On Sunday afternoon, the NCAA revealed its bracket which consists of the 16 college hockey teams that will play for the National Title. There are four regions that each consist of four teams. The winner of each region will make its way to the Frozen Four.
The Frozen Four will take place in St. Louis, Missouri at Enterprise Center where the St. Louis Blues play. Seven Chicago Blackhawks prospects will participate in the tournament for four different teams.
John Mustard, Connor Kelly, Taige Harding, and Providence will play against Aidan Thompson and Denver. Ryan Greene and Boston University will take on Ohio State. Finally, Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, and Minnesota will play UMass.
Boston College, Maine, Western Michigan, and Michigan State are each the one seed in their respective regions. All of them have had remarkable seasons and will make it very difficult on the Blackhawks prospects as they look to advance.
One team worth noting in particular is Denver. They aren't a number one seed but they have won two of the last three NCAA National Championships. Not only do they have Blackhawks prospect Aidan Thompson, but they also have a head coach in David Carle who Chicago may be considering.
Two notable omissions from the tournament are Michigan and North Dakota. The latter's absence means that Sacha Boisvert's freshman year is done.
North Dakota came up short in the NCHC conference tournament but Boisvert can be proud of his all-time great freshman season which got him named to the NCHC All-Tournament Team and announced as the conference Rookie of the Year.
Those who are looking to watch the tournament to see where the Blackhawks players end up finishing can watch the tournament on the networks of ESPN starting on Thursday, March 27th.
