The casual viewers guide to the NCAA Hockey Tournament
A Quick Look at the bracket and what to watch for this week when the tournament starts Thursday.
Because of the system, there isn’t much drama when it comes to Selection Sunday for the NCAA men’s hockey tournament.
There are a couple of quirks the committee can add when it comes to regional placement, but because of the pairwise system and automatic qualifiers, the committee doesn’t actually select anyone.
For a quick 101, here is how teams get into the tournament through pairwise, from USCHO.
The PWR method compares each team with every other such team, with the winner of each “comparison” earning one PWR point. After all comparisons are made, the points are totaled up and rankings listed accordingly.
With 60 Division I men’s teams, the greatest number of PWR points any team could earn is 59, winning the comparison with every other team. Meanwhile, a team that lost all of its comparisons would have no PWR points.
Once the 16 teams have qualified, the committee places the 16 teams in four regionals.
There are some quirks and qualms with that process, which we can discuss at another time. But on Sunday we were given this bracket to determine the 2024 National Champion.
If you are a college hockey aficionado, you don’t need this piece.
But if you are a hockey fan, who primarily focuses on the NHL, or simply wants a quick refresh on the tournament. Here is my casual viewers guide to the NCAA Tournament.
I took each team, and basically answered as if you asked me at a restaurant/bar to give a quick synopsis when you saw the game on TV this week.
Providence, R.I., Regional
1. Boston College (31-5-1) vs. 4. Michigan Tech (19-14-6), Friday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPNU
2. Wisconsin (26-11-2) vs. 3. Quinnipiac (26-9-2), Friday, 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN News
Regional Final, Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, ESPNU
Boston College: The No. 1 seed in the tournament and Hockey East champions. If you watched the 2024 World Junior Championships, many of the heroes from that team also play for BC — Cutter Gauthier, Ryan Leonard, Will Smith, and Gabe Perrault. Plus Jacob Fowler, the back-up for Team USA at World Junior, has been one of college hockey’s best goalies. Anything less than a national championship will be a disappointment for BC this year.
Michigan Tech: Michigan Tech won the WCHA to qualify for the tournament, and was essentially a disaster this season until the Great Lakes Invitational, where I watched them beat eventual Big 10 champion Michigan State in overtime. Michigan Tech is an older team, the average age is 22.10 compared to BC, which is the youngest team in college hockey at 20.59 average age. There are four Pietila family members on Michigan Tech, three brothers and a cousin. Goalie Blake Pietila will likely be signed to an NHL or AHL contract once the tournament is over.
Wisconsin: The Badgers went from the bottom of the Big 10 to the top in the middle of the season, but faltered down the stretch losing to Michigan State with a chance to win the Big 10 regular season title and then getting ousted by Ohio State in the first round of the Big 10 postseason. Mike Hastings is a damn good coach and his goalie Kyle McClellan leads the NCAA with a .931 save percentage.
Quinnipiac: The defending NCAA champions are the third-seeded team in this region. Surprisingly Quinnipiac didn’t win the ECAC conference tournament after being, by far, the best team in that conference all season. It’s not an overly exciting team, but it’s an efficient one. Colin Graf is also fascinating to me because some NHL team is going to grab him and turn him into one of the NHL’s better undrafted finds.
Sioux Falls, S.D., Regional
1. Boston University (26-9-2) vs. 4. RIT (27-10-2), Thursday, 4 p.m. CT, ESPNU
2. Minnesota (22-10-5) vs. 3. Omaha (23-12-4), 7:30 p.m. CT, ESPNU
Regional Final, Saturday, 5:30 p.m. CT, ESPNU
Boston University: Macklin Celebrini is the obvious draw. The presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and potential Honey Baker winner. It pulls away from some of the other obvious superstars at BU, including Lane Hutson who is exciting to watch from the blue line. I write a lot about goalies when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, that’s the nature of a one-and-done format, so I’m curios to see Mathieu Caron’s bounceback after a great season where he struggled in his two biggest starts — the Beanpot and Hockey East championship games.
RIT: RIT is the oldest team in college hockey, like the BC-Tech matchup, RIT-BU is two teams on the opposite side of the college hockey universe. One loaded with future NHL talent, one loaded with older players that had to win their conference tournament just to get in. RIT outscored opponents 26-6 in its last five games of the season to win the AHA, so it’s a confident group.
Minnesota: Jimmy Snuggerud is the big name, and the 2022 first-round pick has a big reputation. But he hasn’t really scored much down the stretch and was a ghost for most of the Big 10 semifinal against Michigan. Great player, will have strong NHL career with St. Louis, but in a rut, seemingly. Oliver Moore, a Chicago prospect, has always been intriguing and was close to a point-per-game player this season.
Omaha: Omaha has been on a heater since January and nearly won the NCHC postseason tournament before falling to Denver. They impressively dismantled North Dakota 6-3 in the NCHC semifinal this past weekend. Brothers Tanner and Griffin Ludtke lead the team in points, while it’s a group that doesn’t have a so-called focal point offensively. On a good night, Omaha is a matchup problem because it’s effectively four checking lines. On a bad night, well, it’s four checking lines.
