Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey is back in the Frozen Four for the second time in program history. The first, in 2013, we lost to the Yale Bulldogs in the championship game. This year, we are back again to prove to the world that we are the best college hockey team in the nation. Our number one overall seed men’s ice hockey team is one of the four teams playing in this years NCAA division I Frozen Four tournament. As a member of the Bobcat Nation, it is important to know about this tournament as well as support our Bobcats. This is a guide that gives you all of the information you need to know before this weekend’s tournament.
What is the Frozen Four?
The Frozen Four are the semi-finals and finals of the NCAA championship tournament that determines the top team in NCAA Division I hockey. The tournament consists of 16 qualified teams that are broken into four regions; Midwest, Northeast, West, and East.
Where and when is the Frozen Four?
I’m sure you have seen it all over social media as well as talked about it in pretty much every class. The first round and quarterfinals of the 2016 tournament was March 25th to March 27th and held in various places in the United States. This year the Frozen Four is located in Tampa, Florida. The semifinals are on April 7th and the championship game will be held on April 9th.
How does a team qualify for the tournament?
Teams can qualify for the tournament in two ways. The first is winning the teams conference. There are currently six Division I conferences and the winner of each conference receives an automatic bid to the tournament. The other way is receiving an at-large bid through a series of mathematical and other criteria calculated by PairWise Rankings (PWR). PairWise Rankings are a statistical tool that helps determine which teams will receive an at-large bid to the 16-team NCAA tournament. As defined by USCHO, the PairWise Rankings “compares each team with every other team, with the winner of each “comparison” earning one PWR point. After all comparisons are made, the points are totaled up and rankings listed accordingly.” Since there are 60 Division I men’s teams, the highest number of points a team could earn is 59, and the lowest is zero points. The three criteria used in each comparison is RPI (ratings percentage index), record against common opponents and head-to-head competition. The ten teams with the highest PWR points receive at-large bids to the tournament.
How does the tournament work?
The four teams in each region play against each other in the first round and quarterfinals to determine the winner of each, who then moves on to the Frozen Four. In each region every team is ranked one to four depending on where they are in PairWise rankings. The first four teams in the final pairwise rankings are the number one seeds in their region, the next four are number two seeds, and so on. Here are this year’s final PWR:
Quinnipiac ended up being the number one over all seed, which means the are also the number one seed in their region. The other top four teams, No. 2 overall St. Cloud State, No. 3 overall North Dakota, and No. 4 overall Providence were all number one seeds in their regions. The number two seeds in each region were the next four in the rankings and seeds two and three were determined the same way. The first round for each region has the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed playing the No. 3 seed. The winner of those two games then moves on to the quarterfinals and the winner of the quarterfinals moves on to the Frozen Four. This year the Midwest region winner, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, will face the West region winner, University of Denver and the Northeast region winner, Boston College Eagles, will face the East winner, Quinnipiac Bobcats. The winner of those two games plays in the championship game.
The first round and quarterfinals of the tournament took place on March 25th to March 27th. The results are as follows…
First round:
Midwest Region
1. No. 1 North Dakota Fighting Hawks defeated No. 4 Northeastern Huskies 6-2
2. No. 2 University of Michigan Wolverines defeated No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 3-2 in overtime
Northeast Region
1. No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs defeated No. 1 Providence College Friars, 2-1 (OT)
2. No. 2 Boston College Eagles defeated No. 3 Harvard Crimson 4-1
West Region
1. No. 4 Ferris State Bulldogs defeated No. 1 St. Cloud State Huskies, 5-4 (OT)
2. No. 2 University of Denver Pioneers defeated No. 3 Boston University Terriers, 7-2
East Region
1. No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated No. 4 Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers, 4-0
2. No. 2 University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks defeated No. 3 Yale Bulldogs, 3-2 in overtime
Quarterfinals:
Midwest Region
No. 1 North Dakota Fighting Hawks defeated No. 2 University of Michigan Wolverines, 5-2
Northeast Region
No. 2 Boston College Eagles defeated No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, 3-2
West Region
No. 2 University of Denver defeated No. 4 Ferris State Bulldogs, 6-3
East Region
No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated No. 2 UMass Lowell Riverhawks, 4-1
Frozen Four Teams
Quinnipiac (31-3-7): This year’s number one overall seed is making its second Frozen Four appearance in program history. As the regular season champions and Whitelaw Cup (ECAC championship tournament) winners, the Bobcats, lead by coach Rand Pecknold, have been the most dominant team in the country this season. The Bobcats are fighting to win their first ever title.
Boston College (28-7-5): As the team with the most Frozen Four appearances, 25, Boston College lead by Coach Jerry York, will be fighting for their 6th championship title. This will be the first time the Eagles and Bobcats are playing each other this season.
North Dakota (32-6-4): Entering the tournament as the third overall seed, the fighting Hawks will be making their 22ndFrozen Four appearance. The Fighting Hawks have won seven titles and are tied for second with the University of Denver for the most NCAA championships. North Dakota, lead by coach Brad Berry, is this year’s favorite for the title. North Dakota has the second most score goals in the tournament (11). North Dakota has played Denver five times this season, each team won two games and they tied the last game they played.
University of Denver (25-9-6): For the first time in more than 10 years, the Pioneers, lead by Coach Jim Montgomery, are making an appearance in the Frozen Four. This will be the 15th appearance in the Frozen Four for the Pioneers, who are tied in second place with North Dakota for the most NCAA titles with seven previous wins. Currently, Denver leads the tournament with the most scored goals (13).
How to watch
Watch our No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats take on No. 2 Boston College Eagles at 5pm Eastern time on ESPN or ESPN2. Watch No. 1 North Dakota Fighting Hawks take on No. 2 Denver Pioneers at 8:30pm Eastern time. Or, join the Quinnipiac community in the TD Bank Sports Center located on York Hill!
GO BOBCATS!