When the NCAA announced the eight-team bracket for the 2017 women’s ice hockey tournament on March 5, it didn’t come with any surprises for the top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, but it did bring some welcome news, and some unknown matchups.
No. 1 in both polls and coming off a WCHA regular season and tournament title, the Badgers were effectively assured of a tournament berth and a first-round matchup at home. The bigger news for Wisconsin is that No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth received the third seed and will face No. 5 Minnesota in the first round due to NCAA regulations limiting the number of flights required for the opening round.
This puts the only teams to have beaten the Badgers this season on the opposite side of the bracket and guarantees that at least one team will be eliminated in the first round. Wisconsin’s record against their two WCHA rivals this season has been just 4-2-3, compared to a 27-0-1 record against all other teams. Decreasing their chances of playing Minnesota will be a particular boon for Wisconsin, which has lost to the Golden Gophers in the semifinals of the last three NCAA tournaments.
Wisconsin’s first-round opponent will be CHA regular-season and tournament champion Robert Morris, which is ranked No. 9 in both polls. The Badgers are 7-1-0 all-time against the Colonials, with their last meeting coming in November 2010.
The remaining first-round matchups will be second-seeded Clarkson taking on Cornell, and fourth-seeded Boston College taking on St. Lawrence on Wisconsin’s side of the bracket. The Badgers swept both Clarkson and Cornell earlier this year, but have not played St. Lawrence or Boston College. In fact, none of the players on Wisconsin’s current roster have played any of the three teams on the Badgers side of the bracket, making the next two games complete unknowns.
Unknowns or not, the Badgers will begin their preparations on Tuesday as usual, in anticipation for their matchup with Robert Morris at LaBahn Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. With a win, Wisconsin will advance to the Frozen Four in St. Charles, Mo. needing two more wins to capture its fifth national championship.
