Miami, Denver Get Top Seeds for NCAA Hockey Championship

Last year, it was top national seed Boston University winning the championship after a slew of upsets involving the other top seeds.

One of those upsets involved this year's top national seeds. At the West Regional in Minneapolis, fourth-seed Miami University took down top seed Denver 4-1. The RedHawks went on to the Frozen Four, and lost in overtime to BU in the final.

This year, Boston University didn't make the tournament, but Miami and Denver return as the top two national seeds in the 16-team field, which was announced Sunday.

Miami got the top seed nationally, and they will play in the Midwest Regional at Fort Wayne, Ind. Their first-round opponent will be Cinderella Alabama-Huntsville, who won the last College Hockey America championship. The league disbands, with Niagara (N.Y.) and Robert Morris (Pa.) moving on to Atlantic Hockey, while Bemidji (Minn.) State heads to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. UAH doesn't have a home, so they'll play next year as an independent.

The other two teams in that regional are No. 2 seed Bemidji State and No. 3 Michigan. Miami coach Enrico Blasi played the cool card during an interview on ESPN2, but the RedHawks can't be happy about a potential regional final matchup with a Michigan team that beat them handily Friday in the CCHA semifinals.

Denver is the No. 2 national seed, and they top the East Regional in Albany, N.Y. The Pioneers will play fourth-seeded Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology Friday, while No. 2 Cornell draws third seed New Hampshire in the other matchup in that regional. RIT won the Atlantic Hockey title and an automatic bid, while Cornell won the ECAC playoff title. Denver (WCHA) and New Hampshire (Hockey East) are regular season champions.

Wisconsin earned the top seed for the West Regional in St. Paul, Minn. The Badgers play No. 4 Vermont, while No. 2 St. Cloud (Minn.) State will take on No. 3 Northern Michigan. St. Cloud State is 0-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, while one-time power NMU is in the tournament for the first time since 1999.

In the Northeast Regional at Worcester, Mass., Boston College is the No. 1 seed. Their first-round opponent will be Alaska-Fairbanks. The Nanooks are making their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, joining RIT as the newcomers in this year's Division I field. Fairbanks is over 4,000 miles from Worcester, so they will easily have the longest road trip of any tournament team. No. 2 North Dakota draws No. 3 Yale in the other semifinal in Worcester.

Regional play starts Friday and continues through Sunday. The 2010 Men's Frozen Four is April 8 and 10 at Ford Field in Detroit.