UMD lone Minnesota school in NCAA men's hockey tourney

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Minnesota-Duluth will face Union College in the opening round of the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament this weekend. The Bulldogs are 22-10-and-6 and will be the region's No. 3 seed.

The second-seeded Union College will enter Friday's game at 26-9-4. The game will take place in Bridgeport, Connecticut at 2 p.m. on Friday. Yale and Air Force are in the other side of the bracket. This year's NCAA Frozen Four will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul beginning on April 7th. UMD would need to win two games to reach the Frozen Four. The Bulldogs are the lone Minnesota-based team in the 16-team NCAA field.

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University of Minnesota officials say a limited number of NCAA Frozen Four tickets will go on sale later this morning. The 2011 Frozen Four will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul from April 7-9. The tickets will be available for purchase beginning at 10 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center box office. On-line and telephone sales via Ticketmaster will begin at 11 a.m. today. Each ticket package costs $195 and includes tickets for the two semifinal games on April 7th and the championship game on April 9th.

The NCAA Division I men's tournament bracket is as follows:

East Regional (Bridgeport, CT)

16 RIT vs. 1 Yale

9 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 8 Union

West Regional (St. Louis)

12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 5 Michigan

14 Colorado College vs. 3 Boston College

Midwest Regional (Green Bay)

15 RPI vs. 2 North Dakota

10 Western Michigan vs. 7 Denver

Northeast Regional (Manchester, NH)

6 Merrimack vs. 11 Notre Dame

4 Miami vs. 13 New Hampshire

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SA Hockey announced over the weekend that International Falls native Dean Blais will coach the 2012 USA National Junior team in the World Championships in Calgary and Edmonton. Blais is currently the head coach at Nebraska-Omaha, which will open NCAA play on Friday against Michigan in St. Louis He coached the Junior Team to the World Title in 2010. Blais is a former Golden Gopher hockey player and a former head coach at North Dakota. He has high school coaching experience at Roseau and International Falls.

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