Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Record: 29-10-1 overall (19-7-1 Hockey East, first)
Qualified: Hockey East tournament champions
NCAA Championships: Four (1949, 2001, 2008, 2010)
NCAA Appearance: 31st (most recent, 2011)
Head Coach: Jerry York
Key Players: Chris Kreider, F, Jr. (40 GP, 20-21—41); Johnny Gaudreau, F, Fr. (40 GP, 19-20—39); Brian Dumoulin, D, Jr. (40 GP, 6-20—26); Parker Milner, G, Jr. (25-5-0, 1.82, .931)

What You Need to Know: The Eagles are the unquestioned favorites to advance to Tampa, entering the NCAA Tournament with 15 straight wins, the longest win streak of the Jerry York era. The Eagles seem to head into the postseason on a tear every year, but this year’s bunch has been unstoppable since late January.

How They'll Advance: During Boston College’s current 15-game winning streak, the play of Parker Milner has been critical to the Eagles’ success. Milner has a 1.20 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage during that run and stopped 68 of the 71 shots he faced last weekend at the TD Garden. His emergence ended a revolving door in goal and his continued dominance will make the Eagles very tough to beat.

What Might Trip Them Up: Realistically, Boston College could be its own worst enemy; regardless of what’s been thrown their way, be it power-play goals, coming from behind, hot goaltenders, whatever, the Eagles have had an answer over the past two months. Overconfidence could be Boston College’s biggest hurdle. If the Eagles don’t beat themselves, it’s going to take a really special performance to do them in.

Most Recent Boston College Line Chart
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing	Notes
9-Barry Almeida	24-Bill Arnold	21-Steven Whitney	Kreider, the heralded Ranger pick, is at his best with speed on the wing. He also plays the point on the power play.
17-Destry Straight	12-Kevin Hayes	19-Chris Kreider
13-Johnny Gaudreau	11-Pat Mullane	22-Paul Carey
27-Quinn Smith	18-Michael Sit	10-Danny Linell
Defense	Defense	Goalies
4-Tommy Cross	8-Edwin Shea	35-Parker Milner	Dumoulin is the most heralded of the D but it's a balanced group with size and willingness to block shots.
2-Brian Dumoulin	6-Patrick Wey	1-Brian Billett
7-Isaac MacLeod	3-Patch Alber	30-Chris Venti

NO. 2 SEED MINNESOTA DULUTH BULLDOGS

Location: Duluth, Minn.
Record: 24-9-6 overall (16-7-5 WCHA, fourth)
Qualified: At-large berth
NCAA Championships: One (2011)
NCAA Appearance: Eighth (most recent, 2011)
Head Coach: Scott Sandelin
Key Players: Jack Connolly, F, Sr. (39 GP, 19-39—58); Travis Oleksuk, F, Sr. (39 GP, 21-30—51); Brady Lamb, D, Sr. (9-21—30); Kenny Reiter, G, Sr. (22-8-6, 2.40, .912)

What You Need to Know: Some Bulldog fans who had hotel rooms booked for Green Bay took it as a slight that, for the second year in a row, their team is getting sent east and will likely need to get past the No. 1 overall seed to get to the Frozen Four. And unlike last season’s playoff run, the guys with championship rings won’t fly under anyone’s radar.

How They'll Advance: In Jack Connolly, J.T. Brown, and Travis Oleksuk, the Bulldogs have three of the speediest and most creative offensive players in the nation spread over the top two lines. Rolling two units with offensive punch has been the team’s formula for success for the past two seasons as they double the amount of offense opponents need to stop.

What Might Trip Them Up: While the Bulldogs’ power play is very, very dangerous, their penalty kill is a mess, ranking among the worst in college hockey. Playing a long way away from home against officials they likely haven’t seen before, penalty trouble could spell immediate doom for Scott Sandelin and associates.

Most Recent Minnesota Duluth Line Chart
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing	Notes
18-Joe Basaraba	15-Jake Hendrickson	27-David Grun	Flaherty leads UMD in short-handed goals ... with one. Nobody else has scored one this year.
14-Keegan Flaherty	12-Jack Connolly	17-Mike Seidel
21-Caleb Herbert	11-Travis Oleksuk	23-J.T. Brown
25-Justin Crandall	19-Max Tardy	26-Adam Krause
Defense	Defense	Goalies
28-Wade Bergman	2-Brady Lamb	35-Kenny Reiter	Kishel was a part-time player for his first three years but stepped in and played a bigger role as a senior.
5-Chris Casto	16-Tim Smith	31-Aaron Crandall
8-Drew Olson	6-Scott Kishel

NO. 3 SEED MAINE BLACK BEARS

Location: Orono, Maine
Record: 23-13-3 (15-10-2 Hockey East, fourth)
Qualified: At-large bid
NCAA Championships: Two (1993, 1999)
NCAA Appearance: 19th (most recent, 2008)
Head Coach: Tim Whitehead
Key Players: Spencer Abbott, F, Sr. (38 GP, 20-41—61); Joey Diamond, F, Jr. (36 GP, 25-22—47); Will O'Neill, D, Sr. (39 GP, 3-28—31); Dan Sullivan, G, So. (22-10-3, 2.54, .910)

What You Need To Know: Maine is back in the tournament for the first time since 2007 thanks in large part to an outstanding second-half run. After standing just 3-6-2 at Thanksgiving, the Black Bears went on a 14-3-1 run to boost their postseason chances.

How They’ll Advance: Maine’s top line of Spencer Abbott, Brian Flynn, and Joey Diamond combined for 155 of the 365 points scored by the Black Bears this season and is good as any combination in the country. At the other end of the ice, goaltender Dan Sullivan made 67 saves in Boston last weekend, many of the spectacular variety. Abbott missed the Hockey East championship game due to injury, but with him in the lineup, Maine has the offensive firepower and goaltending needed to succeed in March.

What Might Trip Them Up: The concern with Maine is that they’re too dependent on that potent first line. If the Abbott-Flynn-Diamond trio doesn’t produce (or if Abbott can't go in the regional), the Black Bears will need to get production from somewhere else in the lineup.

Most Recent Maine Line Chart
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing	Notes
13-Spencer Abbott	10-Brian Flynn	39-Joey Diamond	Mangene is a bit of a wildcard, able to play forward or defense - often in the same game.
24-Mark Anthoine	22-Stu Higgins	57-Matt Mangene
11-Theo Andersson	91-Klas Leidermark	18-Jon Swavely
26-Adam Shemansky	21-Kyle Beattie	15-John Parker
Defense	Defense	Goalies
27-Will O'Neill	2-Mike Cornell	30-Dan Sullivan	Sullivan began the season splitting starts, but has played every game since Nov. 11.
44-Ryan Hegarty	3-Mark Nemec	51-Martin Ouellette
71-Nick Pryor	16-Brice O'Connor	31-Josh Seeley

NO. 4 SEED AIR FORCE FALCONS