Dates and sites: The East Regional will be played March 23-24 at the Centrum Centre in Worcester, Massachusetts; the West Regional will be played March 24-25 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and the Frozen Four will be April 5 and 7 at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York.

Field: Twelve teams. Five teams from the automatic-qualifying conferences and the remaining seven will be selected at-large.

Top team contenders: Michigan State, Boston College, North Dakota, Colorado College, Michigan.

Players to watch: Brian Gionta, Boston College; Andy Hilbert, Michigan; Ryan Miller, Michigan State; Jeff Panzer, North Dakota.

DIVISION III

Dates and sites: The quarterfinals will be played March 9-10 at campus sites; the semifinals and final will be March 16-17 at a campus site.

Field: Eight teams. Six teams are from automatic-qualifying conferences (Pool A); one team is from independent institutions (Pool B); and one at-large team that does not qualify through its conference will be selected (Pool C).

Selection date: March 4.

Top team contenders: Rochester Institute of Technology, Middlebury, Wisconsin-Superior, Plattsburgh State.

Players to watch: Peter Bournazakis, Rochester Institute of Technology; Christian Carlsson, Middlebury; Jerry Galway, Rochester Institute of Technology; Ivan Prokic, Wisconsin-Superior.

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE WOMEN'S

Dates and sites: The semifinals and final of this inaugural championship will be March 23 and 25 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.

Field: Four teams, including one team each from the East and West regions and two teams selected at-large.

Selection date: March 18.

Top team contenders: Dartmouth, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Harvard, Brown, St. Lawrence, Wisconsin, Northeastern.

Players to watch: Jennifer Botterill, Harvard; Meaghan Cahill, Dartmouth; La Toya Clarke, Minnesota; Pam Dreyer, Brown; Meghan Hunter, Wisconsin; Tuula Puputti, Minnesota-Duluth; Maria Rooth, Minnesota-Duluth; Brooke Whitney, Northeastern.

Norwich's win last year in Division III snapped Middlebury's five-year title skein. The last time such a streak was broken -- Wisconsin-Stevens Point's four-year run from 1988 to 1991 -- the dethroned team came back to win the crown the following year.