With just two days until the puck is dropped in St. Paul, Minnesota we have reviewed the teams from the western half of the NCAA bracket, Michigan and North Dakota. It's time to take a look at how the teams from the East arrived. First up is Northeast Region winner, Notre Dame.
(Can ND win their first NCAA Hockey Championship?)
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are looking to return to the NCAA Finals for the first time since 2008 when they finished in second. The Irish are known for their defense which helped them to a second place finish in the CCHA. A team poised to go on a run, they squeaked out a victory in the CCHA first round but came up short losing to Michigan and Miami.
How They Got to The Frozen Four
The #3 seed in the Northeast regional was faced with a tough first round opponent in Merrimack. The Warriors were the surprise team of the season and hungry for a win after coming up just short in the Hockey East Finals. In a game Notre Dame fell behind twice by two goals, Notre Dame battled back to force overtime. A fortunate bounce for ND in overtime may have been a sign of what was to come as the Irish squeaked out 4-3 win.
In the Northeast Final, ND faced another Hockey East team and host of the region, New Hampshire. UNH knocked off Miami in round one and was hoping to continue their run but the defense of ND was too much to handle. A 2-1 victory sealed Notre Dame's spot in the Frozen Four where they will face Minnesota Duluth in the first round.
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