NORTH ANDOVER, MA—After winning the Hockey East Championship last night, the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team learned that they will face the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Thursday, March 26 at 8:30 PM EAST at Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in Sioux Regional Semifinals in the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship.
The winner will play the winner of Quinnipiac and Providence on Saturday, March 28 with a trip to the Frozen Four in Las Vegas at stake. This marks the fourth time that Merrimack will compete in the NCAA Tournament and the second time in four seasons that they've qualified.
In 1988, Merrimack defeated future Hockey East opponents Northeastern 10-8 on aggregate (5-3 L, 7-3 W) before falling to eventual national champions Lake Superior State in a two leg quarterfinal by a score of 8-5 (4-3 W, 5-1 L). In 2011, the Warriors fell to Notre Dame 4-3 in overtime in the regional semifinals, and in 2023, Merrimack was defeated by the national championship winners Quinnipiac by a score of 5-0.
Merrimack and Quinnipiac will play for the first time since 2009, a set in Grand Forks that the Fighting Hawks were victorious in both games by scores of 5-2 and 3-2.
Merrimack (21-15-2) earned an automatic bid after winning their first ever Hockey East Championship, as they defeated #8 seeded UMass Lowell 5-3 last Wednesday, #1 seeded Providence in overtime 3-2 last Saturday, #2 seeded Massachusetts 1-0 and #3 seeded Connecticut 2-1 on Saturday.
North Dakota (27-9-1) will enter the Tournament as the #1 seed in their regional and the second-place team in the NPI, won the NCHC regular season championship but did not earn automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament, as they were defeated in the NCHC semifinal round by Minnesota Duluth by a score of 5-1 last Saturday.
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