ST. PAUL, MINN. | XCEL ENERGY CENTER
SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 29-30

Saturday: Robert Morris vs. Minnesota, 5:30 p.m. ET (TV: ESPNU)
Saturday: St. Cloud State vs. Notre Dame, 9 p.m. ET (TV: ESPNU)
Sunday: Regional Final, 7:30 p.m. ET (TV: ESPNU)

NO. 1 SEED MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS

Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Record: 25-6-6 overall (14-3-3 Big Ten, first)
Qualified: At-large bid
NCAA Championships: Five (1974, 1976, 1979, 2002, 2003)
NCAA Appearance: 35th (most recent, 2013)
Head Coach: Don Lucia
Key Players: Kyle Rau, F, Jr., 37 GP, 12-22–34; Sam Warning, F, Jr., 35 GP, 12-19–32; Mike Reilly, D, So., 37 GP, 8-21–29; Adam Wilcox, G, So., 34 GP, 23-5-6, 1.91 GAA, .933 save pct.

What You Need To Know: The top overall seed in the tournament is also one of the youngest teams in this year’s field. The average age of the Golden Gophers’ roster is 21.17 years; only Boston College (average age: 20.65 years) is younger.

Burning Question: Can Minnesota handle the scrutiny they’ll face in the wake of last year’s disappointing loss to Yale in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament? Getting to the regional final probably won’t be enough to satisfy Gopher fans. Minnesota is really good, but they’re also really young. The NCAA Tournament is a pressure cooker; playing in your backyard in front of thousands of your own fans expecting nothing less than a trip to the Frozen Four ratchets up that pressure.

NO. 2 SEED NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Location: Notre Dame, Ind.
Record: 23-14-2 overall (9-9-2 Hockey East, eighth)
Qualified: At-large bid
NCAA Championships: None
NCAA Appearance: Seventh (most recent, 2013)
Head Coach: Jeff Jackson
Key Players: T.J. Tynan, F, Sr., 39 GP, 8-29–37; Vince Hinostroza, F, Fr., 33 GP, 8-24–32; Stephen Johns, D, Sr., 39 GP, 8-12–20; Steven Summerhays, G, Sr., 37 GP, 21-13-2, 2.00 GAA, .925 save pct.

What You Need To Know: Notre Dame has just four power-play goals in 28 man-advantage opportunities over its last nine games for a 14.3 percent success rate, and the Irish have given up at least one power-play goal in six straight games.

Burning Question: You pretty much know what you’re going to get from Steven Summerhays, but will the Irish get enough goals for him? Notre Dame has scored a total of 21 goals in its 14 losses this season. Regardless of how good your goalie is–and Summerhays has been All-American good this season–averaging 1.5 goals per game in your losses isn’t leaving much margin for error.

NO. 3 SEED ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES

Location: St. Cloud, Minn.
Record: 21-10-5 overall (15-6-3 NCHC, first)
Qualified: At-large bid
NCAA Championships: None
NCAA Appearance: 10th (most recent, 2013)
Head Coach: Bob Motzko
Key Players: Nic Dowd, F, Sr., 36 GP, 21-18–39; Jonny Brodzinski, F, So., 36 GP, 20-19–39; Kevin Gravel, D, Sr., 36 GP, 10-13–23; Ryan Faragher, G, Jr., 33 GP, 19-8-4, 2.76 GAA, .906 save pct.

What You Need To Know: Despite losing 2013 Hobey Baker Award winner Drew LeBlanc and high-scoring forward Ben Hanowski, the Huskies have 132 goals through 36 games this season. That’s 13 more than SCSU scored through 36 games last season.

Burning Question: Which Ryan Faragher will show up? Will it be the one who started the year with a 10-1-1 mark, a 1.91 GAA, and a .927 save percentage? Or will it be the one who’s allowing nearly 3.3 goals per game while stopping less than 90 percent of the shots he’s faced since mid-December? Notre Dame’s offense has improved significantly over the last month, so we’ll likely know the answer soon.

NO. 4 SEED ROBERT MORRIS COLONIALS

Location: Moon Township, Pa.
Record: 19-17-5 overall (13-9-5 Atlantic Hockey, fifth)
Qualified: Atlantic Hockey tournament champion
NCAA Championships: None
NCAA Appearance: First
Head Coach: Derek Schooley
Key Players: Cody Wydo, F, Jr., 41 GP, 30-22–52; Zac Lynch, F, So., 41 GP, 18-27–45; Tyson Wilson, D, Jr., 40 GP, 3-16–19; Dalton Izyk, G, Fr., 10 GP, 5-1-0, 2.73 GAA, .922 save pct.

What You Need To Know: The Colonials are one of two teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament whose roster doesn’t feature at least one NHL draft pick. Ferris State is the other.

Burning Question: How does Robert Morris pull off an upset of Minnesota? As we saw in Grand Rapids last year and Grand Forks in 2006, it can happen. And while it’s unlikely to occur at the X this time around, all bets are off if newly christened starting goalie Dalton Izyk stays hot and the Colonials jump out to an early lead, causing a pro-Golden Gopher contingent in St. Paul to become restless.