NCAA Tournament Opens Friday

Last year, the Bowling Green hockey team rolled in and rolled out. This year, Michigan State will be making the trek east to face Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

A pair of games are scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights at Bright Center. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

Tickets, Tickets

Tickets for the games can be purchased in the basement of Harvard Hall beginning Thursday at 9 a.m. Tickets are $8.

Should Harvard defeat the Spartans in the two-game, total-goals series, it would face Minnesota in the NCAA quarterfinals a week from Friday in Minneapolis, Minn. Minnesota, the number-one seed in the Western bracket of the tournament, earned a first-round bye in the tournament.

The winner of a total-goals series is that team which scores the most goals in 120 minutes of play. Last year, Harvard took a 7-1 advantage over Bowling Green after the first game of the teams' quarterfinal series and won the second game, 3-0.

Harvard's 10-1 total-goals victory lifted it to the NCAA semifinals, where it fell to North Dakota, 5-2.

This year, Michigan State finished third in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association behind Lake Superior State (the number-two ranked Western team) and Bowling Green (number four in the West).

"Michigan State is a super team," Harvard sophomore C.J. Young said. "They're going to show us a bigger type team. They've been a powerhouse the last couple of years."

Western teams often sport a dozen or so big, bruising skaters and a few sharp shooters. Michigan State has its share of big players. It also features Olympian Kevin Miller, who returned to the Spartans following Team USA's seventh-place Olympic finish in late February.

"If we can put together the type of series we did against Bowling Green last year, we'll do pretty well against Michigan State," Young said.

"It's nice to get them in our own rink," Young added. "You feel more comfortable in the confines of your own rink."