March Madness has arrived on the ice.
Four New England teams — two from ECAC Hockey and two from Hockey East — find themselves four wins away from a Division 1 men's hockey national championship after the 16-team tournament field was announced during Sunday night's selection show on ESPNU.
Within our home region, SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H., and Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Conn., will serve as two of the four regional hosts. The road to the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., will also run through Allentown, Pa., and Fargo, N.D.
Now that the bracket is announced, here is a look at the tournament's local flavor:
Quinnipiac (30-4-3)
How they got here: Despite winning three straight ECAC Hockey regular-season championships, the Bobcats will begin another NCAA run looking to bounce back from a postseason loss. They have not claimed the league tournament title since a 2016 run that finished at a Frozen Four in Tampa.
Friday’s 2-1 double-overtime setback to eventual league champion Colgate snapped a 12-game win streak, marking Quinnipiac’s first loss since Jan. 21 against the same Raiders team. It was a rare semifinal night as stellar sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets was peppered and needed to make a career-high 45 saves.
What’s next: Friday, March 24 vs. Merrimack (Bridgeport, Conn.)
Why they could go on a run: The Bobcats got closer to the Frozen Four than any New England club last year, winning a regional game before falling short to high-flying Michigan. Nearly that entire recipe of star players, high-level scoring and defense, anchored by former All-American Zach Metsa, and the stellar goaltending of Perets is back. The addition of Union College transfer Collin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.) and his 55 points only added more firepower to the mix. With Perets, there is plenty of confidence that Quinnipiac will always be in the game. If experience is the greatest teacher, Rand Pecknold (Bedford, N.H.) hopes his team is better for last year’s tournament trip.
THE LOCAL KID: How Merrimack's Matt Copponi fulfilled a lifelong dream in the Hockey East semifinals
Harvard (24-7-2)
How they got here: The Crimson was unable to defend its ECAC Hockey postseason title and win for the fifth time in nine years after Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Colgate, but the sixth 20-win campaign under coach Ted Donato (Dedham, Mass.) was more than enough for a return national tournament bid.
Few teams have played as well as Harvard of late as it is 9-1-1 in a most recent 11-game span and 16-4-1 since the calendar turned to 2023, finishing second in the conference. In that time, the junior trio of Matthew Coronato, ECAC Hockey Player of the Year Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Alex Laferriere have all become 20-goal scorers to lead the offense for a talented team.
What’s next: Friday, March 24 vs. Michigan Tech (Bridgeport, Conn.)
Why they could go on a run: Senior defenseman Henry Thrun (Southborough, Mass.) provides great leadership presence and skill from the back and Mitchell Gibson is an experienced goaltender with Beanpot and postseason championship starts and victories under his belt, but this Harvard team is best known for its offensive ability. Of course, Farrell has been one of the country’s most consistent and dynamic players all season (1.58 points per game) while contributing to a power play unit that clicks at 24.1 percent, which is the best mark of any local team that advanced to this past weekend.
Boston University (27-10-0)
How they got here: Led by first-year coach Jay Pandolfo (Winchester, Mass.), the Terriers won both the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles for the seventh time in program history and raised the Lou Lamoriello Trophy for the first time since 2018. BU enters the tournament in the midst of the nation’s longest active win streak at seven consecutive games.
Freshman brothers Quinn Hutson and Lane Hutson scored the respective deciding goals in overtime to beat Providence and Merrimack at the Garden, with the latter notching his 14th goal, sixth game-winner and 47th point to win the championship and add to a Hockey East Rookie of the Year and Tournament MVP resume.
What’s next: Thursday, March 23 vs. Michigan Tech (Manchester, N.H.)
Why they could go on a run: There is something to be said about being hot coming into the postseason, but the Terriers are certainly no late-season flash in the pan. Pandolfo led the club with incredible consistency as winning Hockey East requires, and it sure helps to have a 10-member senior class, which is incredibly rare for a program that produces such a high number of NHL prospects. As for the recent past, BU went until the Beanpot without consecutive losses and has ridden junior stopper Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) off a perfect run since falling in four straight.
HOCKEY EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: 5 takeaways from BU’s win over Merrimack for Hockey East title
Merrimack (23-13-1)
How they got here: The Warriors never trailed in 152:02 of game time between their Hockey East semifinal and championship games. Their first trip to TD Garden since 2011 was possible because of another double-overtime win against Boston College in the previous weekend’s quarterfinal game.
On the whole, fifth-year head coach Scott Borek (Swampscott, Mass.) has led a special season in the midst of assistant coach Josh Ciocco’s passing in October. Merrimack won 23 games — including two in overtime during the postseason — on the way to a program-best finish as the No. 2 seed in the conference. Junior Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass.) was a Hockey East Player of the Year finalist while becoming Merrimack’s first 40-point scorer since Stephane Da Costa.
What’s next: Friday, March 24 vs. Quinnipiac (Bridgeport, Conn.)
Why they could go on a run: Borek’s club has been tested in hard battles just in this postseason alone and will be motivated to make the most of this opportunity after only qualifying for the NCAA bracket once St. Cloud State finished its NCHC championship late Saturday. The likes of Jefferies and sophomore center Matt Copponi (Mansfield, Mass.) have developed into two of Hockey East’s top players and are now surrounded by experienced graduate transfers at both ends of the rink. Junior Zachary Borgiel and sophomore Hugo Ollas have been a true goaltending duo, nearly splitting action to keep one another fresh throughout the rigors of Hockey East.
