MassMutual Center hosts NCAA hockey regional games

While March Madness continues for basketball fans, hockey fans learned this past Sunday who will be in the 16-team field for the men's NCAA Hockey Tournament, UMass, being one of them. 22 News reporter Heath Kalb is live in Springfield with a preview of the tournament and how local hockey fans can enjoy the action in person, Heath. Nick, we have exciting news here. For the first time ever, the Mass Mutual Center will be hosting regional games for the NCAA Division I Hockey Men's Tournament, and these games begin tomorrow afternoon. 16 college hockey teams from across the country are about to face off on their quest to the Frozen Four. And unlike college basketball, where there's 64 teams in a bevy of locations, college hockey's postseason tournament begins with four regions with four teams. This year is the first where Springfield and the Mass Mutual Center are hosting one of those regions. The atmosphere here on Thursday and Saturday is going to be electric, so definitely for anybody who can make it and is a fan of hockey, even if you're not from the four schools, it's going to be a great day for sure. The four teams coming to Springfield will be the local UMass Minutemen, who will play the University of Denver, and then the University of Maine will face off versus Cornell. And with thousands of fans coming from all over the country right here, from cities like Denver and Ithaca, the economic impact for Springfield will definitely be felt. Your restaurants are going to be full, the hotels are going to have rooms booked, so it really checks all the boxes in terms of what makes a great event in Springfield. One of those businesses who will see a boost in the coming days is the White Lion Brewing Company, who will be hosting a pregame party for each separate fan base. I would expect a pretty packed house here. The beers will be flowing, food will be cranking out of the kitchen, burgers, wings, sticky ribs, truffle fries, all kinds of things. The puck drop between the number four-seeded UMass and the number one-seeded. Denver will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow, with the game following right afterwards at 5.30 p.m. between Cornell and the University of Maine. For now, working for you live in downtown Springfield, I'm Heath Kalb, 22News.