Following its first-ever ECAC tournament championship on Saturday night, the men’s hockey team received on Sunday a No. 2 seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs (24-7-2) will play third-seeded Vermont (20-11-5) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.
If the Elis win, they will move on to play the winner of top-seeded Michigan (29-11-0) and fourth-seeded Air Force (27-10-2), which will play Friday at 3 p.m. in Bridgeport. The East Regional championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m, with the Frozen Four following on April 9 to 11 in Washington, D.C.
[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”10883″ ]
The other No. 1 seeds in the tournament field, which was announced Sunday morning on ESPN2, are Denver in the Midwest Regional; Boston University in the Northeast Regional; and Notre Dame in the West Regional.
In addition to Yale’s automatic bid, two other ECAC teams received at-large bids to the tournament, and both were seeded third. Cornell, which Yale defeated Saturday night 5-0 to win the ECAC title, will play Northeastern in the Midwest Regional. Princeton will face the WCHA champions, Minnesota-Duluth, on Friday in the West Regional.
Yale is the clear favorite against Vermont, which was ranked tenth in the most recent national poll, compared to seventh for the Bulldogs. Michigan — which was ranked third and is making its 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the longest active streak in the nation — is a heavy favorite over unranked Air Force.
Yale last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1997-’98.