Mavericks heading West

Minnesota State is heading to the West Regional in Loveland, Colorado, for the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks will be the No. 2 seed in the region and take on No. 3 Quinnipiac at 3 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPN3. Minnesota is the No. 1 seed in the region and will play No. 4 Omaha.

"We’re excited," MSU coach Mike Hastings said. "Everybody’s excited. I think anybody that gets into this tournament is excited about what their opportunities are. The idea is getting there and then having the opportunity to win a championship."

For the first time ever, all five of Minnesota's Division I men's programs are in the national tournament. Besides the Mavericks and Gophers, Minnesota Duluth will be the No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional in Fargo; St. Cloud State will be the 2 at Albany, N.Y.; and Bemidji State will be the 4 at Bridgeport, Conn.

"I think it says a lot when you're looking at 5 of 16 teams being within our border," Hastings said. "I'm really happy for the group, considering every one of those head coaches a very good friend of mine. Hopefully we can all go and represent the state of Minnesota the way we want to."

Also, for the first time since 2013 realignment, the WCHA will have three teams in the NCAAs. Lake Superior State, which won the WCHA playoff championship on Saturday in Mankato, will be the No. 3 seed in Bridgeport.

"Very well deserving," Hastings said. "Congratulations to Lake Superior State, and congratulations to Bemidji State. I think our league this year was an incredible grind."

Quinnipiac is 17-7-4 and lost to St. Lawrence in overtime in the ECAC championship game on Saturday (St. Lawrence ended up declining the auto-bid due to a positive COVID test from its coach). The Bobcats have two Hobey Baker candidates in Odeen Tufto and Keith Petruzelli. Tufto has 45 points, including a nation-leading 38 assists in 28 games. Petruzelli, a goalie has a .927 save percentage and a 1.82 goals-against average.

"There are some guys that jump off the paper," Hastings said. "And they're as sound defensively as you'll find in college hockey."

The Loveland regional will be played without fans. The Mavericks will leave Wednesday for the regional and will be required to undergo COVID testing in advance of the tournament.