March 20, 2011

Three Hockey East schools have been selected to the 2011 NCAA Tournament field

Wakefield, Mass. -- The NCAA Div. I Men's Ice Hockey Committee announced on Sunday morning the 16-team field for this weekend's upcoming 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship, which included three Hockey East schools in Boston College, Merrimack and New Hampshire.

The Eagles, who won the league's automatic qualifier for winning the 27th annual Hockey East Championship on Saturday night vs. Merrimack, earned the No. 1 seed in the West Regional hosted by the CCHA at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. BC will face No. 4 seed Colorado College on Friday, March 25 at 9pm (EST) on ESPNU and ESPN3.com in high definition (HD). The winner of that game will play the winner of No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday, March 26 at 9pm on ESPNU and ESPN3.com for the right to go to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn at the XCel Energy Center on April 7.

Following its first-ever Hockey East Championship Game appearance and a Division I school-record 25 victories, Merrimack is headed to its first NCAA Tournament since joining Hockey East and its first since 1988. The Warriors, seeded second in the Northeast regional hosted by the University of New Hampshire at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., will take on No. 3 seed Notre Dame on Saturday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. (EST) on ESPN3.com. Merrimack's game will air on ESPNU and ESPNU HD on tape delay at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.

No. 4 seed and host New Hampshire of the Northeast Regional will faceoff against No. 1 seed Miami on Saturday, March 26 at 4pm live on ESPNU. The winners will advance to the Northeast Regional Final on Sunday, March 27 at 8pm on ESPNU in high definition.

The Eagles are making their 30th NCAA Tournament appearance, including their 12th under coach Jerry York. BC and Colorado College have met 17 times in school history, including three times in NCAA Tournament play. The Eagles hold a 12-4-1 advantage in the all-time series and have won two of three meetings in the national tournament. Friday's game against Colorado College will mark the first meeting since Dec. 27, 1998 when the Eagles earned a 5-3 win over the Tigers in the opening round of the Denver Cup inside McNichols Sports Arena. The Eagles enter the 2011 NCAA Tournament with a 30-7-1 record and have won each of the last eight games.

Merrimack and Notre Dame have met five times but not since November 26, 1991. The Irish lead the all-time series 3-2 while the teams have split two meetings since Merrimack moved up to Division I in 1988-89. Merrimack reached the NCAA Tournament as an at-large in 1988. They defeated Northeastern in a two-game aggregate first-round series, before falling to Lake Superior State in the second round.

UNH, which extended its second-longest active streak of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances to 10, enters the NCAA tournament with a 21-10-6 overall record. New Hampshire has a 14-24 record in 20 previous NCAA appearances with seven Frozen Four appearances. This is the team's 17th appearance under the guidance of head coach Dick Umile. New Hampshire has a 5-5-1 lifetime record, including 0-1 in the NCAA tournament against Miami. The Wildcats and Red Hawks faced off in a two-game series in Ohio to open the 2010-11 season. Miami skated to a 6-3 victory in Game 1 but UNH prevailed 6-3 the following night. In the only previous NCAA postseason matchup between these programs, UNH was the top seed of the 2007 Northeast Region – also at the Verizon Wirelesss Arena – but was ousted from the tourney with a 2-1 loss to the Red Hawks.

For more information about the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship visit www.ncaasports.com