Worcester’s DCU Center will extend its record of NCAA men’s hockey tournament games hosted in 2014 when it holds one of four regionals.
The 2014 Northeast Regional will be in Worcester. The others announced by the NCAA on Thursday: Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. will host the East Regional; U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati gets the Midwest Regional; and Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., drew the West Regional.
DCU Center, formerly known as the Centrum Centre, has hosted 42 NCAA hockey games from 1993 through last season. The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., is second with 39 games played from 1948 to 1994.
The NCAA also announced sites for women’s tournaments. The 2014 women’s Frozen Four will be at Quinnipiac’s TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn., and this season’s Division III women’s championship will be at Wessman Arena at Wisconsin-Superior.
This season’s men’s regionals are scheduled for Providence, R.I.; Manchester, N.H.; Toledo, Ohio; and Grand Rapids, Mich. [MORE: NCAA tournament page]
In 2014, the NCAA tournament will return to Cincinnati for the first time since the 1996 Frozen Four. U.S. Bank Arena, known in 1996 as Riverfront Coliseum, averaged 11,757 for the three games in the Frozen Four won by Michigan. That event is remembered widely for poor ice conditions that resulted from a leak in the cooling system.
The Xcel Energy Center has hosted regionals in 2010 and 2012. Webster Bank Arena will host for the fourth time; the others were 2009, 2011 and 2012.
The East and Midwest regionals will take place March 28-29, 2014, while the Northeast and West regionals are March 29-30.
