Michigan hockey to face Colgate in NCAA tournament; WMU, MTU grab 3-seeds

Well, it worked for the Big Ten tournament; how about the NCAA tournament? The night after Michigan hockey won the Big Ten tournament title by beating top-seeded Minnesota in Minneapolis for the second straight season, the Wolverines found out they'll be repeating 2022's turn as the top seed in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a matchup against Colgate on Friday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU

The Wolverines (24-11-3) are repeating as the 1-seed in Allentown — though they're the No. 3 overall seed this season after being No. 1 overall last year — just as they were last season when they beat American International College and Quinnipiac to advance to the Frozen Four in Boston. The road to this season’s Frozen Four, set for April 6-8 in Tampa, Florida, starts against the Raiders, the surprise ECAC tournament winner for the first time since 1990, with a potential regional final matchup against Penn State or Michigan Tech. The Wolverines will be aiming for their 27^th Frozen Four appearance; trip No. 26 last season gave the program the most in NCAA history. Should it be a Big Ten reunion in the regional final, the Wolverines are plenty familiar with Penn State; U-M won three of the four games between the programs this season, outscoring the Nittany Lions, 16-13.

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In the other regions: Minnesota is the 1-seed (and the overall No. 1) in the Fargo, North Dakota, region; Denver (the defending national champs) was shipped east to be the 1-seed in the Manchester, New Hampshire, region; Quinnipiac is 1-seed in the Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The Mitten also placed two other squads in the 16-team field, with Western Michigan (23-14-1) heading to the Manchester region to play Boston University at 2 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2 in the first round, and Michigan Tech (24-10-4) headed to Allentown to open against Penn State on Friday.

Maize and through

This year’s Michigan squad isn’t quite as talented as last year’s, which featured seven first-round NHL draft picks. That, combined with the August firing of head coach Mel Pearson — dismissed after a law firm’s investigation determined he lied to investigators over allegations of creating a “toxic work environment” and lied on COVID-19 tracing forms — left many wondering if the Wolverines could repeat as Big Ten champs. But U-M got a big boost when one of those first-rounders, defenseman Luke Hughes (No. 4 overall in 2021), opted to return for his sophomore season after finishing as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s version of the Heisman Trophy, as a freshman. The Wolverines also brought in a stellar freshman class, led by Adam Fantilli, the likely No. 2 overall pick in this summer’s NHL draft. Fantilli led the nation with 61 points in 33 games — a 1.85 points-per-game rate that was 0.27 higher than the next-best player (Harvard forward Sean Farrell). Interim head coach Brandon Naurato, a Pearson assistant last season, has led a talented squad to its third-ever Big Ten title.

Fantilli, who missed nearly a month of the season playing for Canada at the World Juniors in December and January, is joined by U.S. juniors squad members forward Rutger McGroarty (who had two goals in Saturday’s Big Ten title game victory) and defenseman Seamus Casey (who also scored). But the Wolverines aren’t short on experience, either, with sophomores Mackie Samoskevich (19 goals, 21 assists) and Dylan Duke (17 goals, including Saturday's game-winner, and 12 assists). The Wolverines’ defense has been spotty at times in front of junior goalie Erik Portillo, but when focused, U-M can play with anyone; it locked down the top-seeded Golden Gophers for the final 18 minutes of the 4-3 win to lock up the auto bid. And of course, the offense is always there: U-M led the nation with 4.1 goals a game.

Broncos bucking history?

For the Broncos, this is their second straight NCAA berth and eighth overall. Last season brought a pair of firsts under new head coach Pat Ferschweiler: The program’s first-ever No. 1 seed — WMU headlined the Northeast regional — and its first-ever NCAA victory, as the Broncos beat Northeastern before losing to Minnesota in the regional final.

Much of that WMU team’s veteran talent departed for the NHL, but the Broncos returned senior forward Jason Polin. The Holt alumnus matched his total from the past two seasons combined with 29 goals in 38 games this season to lead the nation. Polin is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. When the Broncos are on, they make life easy for goalie Cameron Rowe, who went 22-13-3 while stopping 90.7% of the shots he faced with a 2.45 goals-against average; the Broncos averaged 3.9 goals a game, good for fifth in the nation. Case in point: WMU’s sweep of Michigan Tech and Ferris State in the Great Lakes Invitational in December, in which the Broncos put up eight goals in each of the games. But that offense disappeared in the NCHC quarterfinals earlier this month, as the heavily favored Broncos lost back-to-back games to Colorado College at home in Kalamazoo.

Tech-nical knowledge

Michigan Tech, meanwhile, took a different path to its second straight NCAA berth, and its 14^th overall. (The back-to-back NCAA nods are the first for the Huskies since the program made three straight from 1974-76, with two national runner-up finishes sandwiched around the 1974 national title.) The Huskies were a 3-seed in last year's tournament, losing 3-0 to Minnesota Duluth in the first round. MTU has relied on goalie Blake Pietila, who ranked third in the nation in save percentage (.929), sixth in GAA (1.99) and seventh in winning percentage (.681). He led the nation with 10 shutouts en route to a nod as a Hobey Baker finalist.

On offense, MTU averaged just 2.7 goals a game, ranking 37^th out of 62 Division I squads. Freshman Kyle Kukkonen led the Huskies with 18 goals in 38 games, while junior Ryland Mosley was tops in assists (19). The team’s most well-rounded scorer has a familiar name: Logan Pietila, Blake’s twin brother, has 11 goals and 11 assists. (Not enough Pietilas for you? Cousin Jed, also from Howell, had a goal and 15 assists while posting a plus-12 rating as a defenseman.)

State of hockey?

The state of Michigan just missed out on a fourth squad in the tournament, too: Northern Michigan made a surprise run to the CCHA title game and had a 2-0 lead in the final three minutes of regulation before giving up two goals to Minnesota State — which was sent to the Fargo region — and then the winner 1:08 into overtime. Michigan State, in its first season under former U.S. National Team Development Program coach Adam Nightingale, also narrowly missed an at-large berth, finishing 16^th in the final Pairwise rankings used to determine the 10 at-large bids.

Big Ten domination

The seven-team Big Ten conference placed two other squads, for a total of four, in the NCAA tournament, with Ohio State heading to Bridgeport and Penn State “heading” to Allentown — the Nittany Lions are the host school — as a 2-seed. It’s the third overall NCAA appearance for PSU, and first since making it in back-to-back years in 2017-18. (The school began playing Division I hockey in 2012.) The Buckeyes, meanwhile, will be making their 10^th NCAA appearance, and first since going to three straight from 2017-18, including a Frozen Four trip in 2018.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan hockey to face Colgate in NCAA tourney; WMU, MTU grab 3-seeds