University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Face UMD in NCAA Quarterfinal
3/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
NCAA.com Interactive Bracket | Printable Bracket | Tickets
MINNEAPOLIS -- The back-to-back defending national champion Golden Gopher women's hockey team has been selected for the 2017 National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship. Minnesota will travel to Minnesota Duluth for a quarterfinal round match-up next Saturday. The Gophers received an at-large berth after finishing in a tie for third at the WCHA Final Face-Off.
The Gophers and Bulldogs face off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 11 at AMSOIL Arena. Tickets are on sale now at the UMD Ticket Office or online at TicketMaster.com. Tickets are priced at $13 for adults, $10 for college students or seniors, and $6 for children or groups.
"We, as coaches, thought we might end up facing Duluth in the quarterfinal, really for the last couple months," head coach Brad Frost said. "With the season they've been having, and us and Wisconsin, we just figured it would happen. We're looking forward to getting back up there, and I know our team will be ready to go.
"We're definitely more of an underdog than we have been in the past, and that's ok ... To have so many players on our team who have won a national championship, they know what it takes. They know the pressure that will be on us and everybody in the field."
The Gophers secured one of four at-large berths to the national tournament, joining No. 3 seed Minnesota Duluth, St. Lawrence, and Cornell to make up the at-large selections. Postseason conference tournament winners No. 1 seed Wisconsin (WCHA), No. 2 seed Clarkson (ECAC Hockey), No. 4 seed Boston College (Hockey East), and Robert Morris (College Hockey America) all secured automatic berths and round out the tournament field.
2017 NCAA Quarterfinal Match-Ups
No. 1 seed Wisconsin (31-2-4) hosts Robert Morris (24-4-6)
No. 4 seed Boston College (27-5-5) hosts St. Lawrence (26-5-4)
No. 2 seed Clarkson (29-4-5) hosts Cornell (20-8-5)
No. 3 seed Minnesota Duluth (25-6-5) hosts Minnesota (25-7-5)
Minnesota is making its 10th-straight and 15th overall appearance in the NCAA postseason. The Gophers have won four of the last five national championships, and Minnesota has only missed the NCAA tournament twice in its 17-year history.
The last time Minnesota traveled for an NCAA quarterfinal match-up was during the 2010-11 season; the Gophers dropped a 4-1 decision on the road at Boston College. Minnesota is 9-2 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games since the tournament expanded to eight teams in 2005.
"We have a lot of great memories there," Frost said of games played at UMD's AMSOIL Arena. "2012 is when we won the WCHA tournament championship up there, and then a couple weeks later, we won our first national championship in a while."
The four quarterfinal winners advance to the 2017 NCAA Women's Frozen Four co-hosted by the St. Louis Sports Commission and Lindenwood University at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., March 17-19.
The two semifinal games are scheduled for 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. CT on Friday, March 17 with the championship game set for 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 19.
All-session and single-session tickets for the 2017 NCAA Women's Frozen Four are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at MetroTix.com. The all-session package includes a ticket to both the March 17 semifinal games and the March 19 national championship game; prices range from $24 to $44; single-session tickets are also available.
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