Gophers to face Nebraska Omaha in NCAA men's hockey tournament; all five state teams in field

Randy Johnson, Star Tribune
·2 min read
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Somewhere, Herb Brooks is smiling.

For the first time, all five Minnesota Division I men's hockey teams will play in the NCAA tournament in the same year. The 16-team field was announced Sunday night, and the Gophers, Minnesota State Mankato, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Bemidji State all made it.

The Gophers (23-6), who finished second in the Big Ten regular season by .002 percentage points to Wisconsin and beat the Badgers 6-4 in the conference tournament final, were the No. 3 overall seed and were placed in the West Regional on Saturday and Sunday in Loveland, Colo. Minnesota will play No. 4 regional seed Nebraska Omaha.

Also in the West is No. 2 seed Minnesota State Mankato (20-4-1), which won the WCHA regular-season title but lost 5-1 to Northern Michigan in the conference tournament semifinals. The Mavericks will face No. 3 seed Quinnipiac.

St. Cloud State (17-10), which finished second to North Dakota in both the NCHC regular season and tournament, was sent to the Northeast Regional in Albany, N.Y., as the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 seed Boston University. The other half of the Northeast bracket has No. 1 seed Boston College meeting No. 4 Notre Dame.

Minnesota Duluth (14-10-2), which finished third in the NCHC regular season and lost to St. Cloud State in the tournament semifinals, was sent to the Midwest Regional in Fargo as the No. 3 seed. The two-time defending national champions will play No. 2 seed Michigan. North Dakota, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, will play American International in the first round in the Midwest.

Bemidji State (15-9-3), which took fourth in the WCHA in the regular season and lost to Lake Superior State in the conference tournament semifinals, was placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn., and will face No. 1 seed Wisconsin. No. 2 seed Massachusetts meets No. 3 Lake Superior State in the other first-round game in the East.

One spot opened up Sunday when St. Lawrence, which upset top-seeded Quinnipiac 3-2 in overtime in the ECAC tournament final and an NCAA bid, had to pull out of the tournament because coach Brent Brekke tested positive for COVID-19. St. Lawrence finished 6-8-3 and would not have received an at-large bid.