Vic’s picks
Victor Fernandes unveils his predictions for the NCAA Division I tournament:

East Regional
at Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, R.I.
Semifinals – Saturday
No. 4 Canisius def. No. 1 Quinnipiac
No. 2 Boston College def. No. 3 Union
Championship game – Sunday
No. 2 Boston College def. No. 4 Canisius

Northeast Regional
at Verizon Wireless Arena – Manchester, N.H.
Semifinals – Friday
No. 4 Wisconsin def. No. 1 UMass-Lowell
No. 3 Denver def. No. 2 New Hampshire
Championship game – Saturday
No. 4 Wisconsin def. No. 3 Denver

Midwest Regional
at Huntington Center – Toledo, Ohio
Semifinals – Saturday
No. 4 St. Cloud State def. No. 1 Notre Dame
No. 2 Miami, Ohio def. No. 3 Minnesota State-Mankato
Championship game – Sunday
No. 4 St. Cloud State def. No. 2 Miami, Ohio

West Regional
at Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, Mich.
Semifinals – Friday
No. 1 Minnesota def. No. 4 Yale
No. 2 North Dakota def. No. 3 Niagara
Championship game – Saturday
No. 1 Minnesota def. No. 2 North Dakota

Men’s Frozen Four
at CONSOL Energy Center – Pittsburgh
Semifinals – April 11
No. 2 Boston College def. No. 4 St. Cloud State
No. 1 Minnesota def. No. 4 Wisconsin
Championship game – April 13
No. 2 Boston College def. No. 1 Minnesota

NCAA Division I Tournament schedule
East Regional
at Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, R.I.
Semifinals – Saturday
No. 1 Quinnipiac (27-7-5) vs. No. 4 Canisius (19-18-5), 5:30 p.m. ESPN3
No. 2 Boston College (22-11-4) vs. No. 3 Union (21-12-5), 9 p.m. ESPNU
Championship game – Sunday
Semifinal winners, 6:30 p.m. ESPNU

Northeast Regional
at Verizon Wireless Arena – Manchester, N.H.
Semifinals – Friday
No. 1 UMass-Lowell (26-10-2) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (22-12-7), 4:30 p.m. ESPN3
No. 2 New Hampshire (19-11-7) vs. No. 3 Denver (20-13-5), 8 p.m. ESPNU
Championship game – Saturday
Semifinal winners, 6:30 p.m. ESPNU

Midwest Regional
at Huntington Center – Toledo, Ohio
Semifinals – Saturday
No. 1 Notre Dame (25-12-3) vs. No. 4 St. Cloud State (23-15-1), 1:30 p.m. ESPN3
No. 2 Miami, Ohio (24-11-5) vs. Minnesota State-Mankato (24-13-3), 5 p.m. ESPN3
Championship game – Sunday
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. ESPNU

West Regional
at Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, Mich.
Semifinals – Friday
No. 1 Minnesota (26-8-5) vs. No. 4 Yale (18-12-3), 2 p.m. ESPNU
No. 2 North Dakota (21-12-7) vs. No. 3 Niagara (23-9-5), 5:30 p.m. ESPNU
Championship game – Saturday
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. ESPNU

Men’s Frozen Four
at CONSOL Energy Center – Pittsburgh
Semifinals – April 11
East Regional champion vs. Midwest Regional champion, 4:30 p.m. ESPN2
Northeast Regional champion vs. West Regional champion, 8 p.m. ESPN2
Championship game – April 13
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m. ESPN

