Yale, Union & RPI Earn Spots in NCAA Tournament Field

ALBANY, NY – Three League teams -- Yale, the 2011 ECAC Hockey Championship titlists; Union, the 2011 ECAC Hockey regular-season champions; and Rensselaer -- have earned spots in the upcoming 2011 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship.

Yale (27-6-1, 17-4-1 in ECAC Hockey), the No. 1 seed in the NCAA field of 16, takes on No. 16 Air Force (20-11-6) at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the East Regional at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn. The tournament bracket was announced at 11:30 a.m. today on ESPN2.

The Bulldogs, winners of four straight games, are making their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The winner of the Yale-Air Force contest takes on the survivor of Friday's 3 p.m.  Union (8)-Minnesota-Duluth (9) game. The regional final is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Bulldogs and the Falcons met season back in November at Colorado Springs, Colo.  Air Force used a third-period comeback to capture a 4-3 contest before Yale went on a 10-game win streak that landed it No. 1 in both Division I polls and in the PairWise.

Union has earned one of 11 at-large bids in the upcoming tournament and will face Minnesota-Duluth at 3 p.m. Friday in first-round action in the East Regional. Union’s NCAA berth is the first since moving up to Division I before the 1991-92 season.

The Dutchmen earned a No. 2 seed after a historic regular season which saw Union compile a record of 26-9-4 (17-3-2 ECAC Hockey) en route to its first ECAC Hockey regular season championship.

Friday's meeting will mark the eighth time in Union's 20-year Division I history that Union and Minnesota-Duluth will meet. The Bulldogs, which earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, have a record of 22-10-6 (15-8-5 WCHA). The Bulldogs lost to Bemidji State 3-2 (OT) in the quarterfinals of the WCHA playoffs.

Rensselaer (20-12-5, 11-9-2 in ECAC Hockey) will make its first appearance in the 16-team event since 1995 when it faces North Dakota at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisc. RPI is the fourth seed in the Midwest Regional, while the Fighting Sioux (30-8-3) are the top seed.

The winner of the game faces either second-seeded University of Denver (24-11-5) or third-seeded Western Michigan University (19-12-10) at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

This is the ninth time in school history – and first under fifth-year head coach Seth Appert – that RPI has qualified for the NCAA Tournament with the other years being 1953, 1954, 1961, 1964, 1984, 1985, 1994 and 1995. Rensselaer played in the Frozen Four on four occasions (1953, 1954, 1961 and 1985) and won the National Championship in 1954 and 1985. The Engineers have an all-time record of 7-8-1 in the NCAAs.

The Engineers have played North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament just once, losing a first round series, 2 games to 0 in 1984. Overall they have played the Fighting Sioux eight times, posting a 1-7-0 record. RPI has played Denver once in the NCAAs (a 4-1 loss in 1964) and has never faced Western Michigan in the post-season. Rensselaer is 1-11-0 all-time against the Pioneers and 4-2-0 against the Broncos.