The Jimmie hockey team earned its first trip to the American College Hockey Association Division 1 national tournament as the 20-team bracket was released Wednesday.
The tournament is March 8-13 and will be played in Columbus, Ohio.
Although being ranked high enough for the tournament in 2016-17, the Jimmies as a first-year ACHA program were ineligible for the postseason. Jamestown (24-11-0-1) is 12th in the final regular-season poll and will face No. 5 Illinois on March 10 at 1:30 p.m.
UJ swept a pair of games against the Fighting Illini in Champaign on January 19-20-a 4-3 shootout and a 2-0 shutout. Illinois (22-8-0-2) has one more regular-season game scheduled, taking on Ohio University on February 24.
The Jimmies will play Minot State in a home-and-home series this Friday and Saturday, with Friday's game in Jamestown.
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This season, the Jimmies have played four teams (including Illinois) in this year's tournament. Jamestown is 1-6-0-1 against top-ranked Minot State, 2-0-0-0 against fourth-ranked Ohio and 2-1-0-0 against No. 13 Nevada-Las Vegas.
The winner of the March 8 game between Nevada-Las Vegas and No. 20 Drexel will play Ohio on March 9. That winner squares off against the Jamestown-Illinois winner on March 11.
