It\u2019s that time of time of the year again where the 16 best collegiate hockey teams square off for the NCAA Division I championship. The tournament is broken down into four regions with four teams each. This piece will be an NCAA East region preview.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the four teams and who could be making their way to St. Paul, Minn.<\/p>\n
Where:<\/strong> Webster Bank Arena; Bridgeport, Conn. Record:<\/strong> 25-9-2 overall; 17-6-1 Big Ten conference (regular season and playoff champions) Record:<\/strong> 23-11-4; 13-7-4 Hockey East (3rd in regular season; reached tournament final) Record: <\/strong>23-10-6; 12-5-5 (3rd in ECAC, lost in tournament final) Record:<\/strong> 22-16-5, 12-11-5 (5th in WCHA, won conference tournament) The Irish have plenty of offensive fire-power and will pepper the Huskies to take the opening game. Clarkson has beaten Providence twice, but it\u2019s difficult to beat someone three times. However, the Friars have had a difficult time solving the Knights\u00a0defense. All in all, the region is Notre Dame\u2019s to lose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ANN ARBOR, MI – JANUARY 05: Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Jake Evans (18) and Michigan Wolverines forward Dexter Dancs (90) chase after the puck during a regular season Big 10 Conference hockey game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Michigan Wolverines on January 5, 2018 at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that time of time of the year again where the 16 best collegiate hockey teams square off for the NCAA Division I championship. The tournament is broken down into four regions with four teams each. This piece will be an NCAA East region preview. Let\u2019s take a look at the four teams and who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":23711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[3145,1325,3060,3144,83,1709,3146],"class_list":["post-25827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-top-prospects","tag-clarkson-university-golden-knights","tag-college-hockey","tag-jake-evans","tag-michigan-tech-huskies","tag-ncaa","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-providence-college-friars"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen:<\/strong> Friday and Saturday<\/p>\nNotre Dame Fighting Irish<\/h2>\n
\nPlayer to watch:<\/strong> Jake Evans<\/strong>, forward (Montreal Canadiens<\/a> prospect) 11 goals, 29 assists, 40 points
\nSynopsis:<\/strong> The Fighting Irish swept both the Big Ten regular season and playoff titles to get the second overall seed. Notre Dame has five other NHL draftees and Hobey Baker<\/a> top 10 finalist Cale Morris<\/strong>. The Irish can also close games as they\u2019re 20-2-2 when scoring first. Top-seeded Notre Dame will play No. 4 Michigan Tech to start the tournament at 3 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\nProvidence Friars<\/h2>\n
\nPlayer to watch:<\/strong> Brian Pinho<\/strong>, forward (Washington Capitals<\/a> prospect) 12 goals, 19 assists, 31 points
\nSynopsis:<\/strong> The Friars have reached the tournament five straight seasons, including a national title in 2015. Providence has been bounced out of the first round the last two seasons and was beaten twice by first-round opponent Clarkson. Head coach Nate Leaman<\/strong> does have nine players that are NHL draft picks.<\/p>\nClarkson Golden Knights<\/h2>\n
\nPlayer to watch:<\/strong> Sheldon Rempal<\/strong>, forward, 23 goals, 23 assists; 46 assists
\nSynopsis:<\/strong> Clarkson started and ended its season very well thanks to a mix of a strong group of seniors and sophomores. The Golden Knights did struggle after the first of the year where they only won one game out of 13 before beating Quinnipiac to end the regular season. Goalie Jake Kielly<\/strong> has been able to steal games for Clarkson, including a shutout against Providence on Oct. 21. Clarkson is also hoping some of that magic from the women’s team winning three titles in five years rubs off.<\/p>\nMichigan Tech Huskies<\/h2>\n
\nPlayer to watch:<\/strong> Patrick Munson<\/strong>, goalie, 10-7-3, .908 save percentage; 2.61 GAA
\nSynopsis:<\/strong> Tech managed to steal a bid by winning the WCHA over highly-touted Minnesota State. The Huskies only have two NHL draft picks (Jake Jackson<\/strong> for the San Jose Sharks<\/a> and Dane Birks<\/strong> for the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>), but head coach Joe Shawhan<\/strong> has the team making the NCAAs in his first season in charge. Tech does have wins over tournament qualifiers Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State.<\/p>\nPrediction<\/h2>\n