The field for the 2011 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship is set.
The 16 teams were announced Saturday morning, with four teams going to each of the regional sites in Bridgeport, Conn., Green Bay, Wisc., Manchester, N.H., and St. Louis for a one-and-done scenario from March 26-28.
Automatic bids were handed out to the winners of each conference's postseason: Yale (ECAC), Boston College (Hockey East), Air Force (Atlantic Hockey), Miami of Ohio (CCHA) and North Dakota (WHCA).
The rest of the field is determined by the NCAA's objective Pairwise rankings system and sent regional sites by the committee representing each of the five Division I conferences. Host schools and top seeds are placed by proximity, with an eye towards serpentine matchups and avoidance of first-round intra-conference games.
Winners of each regional will take part in the Frozen Four at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn., hosted by the University of Minnesota.
The teams, with overall seeding and regional placements are:
East: Bridgeport (Hosted by Yale/Fairfield)
1. Yale vs. 16. Air Force
8. Union vs. 9. Minnesota-Duluth
Northeast: Manchester, NH (hosted by University of New Hampshire)
4. Miami vs. 13. New Hampshire
6. Merrimack vs. 11. Notre Dame
West: St. Louis (Hosted by Central Collegiate Hockey Association)
3. Boston College vs. 14. Colorado College
5. Michigan vs. 12. Nebraska-Omaha
Midwest: Green Bay (Hosted by Michigan Tech.)
2. North Dakota vs. 15. Rensselaer
7. Denver vs. 10. Western Michigan