SCHENECTADY, NY – Union College has earned one of 11 at-large bids in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Tournament and will face Minnesota-Duluth in first-round action in the East Regional at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn., on Friday, March 25 at 3:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU, and can also be seen on the internet at ESPN3.com. The game can also be heard live on the radio on WABY 1160 AM and WVKZ 1240 AM and online at
Teamline.cc. Matt Dubrey and Brian Unger '93 will have the call. There will also be a Union Live@ Bridgeport chat for Union fans to discuss game, with access to the chat below, beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
Union's NCAA berth is its 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. Minnesota-Duluth leads leads 6-0-1 overall as well as in Division I action. The programs first squared off on December 28, 1994 in Duluth and UMD claimed a 6-3 win. Union head coach Nate Leaman scheduled the Bulldogs during his first season at Union, as UMD traveled to Messa Rink for a two game series. The Dutchmen earned a 2-2 tie on Nov. 21, 2003, before Minnesota-Duluth earned a 7-4 win on the next night, the last time the two teams met.
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. Union is 2-1 against WCHA opponents this season, with a loss to Bemidji State (1/1), and wins against Alaska-Anchorage (10/16) and Minnesota (12/31). Friday's second Bridgeport regional contest features No. 1 Yale against No. 4 seed Air Force at 6:30 p.m. The winners of each first-round game will meet in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Saturday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. for a berth in the 2011 Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
2011 will mark the program's fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in school history. The Dutchmen earned a bid to the Division III NCAA Tournament four times, the last coming in 1989, when Union fell to Babson in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Of Union's 36 D-1 postseason games, 16 have been decided by one goal, and nine have gone to overtime.
