INDIANAPOLIS -- The University of New England will entertain Hamilton College this coming Saturday (7 p.m.) in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship, as the 14-team tournament field was announced Monday morning (Mar. 10) by the national committee on NCAA.com.

Interactive bracket: 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship
Complete NCAA release / Selection Show

The Nor'easters (18-7-1) are making their fifth appearance in the national championship -- the third as an at-large selection. UNE is two years removed from consecutive semifinal trips in 2022 and 2023; back-to-back years in the final four has only ever been achieved by nine programs since the championship moved to a full single-elimination format in 2003. The Nor'easters were the number two seed in the Conference of New England (CNE) and bumped out by Endicott College in overtime (4-3) of the semifinals, but had a full body of work that was enough to qualify for more postseason play.

Hamilton (20-6-1) is into the NCAA field for the second time, but the first as champions of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The Continentals made good on the league's top seed from the regular season, and survived a double-overtime semifinal against the No.7 seed, to then defeat fifth-seeded Tufts University by a 3-0 margin in the final. The program's other NCAA appearance was in 2017, when Hamilton won a game and reached the quarterfinals.

In the newly-created NCAA Power Index (NPI), which was used to select teams and guided bracketing for the tournament, UNE finished eighth and Hamilton was ninth.

The Nor'easters and Continentals have played twice previously, back when the ECAC East League and NESCAC had a scheduling agreement in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, which were UNE's first as a varsity program. Hamilton took both of those contests, 5-4 (OT) and 10-7.

The UNE/Hamilton winner is lined up to face one of the squads receiving a bye into the quarterfinals, Curry College. The Colonels are the top team in the NPI, holding a record of 24-3-0 with 16 straight wins, including a 5-2 result against Endicott in the CNE title game. The last time Curry lost was on December 6 -- the first of three meetings against the Nor'easters.