AAU College Hockey Nationals Preview
By: Danny Baum
The AAU College Hockey National Championships are here and College Hockey South is well represented throughout all four divisions. Of the 48 teams in West Chester, PA for Nationals, 18(!) are from CHS. Let the games begin!
Division 1
Division 1 has four pools of four teams, with the top team in each division after pool play advancing to the semifinals. The semi finals take place on March 9th, and the championship game is played the next afternoon.
The Tampa Spartans were ranked as the top Division 1 AAU hockey team, and will share a pool with the Georgia Bulldogs, the Cortland Red Dragons, and the Delaware Blue Hens. Each team will play each other round-robin style and the standings will be kept by points. Tampa will play Georgia less than a month after beating the Bulldogs for the College Hockey South Division 1 Championship, 7-1.
South Carolina, Auburn, and Alabama are the lone CHS representatives in their respective pools. The Gamecocks were ranked as the seventh-best Division 1 team and will square off with the second-ranked Niagara Purple Eagles, Fairfield Stags, and Fordham Rams.
Auburn was selected to Pool C, alongside the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, Buffalo Bulls, and Quinnipiac Bobcats. Auburn’s Iron Bowl counterparts, Alabama, were placed in Pool D. Alabama will play the Binghamton Bearcats, the Farmingdale State Rams, and the Cornell Big Red.
Division 2
Division 2 has five pools of four teams, with eight total teams advancing to the playoff round. The winner of each pool will advance along with three wildcard teams. Division 2 pool play will take place between March 8-10 with the quarterfinal round starting on March 11th. The Semifinal games will be played on March 12th with the championship game coming the following day.
Pool A has the top-ranked Florida Atlantic Owls alongside their Sunshine State rival Embry-Riddle to represent College Hockey South. The Owls and Eagles share Pool A with Penn State Harrisburg and the Ramapo Roadrunners.
Pool B is the only Division 2 group that has only one College Hockey South team, and that team is the number two seed Florida Gators. The Gators will look to overcome their disappointing first-round loss in the College Hockey South conference tournament a few weeks ago. Florida will play Massachusetts-Maritime, Anna Maria College, and the Neuman Knights.
Pool C is led by the third-ranked High Point Panthers. The Panthers will tangle with College Hockey South’s Central Florida Knights, Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, as well as Farmingdale State.
The Division 2 College Hockey South Champion Tennessee Volunteers head up Pool D, where they look to parlay their recent success into a national championship. The Vols will play the Tampa Spartans, SUNY Brockport, and the Union College Dutchmen.
The final Division 2 pool has the College Hockey South tournament runner-up, Clemson Tigers. The Tigers went on a Cinderella run with two multi-goal comebacks to make the tournament final, and are hoping the clock hasn’t struck midnight yet. Clemson shares Pool E with the Bishops Gaiters, Liberty Flames, and Vanderbilt Commodores.
Division 3
Division 3 has eight teams divided into two pools. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals. Group play will take place between March 9-11th, and the playoff round will last two days: March 12th and 13th.
The College Hockey South Division 3 champion Miami Hurricanes claim the top spot and are the lone CHS ambassador in Pool A. The Hurricanes will play the Stony Brook Seawolves, Rochester Yellow Jackets, and the William & Mary Tribe.
Division 3’s Pool B will feature a rematch of the semifinals in the College Hockey South conference tournament between Kennesaw State and Florida Southern. Florida Southern is the second ranked division 3 team, and Kennesaw State is right behind them at number three. The Quincy College Granite and the The Alvernia University Golden Wolves fill out the rest of pool B.
Women’s Division
The Women’s division has 3 teams competing for the national title, University of Tampa, Binghamton University and Paul Smith’s College. Play will begin on March 9th, with the Tampa Spartans facing off against Paul Smith’s College. The championship game will be March 10th at 11:00 a.m.
All games will be live streamed on Black Dog Hockey for free! Click here to watch.
ABOUT College Hockey South: Founded in 2008, College Hockey South is a 29-school, 46 team intercollegiate hockey conference spanning seven southeastern U.S. states that competes in AAU College Hockey. College Hockey South is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization.