Despite Loss to Cornell; CUWomen Net First NCAABid
POTSDAM - Rewarded for its 23-11-5 record, the Clarkson University womens hockey team has earned an at-large bid into the 2010 NCAA Hockey Tournament.
The Golden Knights, guided by second-year co-head coaches Shannon and Matt Desrosiers, will play at the University of Minnesota in the first NCAA postseason game in the program's seven-year history.
The Golden Knights and Golden Gophers (25-8-5) will faceoff in postseason play this Saturday at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. Game time is 4 p.m. CST, 5 p.m. EST. This will be the third meeting between Clarkson and Minnesota this season. The Gophers shutout the Green and Gold twice (4-0, 2-0) at Ridder Arena on November 27-28.
Clarkson fell just short in its bid to earn the ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship when it lost 4-3 in overtime to Cornell on Sunday evening in Ithaca after rallying from a 3-1 deficit with two third-period power play goals.
The National Collegiate Womens Ice Hockey Committee announced on Sunday night the field of eight teams which will compete for the 10th National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship.
Quarterfinal competition will be conducted on the campuses of the participating institutions, while the 2010 Womens Frozen Four will be hosted by the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, March 19 and 21 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
Eight teams are selected for the championship. Of the eight teams, the top four teams will be seeded.
Three conferences were awarded automatic bids for the 2010 tournament. The remaining five teams were selected at-large. The automatic qualifying conferences and their representatives are the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, University of Minnesota Duluth; ECAC Hockey, Cornell University; and Hockey East Association, Boston University. Clarkson University, Harvard University, Mercyhurst College, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and the University of New Hampshire were all selected as at-large teams.
Two teams will compete at each of the four quarterfinal sites. Quarterfinals will be played Saturday at the following sites: Harvard, Mercyhurst, Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth. The winning team from each quarterfinal will advance to the 2010 Womens Frozen Four.
Mercyhurst enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will host Boston U. on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m. No. 2 seeded Minnesota Duluth will host New Hampshire on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m. Minnesota enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed, and will host Clarkson, March 13 at 4 p.m. Harvard, the No. 4 seed, will take on Cornell on March 13 at TBD. All times are local to the site.
Minnesota Duluth won the championship the first three years of the tournament (2001, 2002 and 2003), while the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, claimed the next two (2004 and 2005). In 2006, Wisconsin became the first team outside of the state of Minnesota to capture the NCAA Women's Frozen Four title after defeating the Golden Gophers, 3-0 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wisconsin again won the championship in 2007, defeating Minnesota Duluth 4-1 at Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, New York. Minnesota Duluth defeated Wisconsin 4-0 to win the 2008 championship. Wisconsin recaptured the title in 2009 with a 5-0 win over Mercyhurst.
The semifinal games will be played at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Central time, Friday, March 19, and streamed live on NCAA.com. The championship game will be played live at noon Central time.
Tickets for the game are $10 for reserved seats, $8 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. For ticket information, call (612) 624-8080. For more information about the womens hockey tournament, go on-line to www.NCAA.com.
