UMass opens title defense in Worcester
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had five teams qualify for the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey Tournament’s field of 16 that was announced on Sunday night. They will hope to end their season at TD Garden, which will host the Frozen Four on April 7 and 9.
Reigning national champion UMass secured its second straight Hockey East title in a 2-1 overtime victory over UConn on Saturday night at TD Garden. The Minutemen (22-12-2) drew the No. 3 seed in the Worcester Regional and will face No. 2 Minnesota (2412-0) on Friday at the DCU Center.
UMass led three Hockey East teams that qualified. The top seed in Worcester, Western Michigan (25-11-1), will face No. 4 Northeastern (25-12-1). UMass-Lowell (2110-3) drew the No. 4 seed in the Loveland Regional and will engage No. 1 Denver (279-1) in Colorado.
Harvard (21-10-3) drew the No. 4 seed in the Albany
Regional and will face No. 1 seed Minnesota State (355-0) at MVP Arena on Thursday.
Michigan (29-9-1) was the No. 1 overall seed and will take on No. 4 seed American International (22-12-3) in the Allentown Regional.
Harvard emerged as the feel-good story of the tournament. The Crimson were on the outside looking in and in a must-win situation going into Saturday night’s ECAC title game against No. 6 Quinnipiac in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Harvard prevailed 3-2 in overtime to secure the ECAC’s automatic bid, the program’s 11th Whitelaw Cup and 26th appearance in the NCAA tournament. Harvard is returning to the big ice show for the fifth time in the last seven years in which they have participated. The 2020 tournament was cancelled in response to the global pandemic and Harvard, along with the rest of the Ivy League, remained shut down through the 2020-21 campaign. Harvard coach Ted Donato had two classes that had not played in a college game until this season.
“I think when you have your back up against the wall and you really have to put it together … and this was the first time for a lot of our players,” said Donato.
“In a lot of ways, everything is new to us. The (ECAC) playoffs are new to us and the NCAA tournament is new to us. Now the key for us is to pivot a little, move away from the ECAC and championship and really dial in. We have a real talented team and we can get up and down the ice with anybody.”
Harvard was outshot by Quinnipiac 49-17 Saturday and were pinned down in their own end when they gave up the lead with 6:16 to play in the third.
The Crimson persevered to force the overtime and celebrated when Matthew Coronato netted the game winner at 9:18. Coronato was named the tournament MVP while goaltender Mitchell Gibson recorded a careerhigh 47 saves.
“There is definitely more of a sense of urgency when you know you backs are up against the wall and our season was on the line,” said Harvard captain Casey Dornbach.