The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team found out their overall seed, location, and opponent for the first round of the NCAA Tournament during the selection show on Sunday.
Maine got the 5th seed for the tournament and was placed in the Springfield, Massachusetts regional at the Mass Mutual Center. The Black Bears are set to play on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against the Cornell Big Red out of the ECAC. 12th seeded Cornell (21-6-6) claimed the conference title on Saturday by beating St. Lawrence 3-1. The regional in Springfield is hosted by UMass, who also made the field of 16 and will face Denver out of the NCHC. The 3 seed Pioneers nabbed their leagues tournament championship 4-1 over Omaha on Saturday. That win helped put the Minutemen into the NCAA Tournament as a 14 seed. UMass lost in the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden on Friday to the #1 team in the country Boston College 8-1. The Eagles got the top seed and is headed to the Providence region, after defeating Boston University 6-2 in the title game of Hockey East. BU is the 2 seed and in the Sioux Falls, North Dakota region.
Maine (23-11-2), fresh off a semifinal loss to Boston University 4-1 on Friday in the Hockey East Tournament (first appearance since 2012), will be returning to the NCAA Tournament also for the first time in 12 years. The Black Bears last regional game was a 5-2 first round defeat at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on March 24, 2012.
The regional final in Springfield is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Frozen Four this season will be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota with the national semifinals on Thursday, April 11 and the national championship on Saturday, April 13.
Full Regional Schedule-
Providence, Rhode Island region:
Boston College (31-5-1) vs Michigan Tech (19-14-6) Friday, March 29 @ 2 p.m.
Wisconsin (26-11-2) vs Quinnipiac (26-9-2) Friday, March 29 @ 5:30 p.m.
Regional Final- Sunday, March 31 @ 4 p.m.
Maryland Heights region-
Michigan State (24-9-3) vs Western Michigan (21-15-1) Friday, March 29 @ 5 p.m.
North Dakota (26-11-2) vs Michigan (21-14-3) Friday, March 29 @ 8:30 p.m.
Regional Final- Sunday, March 31 @ 6:30 p.m.
Sioux Falls, North Dakota region-
Boston University (26-9-2) vs RIT (27-10-2) Thursday, March 28 @ 5 p.m.
Minnesota (22-10-5) vs Omaha (23-12-4) Thursday, March 28 @ 8:30 p.m.
Regional Final- Saturday, March 30 @ 6:30 p.m.
Springfield, Massachusetts region-
Denver (28-9-3) vs UMass (20-13-3) Thursday, March 28 @ 2 p.m.
Maine (23-11-2) vs Cornell (21-6-6) Thursday, March 28 @ 5:30 p.m.
Regional Final- Saturday, March 30 @ 4 p.m.
Written by Chris Lessner
