The banged-up Denver Pioneers are bound for a return trip to Green Bay, Wis., and Air Force will travel to New England for NCAA Tournament hockey regionals this week.
DU (25-13-4) received the No. 3 Midwest seed and will play Friday against No. 2 Ferris State (23-11-5) at Green Bay’s Resch Center, where the Pioneers lost in a regional final a year ago.
Air Force (21-10-7) is the Northeast’s No. 4 seed and will play No. 1 Boston College (29-10-1) — the tournament’s top overall seed — Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass.
The DU-Ferris State winner plays the winner of No. 4 Cornell (18-8-7) and No. 1 Michigan (24-12-4) on Saturday. The Air Force-BC winner plays the winner of No. 2 Minnesota Duluth (24-9-6) and No. 3 Maine (23-13-3) on Sunday.
Regional champions advance to the April 5-7 NCAA Frozen Four at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.
The Pioneers received an at-large bid, and the Falcons qualified as the Atlantic Hockey Association playoff champion (automatic). Seven-time NCAA champion DU will play in its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament and 23rd overall. Air Force is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, all in the past six years.
“Once again we are thrilled to be going to the NCAA Tournament as an all-American team and only service academy,” said Air Force coach Frank Serratore.
DU coach George Gwozdecky said Sunday that six injured Pioneers — forwards Jason Zucker, Chris Knowlton and Beau Bennett and defensemen Paul Phillips, Josiah Didier and David Makowski — are day to day. They are scheduled to be evaluated again by team doctors today and none is expected to participate in a light practice Tuesday.
“We leave Wednesday morning and we’ll know a lot more then, (but) we’re going to prepare to play without them, with the idea that none of those guys will be in the lineup,” Gwozdecky said. “If they can return and join us, that’s great. But at this point, we just don’t know.”
DU is 5-0 against regular- season conference champions, beating Minnesota of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (twice), Boston College (Hockey East), Union (Eastern College Athletic Conference) and Air Force (AHA).
Ferris State of Big Rapids, Mich., captured the Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season title.
“Ferris has had a heck of a year,” Gwozdecky said. ” It’s not easy to win any conference, and to win a league like that tells you how good Ferris is. They move extremely well, and they’re a fast team. They’re not going to pound you, but they are good defensively. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”
A year ago in Green Bay, DU beat Western Michigan 3-2 in double overtime before losing to North Dakota 6-1 in the regional championship game.
“When you have a familiarity with the building and the ice, that’s a positive, no question,” Gwozdecky said.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Tournament pairings 8B
