No. 3-seeded Minnesota (33-4-1) cruised past Princeton 6-2 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, putting the Gophers in the Frozen Four for the fifth straight year. The Gophers will face No. 2 seed Wisconsin on Mar. 18 (6 p.m. CT in Durham, N.H.) with a trip to the national title game on the line.

No. 1 seed Boston College faces unseeded Clarkson in the other semifinal. 

Amanda Kessel led the way with three goals in the win over the Tigers, in front of 2,468 fans at Ridder Arena. Hannah Brandt, Sarah Potomak and Dani Cameranesi also scored for Minnesota.

Per Gophersports.com, Amanda Leveille made 25 saves as the Gophers outshot the Tigers, 43-27. Princeton netminder Kimberly Newell finished with 37 saves, and Jaimie McDonell and Molly Contini scored goals for the Tigers.

"We're really excited to be headed off to the Frozen Four," head coach Brad Frost said. "I told our team as we started the journey five months ago, 'Go give yourself an opportunity at the end,' and we've done that."

Read more at gophersports.com

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE HOCKEY CONFERENCE

St. Cloud State (29-8-1) won both NCHC playoff games over the weekend, edging Western Michigan 4-3 in overtime and downing the Broncos again 4-2.

Minnesota Duluth also won both playoff games, sweeping Miami (OH) by scores of 5-4 and 3-1.

The Bulldogs (17-14-5) will face North Dakota in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on Mar. 18, and the Huskies will take on Denver on the same day. 

BIG TEN

Minnesota earned a series split with Wisconsin in the final weekend of the regular season, losing 4-3 and winning 4-1.

The Gophers (19-16-0) will face the winner of Ohio State/Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big 10 Tournament, held at the Xcel Energy Center on Mar. 18.

Gopher goaltender Eric Schierhorn was named the Big 10 Conference goaltender of the year, and also received All-Big Ten First Team and All-Big Ten Freshman Team honors.

Forwards Hudson Fasching and Justin Kloos were named All-Big Ten Second Team along with defenseman Michael Brodzinski, while defenseman Jake Bischoff was named All-Big Ten honorable mention. Bischoff was also a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree. 

WESTERN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

Minnesota State (20-12-7) took two of three games from Lake Superior State over the weekend, winning games one and three, 5-2 and 3-0, respectively. With the win in game three, the Mavericks advance to the WCHA Final Five.

Bemidji State (17-16-6) beat Bowling Green 3-1 in the first round of the WCHA playoffs on Friday, then dropped the next two games to the Falcons, 7-2 and 3-1. 

MEN’S DIVISION III

Minnesota Interscholastic Athletic Conference playoff champion Augsburg (17-8-2) will face St. Norbert on Mar. 19 in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA DIII tournament.

WOMEN’S DIVISION III

MIAC playoff champion St. Thomas (20-6-2) fell in the first round of the NCAA DII Women’s Tournament, losing to Wisconsin-River Falls 4-1.