Springfield, Mass., Regional
1. Denver (28-9-3) vs. 4. Massachusetts (20-13-3), Thursday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN2
2. Maine (23-11-2) vs. 3. Cornell (21-6-6), Thursday, 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN News
Regional Final, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, ESPNU
Denver: Because of the NCAA regional system with hosts having to play at home, Denver is playing a virtual road game to open the tournament despite being the No. 3 seed nationally and the NCHC champion. I also love watching Denver play. Zeev Buium is one of the most exciting players in college hockey from the blue line, and an NHL team will be thrilled to to draft him in closer to No. 10 in the upcoming draft. Jack Devine (Florida) and Massimo Rizzo (Philadelphia) are also late blooming NHL prospects that will likely play NHL games sooner than later for a stacked team. At some point Denver coach David Carle will get the job offer from the NHL that tickles his fancy, so every NCAA Tournament feels like it could be his last for casual observers.
Massachusetts: The last team into the tournament, that got in through pairwise because Denver defeated Omaha. And now they get a home game against Denver. It really doesn’t feel fair. UMass hasn’t been good down the stretch, got crushed by BC 8-1 in the Hockey East and haven’t gotten great, consistent goaltending. Aside from the home-ice advantage, it feels like one of the most unlikely upsets on paper.
Maine: I was surprised when I looked up and saw that Maine hadn’t reached an NCAA Tournament since 2012. It’s a once proud program that is finally back in familiar territory this season, and it’s another brothers story heading into the NCAA. Bradly and Josh Nadeau have combined for 37 goals this season. Bradly was a Hurricanes first-round pick in 2023, and his older brother, while also a freshman, honestly will probably also sign with the Hurricanes someday, right? It’s a talented team overall, but lacks scoring punch outside of the Nadeau brothers.
Cornell: Aside from Gabriel Seger, a senior and the leading scorer, Cornell is a story of youth. They have 10 freshmen that play regularly and this season was a pretty good indicator they could be a long-term challenger in the ECAC. Ian Shane has big-game goalie vibes, and in a one-and-done tournament, you only need a couple big games to go deep
Maryland Heights, Mo., Regional
1. Michigan State (24-9-3) vs. 4. Western Michigan (21-15-1), Friday, 4 p.m. CT, ESPNU
2. North Dakota (26-11-2) vs. 3. Michigan (21-14-3), Friday, 7:30 CT, ESPN-U
Regional Final, Sunday, 5:30 p.m. CT, ESPNU
Michigan State: This is the regional I know the most about, and honestly, it’s kind of silly that it’s being played in a suburb of St. Louis in a 2,500 person venue when it features three teams from Michigan and North Dakota… anywho. Michigan State was the Big 10 regular season and playoff champion, Detroit Red Wings goalie prospect Trey Augustine is the best goalie in the country, in my view, but somehow wasn’t even a candidate for player of the year or freshman of the year in the Big 10. Artyom Levshunov will likely be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft and was the Big 10 freshman of the year and defenseman of the year. Augustine accelerated the turnaround, but Michigan State has been one of college hockey’s best stories the past two years after Adam Nightingale rescued the program before last season.
Western Michigan: Western Michigan has become an NCAA staple the past couple seasons and it’s done a nice job surviving in the NCHC while some other programs (see: Miami), have struggled to keep afloat in the conference. Luke Grainger, Dylan Wendt, an Sam Colangelo are all fine college hockey player who will likely get pro opportunities because of their 2023-24 campaigns for Western Michigan. Cameron Rowe has been the busiest goalie in college hockey this season when it comes to minutes, amazingly the Broncos haven’t had another goalie play another minute.
North Dakota: Jackson Blake (another Hurricanes prospect) is a finalist for the Hobey Baker and was the NCHC player of the year. North Dakota was also likely going to be No. 1 seed in the tournament before they had a 6-3 setback in the NCHC semifinal. Ludvig Persson left Miami after last season, and has proven that sometimes you just need a decent defense in front of you to escalate your save percentage (it jumped from .891 to .906 in a season). It’s a shame this game will be played in such a small facility, because North Dakota-Michigan would likely fill an NHL venue with those two respective fan bases.
Michigan: Michigan went from looking like it needed to win the Big 10 to get into the NCAA Tournament, to being comfortably in even before it reached the semifinals of the Big 10. Remember when we talked about the World Junior team with BC? Well the rest of the players are seemingly at Michigan with Gavin Brindley, Rutger McGroarty, Seamus Casey, and Frank Nazar. It’s a team of future NHLers, but they tend to freelance a bit at times, which is whey they’ve lost some games to better structure teams. I’m personally not sold on Jake Barczewski in goal, and felt he was outplayed in the Big 10 championship game by Augustine.
Hopefully enjoyed this quick preview for the tournament. If you’d like to discuss any of the specific teams/players/prospects/etc… let’s do so in the comments. I’ll likely fill out my bracket on Thursday and let you roast my picks that day.
A note for MTU. They play in the CCHA now as the WCHA no longer exists on the mens side.
Would love an article on your thoughts after this weekend's gambit of games!