Ten former Phantoms qualify for NCAA Division I hockey championship
The NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Selection Committee revealed the bracket for this year’s Men’s Ice Hockey Championship tournament, and Phantom fans will recognize several familiar names among the participants. Ten former Phantoms representing six different schools will begin competing for a national championship on Thursday March 23 with the tournament opener featuring Western Michigan and Boston University in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The following is an alphabetical list of school and Phantoms alumni that will be participating in the tournament. Only players who finished their junior hockey careers with the Phantoms are listed:
Cornell – Jack Malone, Winter Wallace
Merrimack – Mike Brown, Liam Dennison
Minnesota State – Will Hillman, Bennett Zmolek
Ohio State – Matt Cassidy
Penn State – Connor MacEachern
Saint Cloud State – Dominic Basse, Adam Ingram
St. Cloud State and Minnesota State both qualified for the national tournament by way of winning their conference tournament championships. SCSU prevailed over Colorado College 3-0 in the NCHC Championship game to come home with the title. Minnesota State needed two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime against Northern Michigan in the CCHA title game, but for the second year in a row, the Mavericks brought home the Mason Cup.
There are Phantoms on both sides of just one opening round matchup, coming Thursday when St. Cloud State and Minnesota State will face off in Fargo for an opening round matchup. Puck drop comes at 5pm Eastern on ESPNU for the Huskies and Mavericks. The winner of that game will get to take on the winner of the Minnesota/Canisius matchup.
Other first round billings for Phantoms alums include Ohio State taking on Harvard and Merrimack battling Quinnipiac in the Bridgeport regional. The Allentown regional features a matchup between Penn State and Michigan Tech, while the Manchester regional will showcase Cornell against defending-national champion Denver.
All games from the tournament will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. After taking the first weekend of April off, the tournament will conclude with the Frozen Four at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on April 6 & 8. For more information on the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, please visit ncaa.com/frozenfour.
