Three Michigan Teams Land NCAA Hockey Tournament Bids

16 teams were chosen for the NCAA hockey tournament, which will culminate with the "Frozen Four" finals in Boston on April 7.

Michigan's deep rooted collegiate ice hockey traditions paid dividends this week when three state programs earned berths in the 16 team field selected on Sunday.

A Michigan school has not won the Frozen Four since 2007 when Michigan State hoisted the trophy under coach Rick Comely.

Michigan was runner up in 2011, and Ferris State was runner up the following year.

The glory years for the state was the period from 1986 to 1998 when state colleges racked up seven titles in 13 years. Lake Superior State had three of the championships in that era, the University of Michigan had two, and Michigan State and Northern Michigan each notched a single title.

There was  also a five year span between 1962 and 1966 when Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech took four titles between them.

This season marked a return to glory for the University of Michigan, as they won the Big Ten title with a win over Minnesota Saturday night, and then were awarded the overall number one seed for the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon.

They will be playing in the Allentown regional against American International Friday at 3:00pm.

The new kid on the block is Western Michigan, who's back in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2017. Although they lost to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCHC final, they still earned the number one seed in the Worcester, MA regional and will face off with Northeastern Friday at noon.

Michigan Tech has made a resurgence of late and is back in the tournament for the first time since 2018. They are seeded third in the Loveland, Colorado regional and square off with Minnesota-Duluth Friday at 3:00pm.