The four number one seeds for the NCAA Hockey Tournament are, as expected, #1 Michigan, #2 North Dakota, #3 Michigan St., and #4 Western Michigan. The seeds show that the strongest programs are in the West and Midwest–specifically, the state of Michigan. The Big Ten has four teams, Michigan, Michigan St., Wisconsin, and Penn St., and the NCHC has North Dakota, Western Michigan, Denver, and Minnesota Duluth.
Teams east of Big Ten country have been miserable this year, particularly the perennial power conference, Hockey East, which has only two teams in the tournament, UConn and Providence. East coast teams have thinner rosters and weak non-conference records because of their inability to attract top talent. They failed to seize the opportunities brought about by the new reality of the transfer portal and NIL era. More importantly, they were unprepared for the NCAA allowing CHL players eligibility who were not paid above expenses.
The top seeds are located thusly: Michigan is in Albany, NY; North Dakota is in Sioux Falls, SD; Michigan St. is in Worcester, MA; Western Michigan is in Loveland, CO. The Albany region is unexpectedly strong, Michigan’s opening round opponent Bentley Falcons aside. The other regional game is Minnesota Duluth v Penn St. Whoa. Keep the TV tuned because this is the game of the opening round. Talent galore on this one, with Penn St.’s Gavin McKenna, the presumptive #1 overall NHL draft choice and UMD’s high-scoring Plante brothers, Zam and Max, who’ve been in the upper reaches of the scoring race.
Which brings the head scratching. The Albany region’s #2 and #3 teams are much stronger than the Sioux Falls (North Dakota’s) region’s #2 Providence and #3 Merrimack. In the NCAA’s own rankings, UMD is #8 and PSU is #9, whereas Providence is #7 and Merrimack is #19. The latter two eastern teams are from weaker conferences, whereas PSU and UMD have had to battle the strong teams in their power conferences. The same goes for the Worcester (Michigan St.) region’s #2 Dartmouth and #3 UConn as well.
Can Michigan hockey finally win it all?
But this tomfoolery is all moot, if Michigan skates and plays defense the way they did in the Big Ten tournament. The Wolverines now have nine double-digit scorers, with freshman Malcolm Spence’s goal in the final against Ohio St. The depth and talent are there, so coach Brandon Naurato has the horses. How will he do with the reins?