INDIANAPOLIS -- The University of New England will host Colby College on Saturday (7 p.m.) in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship at the Harold Alfond Forum. The 12-team tournament field was announced Monday morning (Mar. 3) by the national committee on NCAA.com.

Interactive bracket: 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship

It is the first-ever bid into the national championship for the Nor'easters, who are in their ninth season as a varsity program. After falling to Nichols College in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) final, UNE's program-record 20-5-3 mark was good enough to be one of the four at-large picks that rounded out the field.

Colby College captured its first New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title over the weekend, coming on as the sixth seed and defeating Trinity College (Conn.) for the league's automatic spot. It will be the second championship appearance for the Mules (15-10-2), after an opening-round exit back in 1996.

UNE and Colby already met twice during the regular season, with the Nor'easters winning both times. Big Blue came out on top of a 5-3 result from the January 2 game in Biddeford, and then rolled to a 5-1 victory in Waterville on January 16.

Watch the NCAA selection show

The winner between the Nor'easters and Mules will claim a place in the national quarterfinals on March 17, lined up to meet either Hobert College or SUNY Geneseo at a site yet to be determined. Hobart booked its eighth spot in the tournament by way of the AQ from the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC), while Geneseo is in for the sixth time after taking the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) crown. Both the Statesmen and Knights have reached as far as the semifinals in the past.