GRAND FORKS — The NCAA says it is as yet intending to hold a men’s hockey local in Fargo’s Scheels Area this season.
In a announcement, it said each of the four regional’s will be held at their predetermined sites “as long as local public health authorities determine it is safe to do so.”
Assuming No. 2-positioned University of North Dakota makes the NCAA competition, it will naturally be put in Fargo. The regional semifinals rounds are booked for March 26 and the region last for March 27.
The other regional sites are Manchester, N.H.; Bridgeport, Conn.; and Loveland, Colo. The NCAA Frozen Four is planned to be played in Pittsburgh.
The NCAA said no decisions have been made on whether fans will be permitted at the regional.
Scheels Arena has been hosting NCAA regionals all other years since 2015, when UND won it and earned a spot at the Frozen Four in Boston. The venue, which plays host to the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force, likewise facilitated regionals in 2017 and 2019.
The NCAA likewise said it has approved return to play rules for each game dependent on “direction from the NCAA COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group, along with local and state oversight at the site of the preliminary and final rounds of the championship event.”
It additionally has chosen Dallas-based Diamond Health and Vivature to deal with the entirety of the COVID-19 testing for the men’s hockey competition, including both PCR and antigen tests.
The NCAA actually has not yet reported the specific cycle it will use to decide the 16-group field. It is normally chosen by the Pairwise Rankings, however they are old this season in view of the absence of out-of-conference games.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference has not yet decided how it will deal with the league’s postseason competition.
As a rule, it holds best-of-three quarterfinal arrangement at the site of the higher seed prior to carrying the first-round champs to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center to play the elimination rounds and title.
On account of difficulties with the Covid pandemic, the class has talked about moving the NCHC end of the season games to a Pod design like how the league opened the season with every one of the eight groups at one site.
