Wolverines & Broncos in NCAA College Hockey Tournament next weekend

**Admin** Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:47 pm

The Yale men's hockey team (27-6-1), coming off last night's ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship win over Cornell, has secured the No. 1 overall seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs take on No. 16 Air Force (20-11-6) in the East Regional at Webster Bank's Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn., this Friday.

The University of Michigan ice hockey team garnered an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. U-M has qualified for 21 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, which is a national record. The Maize and Blue received a No. 2 seed in the West Regional that will be played in St. Louis, Mo. The Wolverines (26-10-4) will take on the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (21-15-2) in the regional opener on Friday

The Western Michigan Bronco hockey team was selected to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos will play Denver from the WCHA on Saturday. in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wis.

Western Michigan (19-12-10) earned a three seed after finishing in fourth place in the CCHA and upsetting Michigan to make it to the CCHA Tournament Championship game for the first time since 1986. The three seed matches the 1985-86 team for the highest seed in school history. The Broncos lost to Harvard in a best of three series that year and are 0-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

The Broncos and the Denver Pioneers have met four times in program history, with each team sweeping on their home ice. Denver swept WMU with victories of 5-1 and 10-4 in 1982. Western Michigan swept the Pioneers the following season with wins of 4-3 and 3-2.

UND takes a 30-8-2 overall record into the national tournament and is enjoying a 13-game unbeaten streak (12-0-1) and a nine-game winning streak. Both are season-long streaks for the Sioux.

The Fighting Sioux men's hockey team has earned the No. 1 seed for the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wis., and will face Rensselaer on Saturday in the regional semifinal.

Following its first-ever Hockey East Championship 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 region, will take on Notre Dame on Saturday at 7:30 p.m