. Freshman Fille Lindberg made 26 saves in his second consecutive start, but his offense was unable to beat BC’s Joseph Woll on any of its 36 shots. Sophomore defenseman Cale Makar was selected as a Hobey Baker Award finalist earlier last week and led UMass with six shots on goal in the game.
2. Northeastern
Record: 27-10-1 (15-8-1 Hockey East) / Last week: 2
The Huskies defeated Boston University and Boston College en route to their second Hockey East championship in four seasons, earning 2-1 (OT) and 3-2 wins at TD Garden. Sophomore Cayden Primeau posted a .957 save percentage and allowed only three goals over the weekend. Sophomore Zach Solow scored his team-leading 15th goal to win Friday’s semifinal, while senior Brandon Hawkins factored into four of Northeastern’s five goals, scoring two on Saturday. Junior Matt Filipe (Lynnfield, Mass.) had a goal and two assists at the Garden.
3. Providence
Record: 22-11-6 (14-7-3 Hockey East) / Last week: 3
Last weekend’s three-game quarterfinal series loss to Boston College left the Friars anxiously awaiting an at-large bid, but Northeastern’s Hockey East title allowed them to grab one of the final spots. Providence won’t have far to travel for its NCAA regional either, as it was placed downtown at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for the third time since winning the national title in 2015.
4. Quinnipiac
Record: 25-9-2 (14-6-2 ECAC Hockey) / Last week: 4
The Bobcats were idle over the weekend after Brown swept them in the best-of-three ECAC quarterfinals, 2-1 (OT) and 4-3. The trip to Allentown, Pa., this weekend will mark Quinnipiac’s first appearance in the national tournament since it went to Tampa for the 2016 title.
5. Harvard
Record: 19-10-3 (13-7-2 ECAC Hockey) / Last week: 5
Despite dropping a 5-2 decision to Clarkson in Friday’s ECAC semifinals in Lake Placid, N.Y., Harvard moves onto the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five seasons. Junior defenseman Adam Fox and freshman Jack Rathbone (West Roxbury, Mass.) scored goals against the Golden Knights, while Fox also added an assist for his 14th multiple-point game of the season and broke Harvard’s single-season record for points by a defenseman. Senior goaltender Michael Lackey made 19 saves in his first start since Feb. 16.
6. American International
Record: 22-16-1 (18-9-1 Atlantic Hockey) / Last week: 8
The Yellow Jackets earned 3-2 overtime wins over Robert Morris and Niagara to continue their historic run with the first Atlantic Hockey championship in program history. Juniors Blake Christensen and Hugo Reinhardt scored the respective game-winning goals and finished the weekend with a goal and an assist apiece. Seniors Ryan Polin and Shawn McBride had two assists over the two games. Junior goaltender Zackarias Skog made 24 and 22 saves to earn each the victories.
The season ended this past weekend for the following three teams:
Boston College
Record: 14-22-3 (10-11-3 Hockey East) / Last week: 10
Junior Joseph Woll pitched a 36-save shutout to eliminate UMass from Hockey East title contention on Friday, but a pair of second-period goals weren’t enough in the following night’s 3-2 loss to Northeastern. With a win, the Eagles would have become the first-ever Hockey East team with a sub-.500 record to make an NCAA appearance. Junior David Cotton scored the game-winner against UMass and finished the weekend with three points, including two goals. Sophomore Logan Hutsko had three assists but was carted off the ice on a stretcher after hitting his head on the ice during the third period of Saturday’s game.
Boston University
Record: 16-18-4 (12-9-3 Hockey East)
Junior Jake Oettinger did all he could to muster a different result, but Northeastern beat him twice on 44 shots and came away with its second 2-1 overtime win over the Terriers in Friday’s opening Hockey East semifinal at TD Garden. Sophomore Ty Amonte (Norwell, Mass.) scored the lone Terrier goal in the second period. BU did not have Hockey East Rookie of the Year Joel Farabee in the lineup after he suffered a lower-body injury during third game of the prior weekend’s quarterfinal series at UMass Lowell.
Brown
Record: 15-14-5 (8-9-5 ECAC Hockey)
The Bears saw their impressive postseason run come to an end with a 6-0 loss to Cornell in Friday’s ECAC semifinal game in Lake Placid. Junior Brent Beaudoin (Londonderry, N.H.) led Brown with seven shots on goal, while Gavin Nieto made 16 saves in the net. Brown had won all four of its playoff outings before Friday, sweeping both Princeton and Quinnipiac.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Brandon Hawkins
Northeastern / Sr. / F / Macomb Township, Mich.
Hawkins helped the Huskies extend their winning streak to six games and win their second Hockey East championship in four years with a total of two goals and two assists over two games. He assisted on Zach Solow’s game-winning goal on Friday before posting three points in the first period of the following championship victory. The Bowling Green transfer has 12 goals and 32 points this season, ranking second on the Huskies in the latter category.
Cayden Primeau
Northeastern / Soph. / G / Voorhees, N.J.
Primeau added Hockey East Tournament MVP honors to his resume after doing the same in the Beanpot last month. He amassed a .957 save percentage and 1.33 goals against average combined, making a nation-leading 67 saves over the two games. He stopped 29 of the 30 shots in Friday’s overtime win and 38 of 40 in the following night’s title game.
