Wild prospects take center stage in quest to reach Frozen Four

The NCAA Frozen Four will take center stage at Xcel Energy Center next month. The four teams coming to St. Paul will be decided this weekend as the NCAA hockey tournament gets underway at four regional sites around the country.
Among the 16 teams that begin play Friday and Saturday are five Wild draft picks who hope to make the trek to Minnesota and play in the Frozen Four semifinals April 5.
The University of Minnesota Duluth is the only team remaining with multiple Wild prospects on its roster, featuring forwards Avery Peterson and Nick Swaney.

Peterson, of Grand Rapids, was a sixth-round pick of the Wild in the 2013 NHL Draft and has six goals and five assists in 30 games as a senior this season. Swaney, a Lakeville native, was drafted last summer in the seventh round and has been rock solid as a freshman, scoring five goals and chipping in 18 assists in 31 games.
The Bulldogs begin the tournament Friday in the West Regional in Sioux Falls, South Dakota against Minnesota State. Puck drop is at 6:30 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN3.
Two other Wild prospects will take part in the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Boston University and Jordan Greenway will go up against No. 3 overall seeded Cornell at 12 p.m. on Saturday, a game that is on ESPNews.

Greenway, a junior, was a second-round pick of the Wild in 2015 and was on the U.S. Olympic team that competed in South Korea last month. Greenway enters the tournament in the midst of a career season at BU, with 12 goals and 21 assists in 34 games. He was named to the Hockey East All-Tournament team last weekend.
On the other side of the Worcester regional are Nicholas Boka's Michigan Wolverines.
Boka, a defensive-defenseman picked by the Wild in the sixth round of the 2015 draft, has six assists this season as a junior and is a plus-15. Michigan opens the tournament against Northeastern at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPNews.
Providence's Brandon Duhaime will play on ESPNU on Friday at 5:30 p.m. when the Friars face off against Clarkson in the second game at the East Regional in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Duhaime, who was also named to the Hockey East All-Tournament team last weekend, has seven goals and 19 assists in 38 games as a sophomore this season. He was selected by the Wild in fourth round of the 2016 draft.
Related:
- Prospect Report: March 21 - Brotherly bond brings Peterson home - Wild checks in on Greenway - Duhaime finishes development camp as 'most improved' - Wild selects Swaney 209th overall at 2017 NHL Draft