TAMPA, Fla. — It’s rare that the highest seed from the West plays the highest seed from the East in the Men’s Frozen Four championship game.
That’s what we’ll get Saturday when No. 1 overall seed Minnesota plays No. 2 Quinnipiac for the NCAA championship at Amalie Arena.
It’ll be the first time since Maine’s 1993 victory against Lake Superior State in Milwaukee that the highest seeds from each region square off with the title on the line.
Seeds are listed in NCAA records for the last 53 tournaments, going back to 1970. Back then, it was a four-team event — two teams from the East, two from the West.
The field expanded to five teams in 1977, six for one year in 1978, eight in 1981, 12 in 1988 and 16 in 2003.
But this is only the third time in those 53 events that the highest seed from the East has played the highest seed from the West. Maine’s 5-4 victory was the most recent, and Wisconsin defeated Harvard 6-2 in 1983 in Grand Forks, N.D.
This season’s championship game also is a rarity in seeing the top two overall seeds reach the last game of the tournament. Only No. 1 Denver’s 3-2 victory against No. 2 Minnesota Duluth in 2017 in Chicago also qualifies in the 20 tournaments played in the 16-team format.
