NCAA Tournament Bracket Released; Colby heads to UNE, Trinity left out

Sean Lawrence and Colby were road warriors in the NESCAC playoffs.
Can they pull of the same magic in the NCAA tournament?
photo by LPfan2004

This morning the NCAA released the 12 team 2018 NCAA D-III Men's Hockey Tournament bracket. Colby, who won the NESCAC tournament as the sixth seed to earn the CAC's automatic bid, will stay in-state and head to Biddeford, ME on March 10th to take on the University of New England Nor'easters  in the opening round. The winner of that game will take on the winner of Hobart and SUNY Geneseo in the Quarterfinals for the right to head to Lake Placid on March 23rd and 24th for the DIII Frozen Four, or the Phrozen Four (if you don't want to get sued). If Colby makes it that far, they would be likely to face upper right Quadrant favorites St. Norbert in the semis.

Speaking of St. Norbert's, Trinity, who beat the Green Knights in last year's semis, were left on the outside looking in as they failed to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.  While Trinity could have made it, it was also not a huge surprise as other deserving teams such as Oswego and Utica were also left out in the cold. The biggest surprise was that the West got a third at-large bid (Adrian and Wisconsin-Stevens Point were virtual locks) in a Marian team that thought had ended their season back on February 24th when they lost to St. Norbert in their conference semifinals. Salva Regina and UNE from the east got the other two at-large bids.

The Bantams senior class, which includes 100 point members in Tyler Whitney and Anthony Sabitsky, ends their career with a 2015 national championship, three NCAA tournament appearances (2015-2017), two NESCAC titles (2016, 2017), two NESCAC regular season best records (2015, 2018), a national runners-up (2017), a NESCAC runners-up, and an impressive 86-22-7 overall record, including a 7-2 record in the NCAA tournament.

The Mules (15-10-2) take on a familiar team in the Nor'easters (20-5-3) from the Commonweath Coast Conference. The CCC, compromised of teams from the old ECAC-Northeast, East and newcomer Endicott (who Trinity beat in the NCAA tournament last year), surprisingly got three teams in the tournament thanks to fifth seed Nichols (who Trinity beat in the 2015 NCAA tournament) upsetting UNE in the CCC title game in an 8-3 rout.

Colby and UNE meet bi-yearly, as do the Nor'Easters and Bowdoin, in a non-conference home and home. The Nor'Easters won all four games against the NESCAC foes, with the mules losing 5-3 in Biddeford and 5-1 in Waterville, with Andrew Tucci playing both games. Tucci won't be playing on Saturday, as senior Sean Lawrence, he of 113 saves in the NESCAC tournament fame, will get the nod.  UNE is no stranger to Colby historically, either, as their former coach Brad Holt is the son of former Colby coach Charlie Holt.

It is the first time since 2014 that a NESCAC team won't host an NCAA tournament game. Bowdoin won the league as a fifth seed that year and traveled to Oswego for a weather delayed game on a trip that included their bus "crashing" into an Italian restaurant. Unfortunately the Polar Bears dropped that game against the Lakers but we had fun previewing the game with big shots Ray Biggs and Rob Kennedy, when they were just a Utica senior and the voice of the Bowdoin Polar Bears, respectively.

You can find the full bracket at the aforementioned Biggs' D3hockey.com here.