After a topsy-turvy weekend of conference championships, it's time to set he field and begin the road to the 2016 Frozen Four in Tampa. The NCAA hockey selection show is coming up this afternoon, as BC and the rest of the field await their fate.
The selection show begins at 12 PM and will be broadcast on ESPNU. It can also be streamed online at espn3.com, or via mobile on the WatchESPN App. We will also be tweeting out the brackets on twitter at @bcinterruption and posting them here immediately.
For the first time in history, 6 Hockey East teams have qualified for the tournament according to the Pairwise Rankings, as have all 4 Beanpot schools, so the tournament will have a distinct New England/Northeast flavor. Yale and Quinnipiac will be representing New England as well.
Because there are so many Hockey East teams in the field, the committee will be pretty limited in where they can send teams. The NCAA guidelines prohibit in-conference matchups in the first round unless they are unavoidable.
BC finished the season #5 in the Pairwise, so they will be a 2-seed in the tournament. While it stands to reason that as the highest ranking 2 seed, they will likely be close to home in either the East or Northeast region, the committee has been known to throw curveballs at us.
Next week's regionals will be held in Worcester, Albany, Cincinnati and St. Paul.