Hockey club begins championship trek

The quest for IU's first national hockey championship begins today as the Hoosiers open the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II national tournament with a 6:45 p.m. faceoff against Colorado State University. \nThe Hoosiers have been placed in pool A of the tournament, which also includes Michigan State, Franklin Pierce College and today's opponent, the Rams. The teams were invited as the top four seeds in each of the ACHA's regional conferences. This is the eighth consecutive year that IU has been invited to the tournament. The Hoosiers will face Franklin Pierce tomorrow, followed by the highly anticipated duel against the Spartans Friday, marking the sixth consecutive season those two teams will face each other in the tournament.\nAs recently crowned champions of the Great Midwestern Hockey League, the Hoosiers are considered one of the favorites headed into the tournament. They have made it perfectly clear on and off the ice that they expect to come home with nothing short of a national championship. If IU emerges as the victor of pool A, it will face the winner of pool C, which includes the University of Colorado, Siena College, Central Michigan University and Life University, Saturday morning. The Championship game will be held 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.