2021 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament Bracket Announced

We made it. After a year of uncertainty and unknowns, the field has been announced for this year’s men’s ice hockey tournament.

This year, hopefully for the last time ever, the field was not determined by the Pairwise Rankings as it traditionally is due to a lack of inter-conference play making the computer ranking unreliable. Instead, a six-member committee, with the help of a six-member advisory panel, selected this year’s field.

Here is the bracket the committee released:

Bridgeport Regional March 26-27

#1 Wisconsin vs. #4 Bemidji State

#2 UMass vs. #3 Lake Superior State

Fargo Regional March 26-27

#1 North Dakota vs. #4 American International

#2 Michigan vs. #3 Minnesota Duluth

Albany Regional March 27-28

#1 Boston College vs. #4 Notre Dame

#2 St. Cloud State vs. #3 Boston University

Loveland Regional March 27-28

#1 Minnesota vs. #4 Omaha

#2 Minnesota State vs. #3 Quinnipiac

Some interesting choices, and I don’t envy the committee that had to make them. We’ll have more analysis on some of the decisions the committee made later on.