No. 9 Quinnipiac men’s hockey will face No. 8 Wisconsin in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, beginning the journey to repeat as national champions in the Providence Regional. 

The Bobcats could have risen as high as No. 4 entering conference championship weekend, but an upset by St. Lawrence in the ECAC Semifinal plummeted their standing in the Pairwise, the mathematical tournament determinator. 

“Part of the problem all night (was) we kind of went rogue a little bit in a lot of situations and that’s not what we’re about,” Pecknold said following the March 22 loss. “We’re about our identity and our culture and it was not on display tonight.”

Wisconsin — which hasn’t played since March 10 — was also upset in its conference tournament. The Badgers finished the regular season No. 2 in the Big Ten, but lost to bottom-seeded Ohio State in a best-of-three quarterfinal series. 

Quinnipiac has only faced Wisconsin twice in program history. It was swept by the Badgers in a two-game road series in October 2003, just six seasons after the Bobcats jumped to Division I. 

The two teams will square off at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, with the winner set to face the winner of No. 1 Boston College and No. 16 Michigan Tech on the other side of the regional. 

BC enters the regional as the overall top seed in the tournament, cementing its status with a dominant performance in the Hockey East Tournament, outscoring No. 14 UMass and No. 2 BU by a combined 14-3 in the semifinal and final.

Michigan Tech earned the tournament’s last auto-bid with a 2-1 upset over Bemidji State in the CCHA Championship. It’s the third-straight year the Huskies — who sit No. 32 in the Pairwise — have qualified for the big dance, though they were ousted 8-0 in the first round by Penn State in 2023. 

The Chronicle will have more analysis on the matchup later this week. Click here for the full NCAA Tournament bracket.