NCAA Tournament Bracket Set; Four Caps Prospects to Participate

March 27, 2015 5:51 pm

Senior Travis Boyd leads Minnesota to the NCAA Tournament (Photo: Brian Ekart)

With all six conference tournaments ending last Sunday, the field for the NCAA Tournament is set. This weekend, the top sixteen teams are divided in four single-elimination regional tournaments whose winners will face each in Frozen Four semifinals in Boston on April 9. The championship game will be played on April 11.

Four Caps prospects will participate in the tournament: senior Travis Boyd (Minnesota), junior Riley Barber (Miami) and freshment Zach Sanford (Boston College) and Brian Pinho (Providence).

Via SBN College Hockey, here’s the schedule, with teams of Caps prospects in italics.

West Regional, Scheel’s Arena, Fargo, North Dakota, March 27th, 28th
#1 North Dakota vs. #4 Quinnipiac 8pm EST ESPNU
#2 Michigan Tech vs. #3 St. Cloud State 4:30pm EST ESPN3

Northeast Regional, Verizon Wireless Center, Manchester, New Hampshire, March 27th, 28th
#1 Boston University vs. #4 Yale 2pm EST ESPNU
#2 Minnesota Duluth vs. #3 Minnesota 5:30pm EST ESPNU

Midwest Regional, Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Indiana, March 28th, 29th
#1 Minnesota State vs. #4 RIT 4pm EST ESPNU
#2 Nebraska-Omaha vs. #3 Harvard 7:30pm EST ESPN3

East Regional, Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island, March 28th, 29th
#1 Miami vs. #4 Providence 6:30 EST ESPNU
#2 Denver vs. #3 Boston College 3pm EST ESPN2

And here’s the bracket, via NCAA:

Two Caps prospects celebrated conference championship last nights as Barber’s Miami defeated St. Cloud State in NCHC championship game and Boyd’s Minnesota topped Michigan to win Big 10 Tournament.

Barber finished the tournament with a goal and an assist while Boyd had three goals and an assist.

Barber scored an opening goal in Miami’s defeat of Denver University in a conference semifinal:

Video: NCHC.

Day later, he assisted on two of three Blake Coleman’s goals (including this beauty play) against St. Cloud State in the championship game as the Redhawks won 3-2.

Barber left the game with an apparent left knee injury. He has been listed as questionable for the regional tournament. Redhawks’ star winger was carried by his teammates and staff to celebrate the victory with the rest of the team before limping through the handshake line.

Travis Boyd kicked off the Big 10 tournament with an assist on a goal by Sam Warning. He then scored an insurance empty-netter late in the third period as his team got to the final.

In a championship game against Michigan, Boyd opened the scoring with a powerplay goal.