Keeping up with five WCHA teams in NCAA field

CC, AIR FORCE UPDATES

Reaction from Colorado College coach Scott Owens and one of his players on facing defending NCAA champion Boston College in Tigers' first game is here. BC has 17 players back from last year and three from 2008 title team.

Best line of the CC story was actually by Frank Serratore, coach of the Air Force Academy which beat Rochester Insititute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., to win the Atlantic Hockey tournament and earn an automatic NCAA bid.

"There were 4,000 partisan fans and all of them were wearing orange," Serratore said. "It looked like a pumpkin convention."

Frank, a native of Coleraine, Minn., is the father of Gophers freshman forward Tom Serratore.

Air Force drew Yale, another No. 1 regional seed like BC, in the first round. But the Falcons gave Yale its first loss this season so that has to count for something.

MARTIN TALKS TO DU 'MATES

All three of Colorado's Division I hockey teams are in the NCAA tournament -- in different regions. Minnesota, the state of hockey with five Division I teams, has one in the 16-team field. That's Minnesota Duluth.

UMD OFF TO CONN.

After five WCHA teams made the NCAA field, Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said, "I am happy for our players and happy for our league." The story in the Duluth News Tribune is here.

The Bulldogs are in the East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn.

GREEN BAY BETTER PREPARE

North Dakota was assigned to play in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay and SIoux fans follow their team. A story on the Sioux is here.

UNO TO FACE OLD RIVAL

Nebraska Omaha was upset by Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA, but had won enough in the regular season to still earn an at-large NCAA tournament bid. "We deserve to be there," UNO coach Dean Blais said.