Standing room only crowds will wedge into Centene Community Ice Center this weekend for the NCAA Division I men’s hockey regional.
This event will offer an exciting prelude to the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four Division I hockey championship at Enterprise Center, which is another major get for the area.
The place will be overrun this weekend. Business will be great for a facility that really needs great business.
Michigan State will play Western Michigan at 4 p.m. Friday, then Michigan will play North Dakota at 7:30 p.m. The winners will meet at 5:30 p.m. Sunday with a trip to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota, at stake.
“This regional is bananas,†ESPN analyst Andrew Raycroft said. “It is an absolute gauntlet. You look at North Dakota and Michigan, it doesn’t get much fancier than that.â€
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Enterprise Center was deemed too large to host the regional. But is the Centene facility, with a listed seating capacity of 2,500, too small given the popularity of these teams?
During the NCAA hockey selection show Sunday night on ESPNU, host John Buccigross wondered about that.
“I think there will be fans in the parking lot, streaming this game on ESPN,†Buccigross said.
“We’re very aware there are some brand name teams in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ regional,†said Vermont athletics director Jeff Schulman, chair of the NCAA men’s Division I ice hockey committee. “It’s not as large as some of our other venues. We think we’ll be able to pack 3,000 or a few more into that facility.
“The schools will still have access to the same number of tickets if they were at a larger venue, but it’s certainly going to be a tough ticket, an exciting bracket.â€
By Monday afternoon, the pool of general public tickets had already evaporated. Three of the four teams quickly took their full allotment. The top of the arena bowl offers plenty of standing room — and those tickets were at a premium too.
With the rabid North Dakota fans driving up ticket prices on the secondary market, StubHub prices for reserved seats were running from $400 to more than $800 on Tuesday afternoon.
So yeah, this regional is pretty fancy.
After a 12-year absence from the NCAA Tournament, resurgent Michigan State arrives at this regional as a No. 1 seed. The Spartans clinched that by defeating archrival Michigan 5-4 in an overtime thriller for the Big Ten tournament title.
Sparty is loaded with pro prospects, including goaltender Trey Augustine, a second-round Detroit Red Wings pick, and Artyom Levshunov, a potential top five pick in this year’s draft.
Western Michigan is making its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and its ninth overall. During the regular season, the Broncos defeated Lindenwood, this regional’s host school, four times — including twice at Centene as the Lions drew more than 2,000 fans combined to see the games.
(It was disappointing to see Lindenwood move on from coach Rick Zombo after the season. During Zombo’s productive run, he built a club-level powerhouse, then he led the difficult transition to Division I. Operating without conference affiliation, the Lions played 18 of their 28 games on the road this season. They notably earned a 2-2 tie at Ohio State and a 3-3 tie at Wisconsin against Big Ten schools.)
Michigan has reached 27 Frozen Fours, including the past two. The Wolverines feature multiple pro prospects, led by forwards Rutger McGroarty, a first-round Winnipeg Jets pick, and Gavin Brindley, a second-round Columbus Blue Jackets pick.
Standout Wolverines goaltender Jake Barczewski, a graduate transfer from Canisius, is an O’Fallon, Missouri, native who developed with the AAA Blues.
North Dakota, an eight-time national champion, is making its third trip to the NCAA Tournament in four years. It features 11 NHL draft picks led by forward Jackson Blake, a fourth-round Carolina Hurricanes pick who has scored 59 points in 39 games.
If Michigan State can get past Western Michigan and if Michigan defeats North Dakota, then the Spartans would face the Wolverines again in another rivalry battle.
Developers of the Centene venue had big dreams and overly ambitious expectations as they pushed it through to completion. Events like this regional were central in that vision.
More hockey events are likely to come, with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Sports Commission using the multi-rink Centene setup as a major selling point.
Much went wrong during the facility’s early years, from the pandemic killing some youth hockey business to some major miscalculations and management issues.
But there are signs of progress. The recent 11-day, 82-team American Collegiate Hockey Association men’s and women’s national championships generated $11 million in direct spending, according to a Sports Commission estimate.
The estimated $2 million in direct spending the commission projects this regional will spur won’t solve the facility’s debt repayment challenge. Nor will it settle the debate of whether the benefits of taxpayer-backed sports facilities justify the cost.
But this regional highlights the venue’s potential and provides hope that it can attract more events in the years to come.