11 former Phantoms to play in NCAA tournament
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Eleven former Youngstown Phantoms are among the college hockey players who will be competing this weekend in the NCAA’s tournament.
The 11 are spread out over six of the 16 teams that were selected for the tournament.
Miami University includes forwards Alex Gacek and Connor Lemirande, and defenseman Ben Paulides. Boston College features forwards Austin Cangelosi and Quinn Smith.
Boston University has goaltender Matt O’Connor and forward JJ Piccinich while Quinnipiac University has forwards Sam Anas and Soren Jonzzon.
The others are forwards Ty Loney (University of Denver) and Dylan Margonari (Minnesota State-Mankato).
The championship format features four predetermined regional sites — Fargo, N.D.; Providence, R.I.; Manchester, N.H.; and South Bend, Ind. Like basketball, the tournament is single-elimination.
Providence will be the site of a mini-Phantoms reunion on Saturday as Loney’s Pioneers will take on the Eagles with Cangelosi and Smith. The other game in that bracket has Miami playing Providence.
Margonari’s Mavericks have the overall top seed. Their tournament opener is against Rochester Institute at South Bend. Quinnipiac opens against second overall seed North Dakota in Fargo.
Boston University has the third overall seed and opens against Yale at Manchester. O’Connor, who was not selected three years ago in the NHL Draft, is being pursued by several NHL teams who could sign him as a free agent once the tournament ends.
The winners of the regions will meet in the Frozen Four in Boston on April 9 and April 11.
ESPN channels will televise all 15 games of the tournament.