NCAA Selection: Trinity gets home game, Hamilton gets at-large bid

NCAA announced the 2017 NCAA D-III men's hockey tournament bracked today and for the third year in a row, 2 NESCAC teams will be in the tournament. Trinity received the NESCAC's automatic bid by virture of their 3-2 OT victory over Hamilton in the NESCAC finals yesterday and the Bantams will host a first round game against upset SUNYAC champion, Plattsburgh. Hamilton received an at large, or Pool C, bid and will travel to Oswego to take on the Lakers, who also received an at-large bid after being upset by Platty in the SUNYAC finals.

The Bantams, the fourth seed in the east, are making their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. In 2015 they won the whole shebang as an at-large team and in 2016 they won the NESCAC before losing at home to UMass-Boston in an opening round affair. 

In that fateful 2015 campaign, the Bantams defeated Plattsburgh in the Quarterfinals to earn a birth to the DIII Frozen Four. The Bantams hosted that game in facility only, as the Cardinals were technically the home team but had the game moved to Trinity due to the Cards' women hosting the DIII Final Four that weekend. 

If they win, Trinity will face the winner of the third seed Hobart Statesmen of the ECAC-West and sixth seed Endicott Gulls, Commonwealth Coast Conference champions in just their second year of NCAA play.

This is the first trip to the NCAA tournament for the Hamilton Continentals, who received one of the last at-large bids. As the seventh seed in the east, they will head to take on the second seed Osweo Lakers. If the Conts are neophytes, the Lakers are veterans of the tournament with over 15 appearances and multiple titles. The last time they faced a NESCAC school  in the tournament was 2014 when they defeated the upstart Bowdoin Polar Bears, who earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the NESCAC tournament from the fifth seed.

If the Continentals can manage to get past Oswego, things don't get easier, as they would likely have to travel to the 1st seed in the east, the Norwich Cadets, who host MASCAC champion Salem State in the 1st round. 

The four teams in the West earned all the byes, which seems unfair, but was always a possibility with the selection committee having to juggle travel 

More about Saturday's NCAA tournament games as the week progresses. Until then, enjoy "Tournament Time" from the soundtrack from the Karate Kid reboot staring philosopher prince Jaden Smith.