Reading for the Yale series

Here was a story I found on UND Fighting Sioux's next opponent the Yale Bulldogs. Seems there was some monkey business with the pairing for the NCAA Hockey tourney.

Instead of a flight to the midwest, the Bulldogs will stay close to home. Worcester — hometown of Yale coach Keith Allain — is a two-hour bus ride from Ingalls Rink and gives Yale’s strong New Haven fan base the opportunity to make the short trip. Last March, Yale’s game against Vermont in the East Regional was a sellout at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.

The caveat is the Bulldogs are now in a regional with two of the hottest teams in the nation, and facing the fifth overall seed instead of the eighth.

The NCAA hockey selection committee, which rarely strays from its seeding formula, was expected to match the Fighting Sioux with No. 12 overall Michigan in the opening round. In a move likely made to boost attendance both in Worcester and Fort Wayne, Yale and Michigan were swapped.

North Dakota (25-12-3), a seven-time national champion, won three straight to capture the WCHA title over the weekend. Boston College (25-10-3) has reached the Frozen Four eight times in the last 12 years with two national titles and is unbeaten in its last nine games.

Yale has lost all three games against North Dakota, losing at Ingalls Rink in 2002 and a two-game series in Grand Forks, N.D., in 2003.

“They’re one of the big faces of college hockey,” Yale captain Ryan Donald said. “That’s tough to match. Just watching the ESPN (selection show), I don’t think they even mentioned anything about our team. That’s fine with us. Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage and maybe they’ll take us lightly, too. At the same time, this is one of the top 16 teams in the country. Everybody is good, and everybody deserves to be there.”

North Dakota was 13-11-5 on Feb. 12 before catching fire. It has won 12 of the last 13 games, including victories over Minnesota-Duluth, Denver and St. Cloud State on successive days to capture the WCHA tournament title.

“To be honest, it really doesn’t matter where we are,” Allain said. “Logistically, Worcester is a little easier. It will be fun playing a team with the tradition and history of North Dakota. And it’s home for me. We’re just thrilled to have the opportunity to compete for a national championship [Read the rest of the story here]