Merrimack Men's Hockey Selected For First NCAA Tournament Since 2011

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The Merrimack College men's hockey team learned Sunday that it was one of 16 teams selected to compete in the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Championship.

The Warriors (23-13-1) earned the final at-large bid to the tournament, according to ESPN, and will compete in the NCAA Championship for just the second time in the modern era. The program's last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2011.

Merrimack will face Quinnipiac University (30-4-3) at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNews.

The other game in the Bridgeport Regional features Ohio State (20-15-3) vs. Harvard (24-7-2) and is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday.

The winners of the two games will meet at 4 p.m. Sunday in Bridgeport with a spot in the Frozen Four on the line. This year's Frozen Four will take place April 6-8 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Merrimack reached the Hockey East Final on Saturday, losing 3-2 to Boston University in overtime at TD Garden. The winner of that game received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"No matter what, I am extremely proud of our team and happy to call MC home," Merrimack forward Otto Leppänen, a graduate, wrote on Twitter after Saturday's game. "There is still a lot of hockey left. The students and fans of MC has been awesome, thank you! The Garden environment was awesome, see you next weekend!"

The Warriors reached the final by defeating UMass Lowell 2-1 in double overtime on Friday after Merrimack knocked out Boston College in the quarterfinals.

Merrimack was one of college hockey's surprise teams early in the season, and was ranked as high as No. 5 in the country in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll in December.

The Warriors then went 2-8-1 to start the new year, before rebounding and closing out strong down the stretch, including a weekend sweep of Boston University on Feb. 17-18.

In Merrimack's last NCAA Tournament appearance, in 2011, the Warriors fell to Notre Dame 4-3 in overtime in a first-round contest.

The Warriors also made the Division I NCAA Tournament in 1988 as a hybrid Division I/Division II team. That year, Lake Superior State beat Merrimack 8-5 in the quarterfinals.

Merrimack was the Division II national champions in 1978.

In addition to Merrimack, Harvard and Quinnipiac, the other New England team to make the NCAA field is Boston University. The Terriers will face Western Michigan at 2 p.m. Thursday at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.