Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lyn Photography / Waterloo Black HawksThe NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship bracket was announced Sunday, with 16 teams selected to compete for the National Championship.
The Waterloo Black Hawks will have a good number of former players to root for. Of those 16 teams, 11 include at least one former Black Hawk.
The Ohio State Buckeyes feature the largest contingent with four Waterloo alumni: Caden Brown, Patrick Guzzo, James Hong, and Jake Rozzi. Western Michigan and Michigan State have three representatives apiece.
The Broncos and Spartans are the top seeds in their respective regions. Michigan State is seeded second overall in the tournament after winning the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships. Western Michigan claimed a similar double in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Other former Black Hawks who highlight the tournament field include:
Denver’s Connor Caponi, who is already a two-time NCAA Champion with the Denver Pioneers. Caponi was part of Denver’s 2022 and 2024 title teams and has played in 182 college games across five seasons.
Freshman John Mustard, who was Waterloo’s top goal scorer last season with 29. During his first year at Providence, he tied for fourth on the team with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists).
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Sam Rinzel. The Minnesota sophomore produced ten goals and 21 assists in 39 games for the Gophers, ranking sixth in scoring among all NCAA defensemen.
Here is the complete list of former Waterloo players on NCAA Tournament qualifying teams:
Boston University – Brehdan Engum
Cornell – Ondrej Psenicka, Ben Robertson
Denver – Garrett Brown, Connor Caponi
Michigan State – Patrick Geary, David Gucciardi, Gavin O’Connell
Minnesota – Sam Rinzel
Minnesota State – Fin Williams
Ohio State – Connor Brown, Patrick Guzzo, James Hong, Jake Rozzi
Penn State – Nicholas DeGraves, Nick Fascia
Providence – John Mustard
Quinnipiac – Nate Benoit, Aaron Bohlinger
Western Michigan – Zach Bade, Connor Brown, Wyatt Schingoethe
The NCAA Tournament begins on Thursday. Regional sites are in Manchester, New Hampshire, Fargo, North Dakota, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Toledo, Ohio.
This season’s Frozen Four will be staged in St. Louis, Missouri, with the national title game on April 12. Nineteen former Waterloo players have been on at least one NCAA championship team since 2016, including current NHL players Brock Boeser (North Dakota, 2016), Mikey Anderson (Minnesota-Duluth, 2018 & 2019), and Dylan Samberg (Minnesota-Duluth, 2018 & 2019).