College Hockey: The Final 16 Are Set

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The college hockey season has come to end. That is the regular season. There are now 16 teams left all vying for the national championship. As mentioned before, the Frozen Four will take place in a few weeks in Tampa, Florida at Amalie Arena. It has been an exciting college hockey season. One of the remaining 16 teams will get the ultimate prize the national championship. The defending national champions are in the final 16. That would be the Denver Pioneers. It is the team that lost in the national championship the Minnesota State Mavericks are also in the final 16. As of right now, the regions have been assigned so I am going to preview the final 16 teams.

I’ll start in the Fargo region. This will take place in Fargo, North Dakota. Some will say the best team in college hockey is in this region. The Minnesota Golden Gophers finished the season with a 26-9-1 record. They played in the Big Ten tournament they won against the Michigan State Spartans but lost to the Michigan Wolverines. The next team is the St. Cloud State Huskies finished their season 24-12-3 winning the NCHC finals and beating Colorado College 3-0. The tournament’s surprise team is in this region the Minnesota State Mavericks. The Mavericks finished the season 25-12-1. They won the CCHA over Northern Michigan University Wildcats 3-2 in overtime. The last team in this region is Canisius Golden Griffins. The Griffins finished 20-18-3 winning the AHC over Holy Cross 3-0. The first game will be Minnesota vs Canisius. The second game will be Minnesota State vs St. Cloud State.

The next region is taking place in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This is where many say the best team in college hockey is. That would be the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Bobcats finished the season with a 30-4-3 record. The Bobcats lost in the ECAC quarterfinals to Colgate 2-1 in overtime. The number two seed is Harvard Crimson. The Crimson finished with a record of 24-7-2 losing in the ECAC finals to Colgate 3-2. The Ohio State Buckeyes are the three seed in the region. The Buckeyes had a record of 20-15-3 they would lose to rival Michigan 7-3 in the Big Ten semifinals. The fourth and final seed is the Merrimack Warriors. The Warriors had a 23-13-1 record. They fell to the Boston University Terriers 3-2 in overtime in the Hockey East tournament. The Crimson will play the Buckeyes. In game two it will be the Bobcats vs Warriors.

The next region in college hockey in Manchester, New Hampshire. The defending national champion is here. That would be the Denver Pioneers. The Pioneers lost to the Colorado College Tigers 1-0 in the NCHC semifinals. The second seed is the Boston University Terriers. They won the Hockey East championship over the Merrimack Warriors 3-2 giving them a record of 27-10-0. The Western Michigan Broncos are the third seed in this region. They also fell to Colorado College Tigers in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Broncos finished with a 23-14-1 record. The final seed in this region is the Cornell Big Red. The Big Rad had a record of 20-10-2. They fell to Harvard Crimson in the ECAC semifinals 1-0 overtime. Game one will feature the Pioneers vs Big Red. In game two it will be Broncos vs Terriers. This might be an exciting college hockey region.

The final region at ate start of the college hockey playoffs will take place in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The team that won the Big Ten is here in the Michigan Wolverines. They finished the season with a 24-11-3 record. They beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the finals. The second seed is another Big Ten team the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Nittany Lions lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes 3-1. They only had 21 wins with 15 losses and one overtime loss. The third seed is the Michigan Tech Huskies. The Huskies lost in the CCHA semifinal to the Northern Michigan Wildcats 4-0. The Huskies had 24 wins 10 losses and four losses in overtime. The final team is the Colgate Raiders. The Raiders beat the Quinnipiac Bobcats and Harvard Crimson. This is why they are here. They only had 19 wins 15 losses and five losses in overtime.

The brackets are all set. The games begin as early as the 24th. It will be interesting to how the tournament goes. Many teams get the label as an underdog. If you look at the four seeds many will say they have no chance to win. I disagree they looking for one of them maybe make the championship game. Will the Denver Pioneers go back-to-back as national champions? It’s cool to see a team like Colgate beat two of the top teams and get a spot to play for a whole ball of wax.

What are your thoughts on the college hockey playoffs? Leave a comment below.

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