Hockey East got off to a rough start Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.
Providence College was bounced by Quinnipiac, while the University of Connecticut was nipped by Michigan State.
Hockey East teams struggled for the most part during non-league play this season. The losses by Providence and UConn left Cinderella Merrimack as the last remaining Hockey East team in the 16-team field.
The Warriors took on North Dakota late Thursday night in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Quinnipiac was the lone New England team to advance during the early games. Also bounced was ECAC member Dartmouth, which fell to Wisconsin.
Bentley faces Michigan on Friday (5:30 p.m.) in Albany, N.Y.
Quinnipiac 5, Providence 2
Down 3-0 after two periods, Providence made a spirited comeback to pull within 3-2, but empty-net goals by Ethan Wyttenbach and Graham Sward lifted Quinnipiac to the win in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Hockey East regular season champion Providence (23-11-2) rallied in the third thanks to goals from Logan Sawyer and John Mustard at 10:12 and 14:02, respectively. But the Friars couldn’t find any magic after pulling goalie Jack Parsons (33 saves) for a sixth skater.
Quinnipiac (27-9-3) took control of the game in the second period behind goals from Elliott Groenwold, Chris Pelosi and Antonin Verreault. Dylan Silverstein made 23 saves for the Bobcats.
Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play.
Michigan State 2, UConn 1
In the opening game of the 16-team tournament, UConn again ran into a hot goaltender and was eliminated at the DCU Center in Worcester.
Five days after putting 50 shots on Merrimack’s net in a 2-1 loss in the Hockey East championship game, the Huskies had trouble solving Michigan State’s Trey Augustine.
Augustine kicked aside 41 shots to frustrate the Huskies. UConn held a wide 42-22 shots advantage, but the Spartans advanced.
UConn (20-13-5) took a 1-0 advantage at 15:27 of the first period when Tabor Heaslip scored off the rebound of a Joey Muldowney shot. Muldowney finished his season with 29 points. Michigan State (26-8-2) tied it late in the first period and Porter Martone netted the winner in the middle period.
Tyler Muszelik made 20 saves for UConn, which went 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Spartans were 1-for-2 with the man advantage.
Wisconsin 5, Dartmouth 1
Making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1980, Dartmouth was locked in a 1-1 tie through 40 minutes before the Badgers took over in Worcester.
Dartmouth (23-8-4) was held to seven shots over two periods and just 13 for the game. Wisconsin’s offense was led by Simon Tassy, who netted two goals.
Tassy opened the scoring with a power-play strike, but Dartmouth answered later in the first period on a strike off the stick of Hank Cleaves. It was the 18th goal of the season and 40th point for Cleaves.
But Wisconsin (22-12-2) owned the third period. Jack Horbach sent a shot past Emmett Croteau (23 saves) and then Tassy found the back of the net again. Forced to pull Croteau for a sixth skater, Dartmouth yielded empty-net goals to Christian Fitzgerald and Quinn Finley.
Dartmouth defeated Princeton in overtime to capture the ECAC championship for the first time.
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