North Dakota earns No. 2 overall seed, will face Merrimack in NCAA Tournament

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND ATHLETICS) – For the 36th time in program history, North Dakota is headed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament and was selected as the No. 2 overall seed, as announced by the selection committee on Sunday afternoon.

The Fighting Hawks will battle No. 4 seed Merrimack on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. from the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. The contest will air on ESPN2 and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.

This will be only the third all-time meeting between North Dakota and Merrimack, with UND grabbing a series sweep on Oct. 9-10, 2009 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

The winner of Thursday’s contest will meet the winner of the other regional semifinal between No. 2 seed Providence and No. 3 seed Quinnipiac in the Sioux Falls Regional Final on Saturday, March 28.

The No. 2 overall seed is the highest for the program since the 2020-21 season and only the second time in the last decade that the Fighting Hawks earned a No. 1 seed for the national tournament.

UND will enter the tournament with a 27-9-1 overall record – its most wins in a season since 2015-16. The Fighting Hawks captured the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular season champions for the seventh time in their history and are the highest-seeded team from the NCHC in the tournament.

North Dakota is 53-29 (.646) all-time in the NCAA Tournament with 22 NCAA Frozen Four appearances and eight national titles.

North Dakota vs. Merrimack in the NCAA Tournament:
First Meeting