A first: All 5 Minnesota teams are in

For all Herb Brooks accomplished in the world of hockey, the Hall of Fame coach of the heralded “Miracle on Ice” team long held a localized goal of growing the college game in his home state.

The NCAA Tournament bracket this year would’ve made Brooks proud. For the first time, all five of Minnesota’s Division I programs made the 16-team field. The regionals start today.

“I think that’s a really cool story,“said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko, whose team won the Big Ten Tournament and has the No. 3 overall seed.

The men’s college hockey tournament was first staged in 1948. The NCAA’s current 16-team format came in 2003.

Joining the Gophers this season are Minnesota State, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season champion; St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth, who finished second and third in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference; and Bemidji State, the third WCHA team selected.

“Nobody’s slipped in. I can tell you that. All five teams have earned the right to be there, and any of the five have a chance,” said Motzko, who’s in his third season at Minnesota.

Motzko’s first year in coaching was as an assistant at St. Cloud State under Brooks, who helped launch the program’s leap to Division I in 1987. Brooks, the former Gophers player and coach who went on to fame at the Olympic and NHL levels until his death in a car crash in 2003, spoke often of his desire for in-state competition for Minnesota and Minnesota

Duluth. Minnesota State moved up in 1996, and Bemidji State followed in 1999.

St. Thomas will become the state’s sixth and the NCAA’s 62nd Division I program next season, joining Minnesota State and Bemidji State in the new Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

“Very happy for the group, because I consider every one of those head coaches a very good friend of mine,” Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings said. “I wish them all the best, and hopefully we can all go and represent the state of Minnesota the way we want to.”