SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament begins Thursday with the University of Massachusetts Minutemen playing close to home.
The MassMutual Center in Springfield will host the event for the first time, giving the Minutemen the shortest travel distance to regional venues of any team in the tournament.
They are scheduled to play the University of Denver on Thursday afternoon, and the Minutemen will be happy to make the short trip that has historically made the difference for both teams. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Denver have met seven times since 2005, with the Denver Pioneers leading in all-time wins with 4-3. But all three of his wins in Massachusetts came on home soil, at least on this side of the Mississippi River.
The 2019 tournament was an overtime thriller that sent UMass to the national championship game for the first time in program history, with the semifinals of Frozen 4 taking place in Buffalo, New York. They met twice in Denver the following season, losing by a combined score of 8-5.
But last season's two meetings in Amherst went the Minutemen's way, winning the most recent meeting by three points. However, this time it's a tough job. Denver entered the tournament as the No. 3 overall seed, but Massachusetts had the second fewest season wins of any team participating in the tournament.
It all starts Thursday at 2 p.m., and the winner will return here to Springfield on Saturday to face either Maine or Cornell University.
Duncan McLean is a reporter who has been part of the 22News team since 2019. Follow Duncan on X @Diamond2018 Check out his bio to see more of his work.
