The field for the 2016 NCAA men’s hockey championship has been set. (USATSI) Who doesn’t love this time of year? The NHL playoff races are heating up and one of the most exciting events on the annual hockey calendar gets going this week. The field is now set for college hockeys national tournament, with 16 teams in contention to participate in the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., April 7-9. This years tournament is as wide open as any in recent memory, with a good portion of the teams playing looking like they have a legitimate shot at winning the national title. So here are a few things you need to know about the field, starting first with the regional brackets. East Regional Albany, N.Y. 1. Quinnipiac vs. RIT March 26, 4 p.m. UMa s-Lowell vs. Yale March 26, 7:30 p.m. Regional Final March 27, 7:30 p.m. Northeast Regional Worcester, Ma s. 4. Providence vs. Minnesota Duluth March 25, 4:30 p.m. Boston College vs. Harvard March 25, 8 p.m. Regional Final Kamaal Seymour Jersey March 26, 9 p.m. Midwest Regional Cincinnati, Ohio 3. North Dakota vs. Northeastern March 25, 2 p.m. Michigan vs. Notre Dame March 25, 5:30 p.m. Regional Final March 26, 6 p.m. West Regional St. Paul, Minn. 2. St. Cloud State vs. Ferris State March 26, 3 p.m. Denver vs. Boston University March 26, 6:30 p.m. Regional Final March 27, 5 p.m. Here it is in bracket form as well: Here’s your NCAA bracket and game times for college hockey’s national tournament Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) Here are five other things to know about the week’s forthcoming excitement: 1. Quinnipiac is the No. 1 overall seed The recent and dramatic rise of the Quinnipiac hockey program has been one of the most interesting developments in college hockey over the last five years. Head coach Rand Pecknold has taken his program to the next level this year, posting an impre sive 29-3-7 record while collecting both the ECACs regular-season and tournament titles, a first in program history. This will be James Morris Jersey their fourth consecutive trip to the national tournament. QU is led by undersized sparkplug Sam Anas, who has 48 points in 39 games as a junior, continuing what has been a dynamic collegiate career. The team continues to excel despite the fact that it has only two NHL draft picks on the roster Devon Toews (New York Islanders) and Connor Clifton (Arizona Coyotes). Senior Michael Garteig has also been a rock between the pipes for the Bobcats, having mi sed only 45 minutes of game action all season. 2. The Midwest Regional features the two best lines in college hockey If you love high-powered offenses, youre going to love what the Cincinnati regional has to offer. With North Dakota and Michigan, youve got two of the best lines weve seen in college hockey, period. First we start with top-seeded North Dakota. Their CBS Line (no bias based on name, we promise) featuring Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz has been terrorizing teams all season thanks to their skill level, good speed and unrivaled chemistry. Boeser, who is a first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks, is one of the nations top freshmen and the teams leading scorer with 25 goals and 51 points in 38 games. Schmaltz, a first-round draft choice of the Chicago Blackhawks, is one of college hockeys elite set-up men, averaging nearly an a sist-per-game. He has 42 points this season. Then theres the senior Caggiula who has been a human highlight reel at times this year and should be sought after as an undrafted free agent. He has 44 points in his final campaign. Then you look at Michigans CCM line. All three players on this unit have been selected as top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. The most likely to win it is freshman Kyle Connor, who is the nations leading scorer and will be addre sed again at No. 3. Also on that line are Blackhawks draft pick Tyler Motte, who has 31 goals and 54 points, and J.T. Compher, who went to the Colorado Avalanche in the Ryan OReilly trade last summer. Compher has 60 points in 36 games. If both of these teams win their regional semis, we could be in for one explosive game with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line. Michigan’s Kyle Connor has been the nation’s top scorer. (USATSI) 3. Kyle Connor could join as the first freshmen to win the Hobey Baker back-to-back Kyle Connor, who was selected by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round last year, is the nations leading scorer with 69 points. He also leads the country with 35 goals, which is next to unheard of for a freshman. While Connors numbers may be boosted by the Big Ten conference, which was pretty poor this year, you cant take much away from what hed done. Over the two games he played Dain Dainja Jersey at the Big Ten tournament, which ended Saturday, he put up eight points (five goals, three a sists) as Michigan claimed the title. He just keeps getting better and better. Only two freshmen have ever won the Hobey Baker Memorial award Paul Kariya in 1993 and Jack Eichel last Nykie Marion Jersey year. As Connor heads into the national tournament, it looks unlikely anyone will be able to take the award away from him with how dominant he has been down the stretch. Connor was picked 17th in last year’s draft. He’s making a lot of teams feel a little sorry about not taking him earlier, perhaps none more than the Boston Bruins, who had three picks and left the talented scorer on the board. He also somehow didn’t make Team USA for the World Juniors this year. Looks like he had a lot of people to prove wrong. 4. Pretty much all of the nations top goalies are involved in this tournament If youve got goaltending, youve got a shot. Thats why it was no surprise to see the teams with the nations best goaltenders all making the tournament. Two goalies are up for both the Mike Richter Award and the Hobey Baker Alex Lyon of Yale and Vancouver Canucks draft pick Thatcher Demko of Boston College. Of the goalies in the tournament, six have a save percentage of .930 or better. Lyon leads the country with a .938 mark, while Demko, Kevin Boyle of UMa s-Lowell and Nick Ellis of Providence each have a .935 save percentage. Its been an incredible year for goalies in college hockey. 5. Northeastern is the nation’s hottest team heading into the tournament It is extremely rare to see the kind of turnaround that has been engineered at Northeastern University this year. The team started 1-11-2 over thier first 14 games. They looked miserable. Then around Thanksgiving, things changed dramatically. The Huskies closed out the year on a 21-2-3 run and enter the tournament on a 13-game winning streak. They just won their first Hockey East tournament title since 1988, knocking off Boston College in the semis and UMa s-Lowell in the final. They’ll take on North Dakota in the tournament. 6. The Nashville Predators will be watching Harvard very closely This national tournament has obvious implications for all of the teams involved, but how far the Harvard Crimson go will also have a direct impact on the Nashville Predators. The team has been vocal about its desire to sign Harvard snipe Jimmy Vesey, whom the team took in the third round in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He is Gabriel Davis Jersey one of those players that could decide not to sign with the team that drafted him and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, giving him a chance to sign with any team. The Predators are apparently prepared to offer him a big role and immediate playing time in order to sign with them. He will be eligible to play in the playoffs if he signs as well, meaning the Preds could also have an extra body to help them down the stretch here. Harvard has a really tough opening-round matchup against Boston College. Should they advance to the Frozen Four, though, the Preds wont be able to get Vesey in their lineup before the NHLs regular season is over. Whenever Harvards season ends, expect David Poile to have a contract ready for Vesey to sign. However, no one seems to know if hell actually sign it. Stay tuned for more coverage of the NCAA tournament as the week progre ses, including a list of players to watch and predictions.