NCHC Well Represented in This Weekend’s NCAA Regionals

Now that the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff tournament is over, it’s time to look at the NCAA regionals held in four different places throughout the country. Of the four teams that entered the Frozen Faceoff, three have gone on to regionals, and one had their season end early. 

The team that had to pack their bags and head home was St. Cloud State University (SCSU), whose Jack Peart has just signed with the Minnesota Wild. The three teams that moved on were the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks, the University of Denver Pioneers, and the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. 

Each team was put into a different regional, and in this piece, we’ll look at each team from the NCHC heading to the NCAA. We’ll start with the team that plays first, Denver, who will take on the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Minutemen at 1 pm CT on Thursday, March 28. 

Denver Looks to Keep Rolling

The Denver Pioneers won the 2024 Frozen Faceoff and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but their overall ranking would’ve earned them the spot anyway. Denver is always a team built around speed and scoring, and this season has been no different. They did start a little slow in both games during the Frozen Faceoff, but they woke up and turned it on as the game went on, including their defensive game. 

During the postgame press conference following the championship game, head coach David Carle answered what will be needed to win the NCAA. “Well, we need to win the first one, so that’ll be our focus, just trying to take care of our bodies here, get out of here quickly, get back, get to bed, get back to Denver before the snowstorm hits here and just begin preparing and getting ready for that next opponent, so that’ll be our main focus. Just get through that I think we’re playing good hockey right now, playing with a high level of desperation which is good. We know that whoever we’re playing is gonna be an excellent team, there’s 16 left, they’re here for a reason…”

Carle continued with how his team is focused, “It’s going to take a team-first commitment like the guys I’ve touched on, and good news for us, we’ve got guys in the room who’ve been through that challenge and experience, and I think we’ve got a lot of hungry young people that want to add their legacy to the program.” Denver will use their team-first mentality to get that first win and move on from there. They’re definitely one of the…