The opening round of the 2021 NCAA Hockey Tournament featured all five Division I hockey programs from the state of Minnesota, adding to its unofficial nickname as The State of Hockey.

During last Sunday’s NCAA hockey selection show, WCHA Commissioner Bill Robertson was tucking into a well-deserved feast at his favorite steakhouse. He was celebrating his 60th birthday, surrounded by friends and family. At 6 PM Minneapolis time he beamed ESPN onto his mobile device. Somewhere between his appetizer and his ribeye, he got the best birthday present imaginable: three WCHA teams selected into the national tournament, a first for the WCHA since the 2013 realignment.

A year after the loss of the 2019-20 NCAA season left fans and programs with a lack of closure and players with unfinished business, Atlantic Hockey is entering the 2021 semifinals.

With full appreciation to the efforts of the WCHA league office and its member institutions, a full league schedule was played. It’s a remarkable achievement considering that this hockey season was defined by its uncertainty. 

The No. 4-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks are used to contending at the highest levels of college hockey, but as the years go by new chronicles develop in Mankato, and in 2021, it’s the celebration of a fourth-consecutive MacNaughton Cup for seven seniors.

The 2021 Atlantic Hockey postseason tournament kicks off this week as the reformatted first round is single elimination.