MSU hockey is a popular pick to win regional, reach Frozen Four

The experts at College Hockey Now confidently believe Michigan State will return to the Frozen Four for the first time in nearly 20 years this weekend. It was a clean sweep for the Spartans in College Hockey Now's (CHN) "pundits pick'em" for the upcoming regionals this weekend. All nine of the writers included in the post have Michigan State coming out of the Worcester Region and advancing to the Frozen Four in Las Vegas in a few weeks.

Of the nine writers, seven have the Spartans beating UConn and then Dartmouth in the regional final, and the other two have Michigan State beating UConn and then Wisconsin. The Spartans were the only team to receive all nine writers picks to reach the Frozen Four, with Michigan following at eight of nine predicting the Wolverines to make it out of the Albany Region. Michigan State is playing in their third straight NCAA Tournament and is also playing as a No.

1 seed for a third straight season. The Spartans, though, have fell short of making it out of their region in the last two trips to the tournament. Michigan State will take the ice in the first round against UConn on Thursday at 1:30 p.

m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2.