MU (24-11-5) is the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 Minnesota State Mankato (24-13-3) in the Midwest Regional semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m. The first game will feature No. 1 Notre Dame (25-12-3) vs. No. 4 St. Cloud State (23-15-1) at 1:30 p.m.
The regional title will be decided Sunday at 4 p.m. The Frozen Four will be held in Pittsburgh on April 11-13.
Miami is 7-10 in 10 years of NCAA competition and has lost its last two openers after qualifying for the Frozen Four in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The RedHawks lost to Boston University 4-3 in overtime in the 2008-09 national championship game.
Minnesota State has been to the NCAA tournament just once before, losing to Cornell in 2002-03.
The purple-and-gold Mavericks are under the direction of first-year coach Mike Hastings. They finished in a three-way tie for fourth place during the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season, losing to Wisconsin 7-2 in the WCHA’s Final Five.
This is just the second winning season in the last 10 years for MSU. The Mavericks were 19-16-4 in 2007-08.
Minnesota State’s top scorers are sophomore forward Matt Leitner (17 goals, 30 assists), senior forward Eriah Hayes (20 goals, 16 assists) and sophomore forward Jean-Paul Lafontaine (nine goals, 26 assists). Freshman goaltender Stephon Williams has a .925 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-allowed average.
Miami is coming off a 6-2 loss to Michigan in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association semifinals Saturday. Notre Dame topped the Wolverines 3-1 to win the championship Sunday afternoon.
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