It is the first time the District has hosted college hockey’s biggest weekend, which has long been played in the sport’s traditional markets like Minneapolis, Boston, Detroit and Denver. The event has become so popular there is no public sale of tickets. Fans instead enter a lottery system.

 

“It’s like playing for a Stanley Cup,” said Capitals general manager George McPhee, who won the Hobey Baker Award at Bowling Green and played in the NCAA tournament. “You’re trying to bring a national championship back to your school. For a college kid who is going to be there four years — and some times less — it’s a rare opportunity.”

This year’s field is light on traditional powers. Only Boston University has previously won an NCAA Division I hockey title. But even the Terriers have not won since 1995 or been to the final since 1997. They are joined by Vermont, Miami (Ohio) and Bemidji State, a small school in northern Minnesota closer to Winnipeg than Minneapolis. The Beavers are the tournament’s Cinderella.

 

“This is great for college hockey,” said Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore, whose team doesn’t even have a league  affiliation next season because its College Hockey America conference is folding. “It’s boring to have the same teams all the time. There’s something special now, a little bit of a buzz.”