No. 6 Mercyhurst (18-16-5) vs. No. 4 Connecticut (19-13-4)
When: Friday, 7:05 p.m.
Where: Blue Cross Arena – Rochester, N.Y.
On the air: www.americaonesports.com (live stream), WMCE-FM/88.5 & wmce.mercyhurst.edu (radio), www.atlantichockeyonline.com (live scores)
Up next: Championship game (Saturday, 7:05 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena)*
What to expect: Mercyhurst has reached the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals for the second straight season. The Lakers lost to eventual champion Air Force 5-2 in this round a season ago. … The Lakers rebounded from an eight-game winless streak with a sweep of 11th-seeded Army at Mercyhurst Ice Center two weeks ago and a series win at No. 3 Holy Cross last weekend. … Mercyhurst hasn’t reached the title game since consecutive trips in 2008 and 2009 (lost to Air Force both times). … The Lakers haven’t won an AHA championship since beating Quinnipiac 3-2 in the 2005 title game. They also beat Quinnipiac 6-5 to capture the 2001 title, when the league was known as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. … Mercyhurst and UConn split their two-game, regular-season series in Storrs, Conn., with the Lakers losing 5-4 Jan. 18 and winning 5-0 the following night. … The Lakers lead the all-time series 32-13-3. Yet they have lost three straight and four of six games against the Huskies in the postseason, including a UConn sweep in the 2011 AHA quarterfinals. … With top-seeded and 15th-ranked Niagara (23-8-5) facing seventh-seeded Canisius (17-18-5) in the other semifinal, the conference will have a champion from a school other than Air Force and Rochester Institute of Technology for the first time since Holy Cross in 2006. Air Force, which lost to Canisius in the quarterfinals, had won five of the last six titles (2007-09, 2011-12). RIT, which lost to Niagara in the quarterfinals, won in 2010 on the way to the first NCAA Division I Frozen Four appearance for the Tigers and the AHA. … Senior F Grant Blakey has five goals and seven points in the Lakers’ five playoff games. … UConn senior G Matt Grogan has a 14-3-3 record, 1.88 goals-against average and .939 save percentage since taking over as starter midway through the season. He was the Huskies’ only player to earn all-conference honors (third team). Mercyhurst features three all-stars – junior D Nick Jones (first team), sophomore F Ryan Misiak (second) and sophomore F Matthew Zay (third). … Niagara has never reached the title game. Canisius hasn’t reached the final since 1999 (lost 4-3 to Holy Cross). … Niagara junior G Carson Chubak leads the nation with six shutouts and ranks among the top five in winning percentage (.773), goals-against average (1.81) and save percentage (.941). He’s one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which honors the nation’s top men’s hockey player. … Freshman F Ralph Cuddemi, a former Erie Otters draft pick, has two goals and seven points in 34 games for Canisius.
* If the Lakers win tonight

- Victor Fernandes

Atlantic Hockey Association final four schedule
at Blue Cross Arena – Rochester, N.Y.
Semifinals – Friday
No. 1 Niagara (23-8-5) vs. No. 7 Canisius (17-18-5), 4:05 p.m.
No. 4 Connecticut (19-13-4) vs. No. 6 Mercyhurst (18-16-5), 7:05 p.m.
Championship game – Saturday
Semifinal winners, 7:05 p.m.
Note: Champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I tournament.

Former Mercyhurst hockey players Meghan Agosta-Marciano and Bailey Bram earned roster spots on the Canadian National Women’s Team that will compete for gold in the IIHF Women’s World Championship April 2-9 in Ottawa, Ontario.
They are joined on the team by Laura Fortino, Brianne Jenner and Lauriane Rougeau, who were on the Cornell team that lost to the Lakers in the NCAA Division I quarterfinals this past weekend. Boston University junior Marie-Philip Poulin, who faces Mercyhurst Friday in the Frozen Four semifinals, also is on the team.

The Mercyhurst women’s hockey team gave top-ranked Wisconsin a big-time battle.

But after playing the teams played to a draw through two periods in their NCAA Division I quarterfinal matchup Saturday night at Kohl Center, the defending national champion Badgers took control.

Top-seeded Wisconsin scored twice in the third period to seal a 3-1 win against the No. 8 Lakers to end Mercyhurst’s season and send the Badgers (32-4-2) to next weekend’s Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn.

Senior forward Kelley Steadman scored Mercyhurst’s lone goal, which tied the score 1-1 with 40 seconds left in the second period. But Hilary Knight’s short-handed breakaway snapped the tie with 8:42 left in the game. Brianna Decker’s empty-net goal with 1:15 left sealed the Lakers’ fate.

The Lakers (23-8-3) ended their season in the quarterfinals for the second straight season. They lost to Boston University 4-2 a season ago.

Mercyhurst’s streak of five straight finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award has ended.

Senior forward Bailey Bram wasn’t named one of the three finalists for the prestigious award, which annually honors the top women’s hockey player in NCAA Division I. A 13-member selection committee chose Wisconsin junior forward Brianna Decker, North Dakota junior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux and Northeastern senior goaltender Florence Schelling. The finalists were unveiled Thursday.

Bram joined fellow Laker forwards Christine Bestland and Kelley Steadman as well as Girard native Jen Schoullis, a redshirt senior forward at Minnesota, on the initial list of 30 nominees two weeks. Bram survived the cut to 10 players a week ago. But she fell short of joining former teammates Meghan Agosta (2007-09, 2011) and Vicki Bendus (2010) as Kazmaier finalists. Bendus won the award in 2010.

