COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Looking to win the NCHC’s sixth NCAA National Championship in the last seven tournaments, a trio of National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) teams earned a berth in the 2023 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament as Denver, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan will compete for a national title.
 
Denver earned a No. 1 seed, while St. Cloud State is a No. 2 seed and Western Michigan is a No. 3 seed. All three NCHC teams open NCAA Tournament play on Thursday, March 23 as they are the first three regional semifinals on the tournament schedule. The Pioneers and Broncos are both in the Manchester, N.H. regional and will play at SNHU Arena, while the Huskies head to Fargo, N.D. and will play at Scheels Arena.
 
The fourth-ranked Pioneers (30-9-0) are the defending national champions, having won the program’s ninth NCAA title in Boston last year. The nine National Championships tie with Michigan, the No. 1 seed in the Allentown Regional this year, for the most in men’s college hockey history. Denver begins its quest for title 10 against No. 4 seed and 12th-ranked Cornell (20-10-2) of ECAC Hockey on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. MT. The regional semifinal will be televised on ESPNews and can be streamed on ESPN+. Should the Pioneers advance, they would face either Western Michigan or Boston University in the regional final on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
 
Denver, which is coming off its second straight Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champion, is making its 32nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament all-time, sixth-most among all programs. DU has a 7-5-0 all-time record against Cornell, with the teams last meeting in the regular season on Dec. 5-6, 2014 in Ithaca, N.Y., which ended in a split. The squads have met four times previously in the national tournament, with both teams winning twice. The Pioneers defeated the Big Red, 4-3, in the 1969 National Championship Game.
 
Also in Manchester, N.H. with DU is No. 9 Western Michigan (23-14-1), which plays No. 2 seed and fifth-ranked Boston University (27-10-0) in the first regional semifinal at SNHU Arena. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. ET with the game televised on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN+. The Broncos earned a runner-up finish in the NCHC, their best-ever finish in the conference, but fell to Colorado College in the NCHC Quarterfinals two weekends ago. The Terriers are coming off a Hockey East Tournament championship and BU also won the Hockey East regular-season title. The winner of this regional semifinal faces the winner of Denver and Cornell on Saturday, March 25 for a trip to the Frozen Four. The regional final will be televised on ESPNU.
 
WMU is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and eighth in program history. The Broncos earned their first ever NCAA Tournament win last year over another Hockey East foe, edging Northeastern, 2-1, in overtime in Worcester, Mass. Current junior forward Luke Grainger scored the game-winner in that contest. Western Michigan is looking for its first win ever over BU as the Terriers lead the all-time series, 3-0-0, but the two teams haven’t played since the 1994-95 season.
 
In Fargo on Thursday afternoon, No. 6 St. Cloud State (24-12-3) will battle in-state rival and 10th-ranked Minnesota State (25-12-1) in the first regional semifinal at Scheels Arena. The No. 2 and 3 seeds square off for the third time this season at 4 p.m. CT with the game televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+. The winner moves on to Saturday’s regional final against either top-seeded Minnesota or No. 4 seed Canisius, with that game at 5:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Huskies swept Minnesota State earlier this season in St. Cloud with 3-2 and 4-3 wins on Oct. 21-22, and also split with the Gophers on Jan. 7-8, with SCSU’s loss coming in overtime on the road.

The Huskies and the Mavericks are both coming off conference tournament titles. St. Cloud State won the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the second time (2016), blanking Colorado College, 3-0, last Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, while Minnesota State won the CCHA Tournament title for the second straight year. The Huskies and Mavericks will meet for the 135th time in Thursday’s regional semifinal, but only the second time in the NCAA Tournament. SCSU can pull even in the all-time series with a win, as the Mavericks hold a slight advantage, 61-60-13. The Huskies have won nine of the last 10 games dating back to November 2011, however, including a 5-4 win in the 2021 Frozen Four semifinals in Pittsburgh on April 8, 2021. SCSU is making its 17th trip to the NCAA Tournament, including fifth straight, which ties with MSU for the longest active streak in men’s hockey.
 
The four regional winners then advance to the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., with the national semifinals set for Thursday, April 6 at Amalie Arena, home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The National Championship Game is on Saturday, April 8 at 8 p.m. ET with all three games televised on ESPN2.
 
The NCHC has seen at least one team advance to the Frozen Four every year since the conference began play in 2013-14, except in 2020 when no tournament was held. The NCHC has placed 13 teams in the Frozen Four in the eight NCAA Tournaments held since 2014, the most of any conference, with three different teams winning five national championships. North Dakota started the run in 2016, while Denver won in 2017 and 2022, and Minnesota Duluth won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019. St. Cloud State was the national runner-up in 2021, giving the NCHC a team in the national championship game in six straight tournaments.