FARGO REGIONAL
When: Thursday, March 23 & Saturday, March 25
Where: Scheels Arena, Fargo, N.D.
Matchups (all times Eastern): St. Cloud State vs. Minnesota State, March 23, 5 p.m., ESPNU; Minnesota vs. Canisius, March 23, 9 p.m., ESPN2; championship, March 25, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU
1. MINNESOTA
How they got here: At-large bid
Overall season record: 26-9-1
Top players: F Logan Cooley (19-33–52), Jimmy Snuggerud (20-29–49), F Matthew Knies (21-20–41), D Brock Faber (4-19–23), G Justen Close (23-9-1, 2.02 GAA, .927 SV%)
Why they will advance to the Frozen Four: The Golden Gophers are loaded everywhere. They are the top scoring team in the country. They’re top-10 defensively and on the power play, and their penalty kill is good. Even their young players – like the Big Ten co-scoring champs, freshmen Cooley and Snuggerud – play like veterans. If they play their game, they can only be defeated by a better team and Minnesota is the best team in their bracket.
Why they won’t advance to the Frozen Four: The only way that Minnesota doesn’t advance to the Frozen Four is self-sabotage. The Golden Gophers are solid, but their own mistakes can take them down, as they saw in the Big Ten title game.
2. ST. CLOUD STATE
How they got here: Won NCHC tournament championship
Overall season record: 24-12-3
Top players: F Jami Krannila (21-19-40), F Grant Cruikshank (22-13-35), D Dylan Anhorn (5-20-25), G Jaxon Castor (13-7-1, 2.06 GAA, .920 SV%)
Why they will advance to the Frozen Four: St. Cloud State went 3-0-1 in the regular season against Minnesota State and Minnesota, sweeping MSU and not losing to the Gophers, either. We’re not discounting Canisius’ chances, but SCSU has form against the rest of the field.
Why they won’t advance to the Frozen Four: The Huskies’ results were up and down in the home stretch, prior to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Could the rest of the Fargo field find a blueprint somewhere in there?
3. MINNESOTA STATE
How they got here: CCHA tournament champions
Overall season record: 25-12-1
Top players: F David Silye (23-16-39); D Jake Livingstone (8-27-35); F Christian Fitzgerald (16-13-29); D Akito Hirose (4-23-27)
Why they will advance to the Frozen Four: Experience, resiliency, whatever you want to call it. Either way, when you think they’re out, MSU keeps coming back. The Mavericks were in third place at the holiday break and went 15-3 in the second half of the season to clinch the CCHA regular season title on the last day.
Then, they were down 2-0 with less than three minutes to play in the CCHA conference championship and ended up falling to beat Northern Michigan in overtime. The Mavs seem to have a resiliency that can only come from experience. They are seeking to go to their third-consecutive Frozen Four and were 11 minutes from winning a national title a season ago.
Why they won’t advance to the Frozen Four: This regional isn’t exactly friendly to the Mavericks matchup-wise: They played both St. Cloud State and Minnesota back in October and went 1-3 against their instate rivals. The Huskies swept the series in St. Cloud, while the Mavericks and Gophers split the home-and-home.
Considering you have three instate rivals with huge fanbases playing just over the border means this regional is the very definition of “meat grinder.”
4. CANISIUS
How they got here: Won Atlantic Hockey tournament championship
Overall season record: 20-18-3
Top players: F Keaton Mastrodonato (16-20-36), F Ryan Miotto (17-17-34), D David Melaragni (4-21-25), G Jacob Barczewski (16-14-1, 2.43 GAA, .925 SV%)
Why they will advance to the Frozen Four: Barczewski has been locked in during the postseason, posting a .963 save percentage and a 1.14 GAA in seven playoff games.
Atlantic Hockey teams are typically low seeds but are 4-3 in the opening round since 2015, including wins over the top overall seed in the tournament in 2015 (RIT over Minnesota State), 2018 (Air Force over St. Cloud) and 2019 (American International over St. Cloud State).
Why they won’t advance to the Frozen Four: As the No. 16 seed, Canisius has the toughest path, starting with top seed Minnesota. The Golden Griffins are 2-6 in non-conference games and 0-2 against teams in this year’s tournament field.
Only one Atlantic Hockey team has ever advanced to the Frozen Four (RIT in 2010).