Decker has 36 goals, 42 assists and 78 points for the top-ranked Badgers, who on Saturday begin their quest for a fifth national championship in the past seven years as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Lamoureux has 34 goals, 48 assists and 82 points for the Fighting Sioux, which earned the seventh seed in the NCAA tournament field. Like her twin sister, Monique Lamoureux-Kolls, she represented the United States in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Schelling finished the season with a 20-6-4 record, 1.42 goals-against average and .950 save percentage.

The award will be presented March 17 at the Greysolon Ballroom in Duluth, Minn., as part of the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four, which will be held March 16 and 18.

The Mercyhurst women’s team earned the eighth and final seed in the NCAA Women’s Division I Tournament.

That means a quarterfinal matchup against top-ranked Wisconsin (31-4-2), the defending national champion, on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. The sixth-ranked Lakers (23-7-3) learned their fate during the NCAA’s webcast Sunday night.

Wisconsin won the 2011 national title with a 4-1 win against Boston University last March at Tullio Arena.

Meanwhile, Girard native Jen Schoullis and second-seeded Minnesota (31-5-2) begin their quest for a national title on Saturday at 5 p.m. against No. 7 North Dakota (22-11-3).

The quarterfinals earn berths in the Frozen Four, which will be held March 16 and 18 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn. Here’s the schedule for next weekend’s quarterfinals and the rest of the tournament:

Quarterfinals – Saturday

No. 5 St. Lawrence (24-9-4) at No. 4 Boston College (23-9-3), 1 p.m.

No. 6 Boston University (23-13-1) at No. 3 Cornell (29-4-0), 2 p.m.

No. 7 North Dakota (22-11-3) at No. 2 Minnesota (31-5-2), 5 p.m.

No. 8 Mercyhurst (23-7-3) at No. 1 Wisconsin (31-4-2), 8 p.m.

Semifinals

March 16 at Amsoil Arena – Duluth, Minn.

Wisconsin-Mercyhurst winner vs. BC-SLU winner, 6 or 9 p.m.

Minnesota-North Dakota winner vs. Cornell-BU winner, 6 or 9 p.m.

Championship game

March 18 at Amsoil Arena – Duluth, Minn.

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

- Victor Fernandes

Meghan Agosta (Contributed/Mercyhurst College)

Senior forward Meghan Agosta was the Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team’s only player on the Reebok Hockey/ACHA All-America Team. The honorees were announced at the NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four’s Welcome Banquet on Thursday at Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center.

Agosta, who leads the nation in scoring with 86 points, earned the honor for the fourth straight year.

She was joined on the first team by four players participating in this weekend’s NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four – senior goaltender Molly Schaus (Boston College), sophomore defenseman Laura Fortino (Cornell) and senior forward Meghan Duggan and junior forward Hilary Knight of Wisconsin. Senior defenseman Jocelyne Larocque (Minnesota Duluth) also was named to the first team.

The second team included sophomore goaltender Noora Raty (Minnesota), senior defenseman Catherine Ward (Boston University), sophomore forward Brianna Decker (Wisconsin), senior forward Kelli Stack (BC) and sophomore defenseman Lauriane Rougeau and junior forward Rebecca Johnston from Cornell.

In other news, Mercyhurst freshmen forward Taylor Holstrom was named Atlantic Hockey Association’s rookie of the year. Holstrom, who had nine goals and 33 points in 36 games this season, also was named to the all-rookie team. Senior goaltender Ryan Zapolski, an Erie native, earned a spot on the second team. Seniors Jeff Terminesi, a defenseman, and Scott Pitt, a forward, were on the third team.

Kristen Cameron, the Mercyhurst College women’s hockey assistant coach who was severely injured in a hit-and-run in September, shared her thoughts with the media on her recovery, the upcoming NCAA playoffs and the Frozen Four during a conference call Monday.

The Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team didn’t receive one of the top four seeds in the NCAA Women’s Division I playoffs. Instead, the Lakers (29-5-0) will travel to third-seeded Boston University (25-6-4) for a 3 p.m. game Saturday in a rematch of a 2010 quarterfinal, won by Mercyhurst 4-1 at Mercyhurst Ice Center. The winner of Saturday’s game earns a spot in the Frozen Four, set for March 18 and 20 at Tullio Arena. Check out the complete bracket and the selection show by clicking the links.