With the final games of the NCAA conference championships wrapping up last night and the final rankings falling into place, the means just one thing — the field for the final NCAA tournament is set to be compiled. Coming in without too many surprises, the matches were set and the bracket finalized, and announced this afternoon on ESPN’s selection show.
The bracket is HERE! 🤩#NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/TDzqNGZNJ4
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 23, 2025
The big news is that top ranked Boston College (and prospective top-5 draft pick James Hagens) will headline the Manchester regional, at meet the reigning National Champion Denver Pioneers there, while locally, we’ll see Penn State make an appearance up in the Allentown regional, facing off against third-ranked Maine in their first game of the tournament.
For Flyers fans, the notable games are going to be taking place out in Fargo and Toledo, with Western Michigan and Boston University, as Alex Bump and Devin Kaplan will be the sole prospects representing the Flyers in the tournament, while Arizona State University (Ty Murchison) and North Dakota (Owen McLaughlin) were in contention for spots, being in the top-20 for the final pairwise ranking, but ultimately not being selected for the tournament. So it goes.
These will be big matchups for the pair of prospects we do have in the tournament — Boston University is looking to regain their footing after a disappointing result in the Hockey East Tournament, after being knocked out by UConn in the semifinals, and return to the Frozen Four for the third year in a row, while Western Michigan is looking to keep the ball rolling after their first NCHC Frozen Faceoff win and make their first Frozen Four appearance.
The games will kick off on Thursday, and the winners of each regional will meet in the Frozen Four beginning on April 10 in St. Louis, and a new (or not new!) national champion will be crowned in the final on April 12.
