Michigan hockey heads to the Allentown Regional of the NCAA Tournament

Mar 20, 2023 - 2:00 PM

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The Michigan Wolverines are headed back to Allentown to begin their march toward a second consecutive Frozen Four. After Michigan’s Saturday victory over Minnesota and some upsets in other conference tournaments, the Wolverines were able to leap frog Denver for the No. 3 overall seed.

This move makes Michigan’s path much more favorable. Instead of having to face Cornell and the winner of Western Michigan/Boston (two teams with electric offenses who have each played the Wolverines twice this season), Michigan will face Colgate on Friday, and potentially the winner of Penn State/Michigan Tech.

Colgate — propelled by a Cinderella conference tournament run — does boast a strong record of 4-3-1 against ranked competition, but is the No. 14 overall seed due to inconsistency.

Penn State enters the NCAA Tournament reeling having lost eight of 11 games, including losing two-of-three to Ohio State in the opening round of Big Ten Tournament.

After following short in its conference tournament, Michigan Tech returns as one of the best defensive teams in hockey. Tech joins the Wolverines as the only other team in the regional making a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Last season, Minnesota-Duluth decisively eliminated Michigan Tech 3-0 in the opening round.

If Michigan advances to the Frozen Four, the Wolverines can expect to face the No. 2 overall seed Quinnipiac, a team Michigan eliminated in the regional final last season. On the other side of the bracket, Minnesota and Denver are the favorites to reach the Frozen Four, but both teams have notable obstacles ahead of them.

Denver’s aforementioned challenges were discussed above and Minnesota could run into the team that eliminated them last season, Michigan State.

The road to the Frozen Four begins Thursday and in single elimination hockey, anything can happen.