The 2012 NCAA hockey bracket was unveiled on Sunday, and the both the No. 1 overall seed and the defending national champion will battle in the Northeast Regional. DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. hosts the first and second rounds on March 23 and 24 for these four teams:

• No. 1 Boston College
• No. 2 Minnesota Duluth
• No. 3 Maine
• No. 4 Air Force

The top-ranked program in the nation, the Boston College Eagles, will take on the Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force Falcons in the first game of the Northeast Regional, to be played at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 24. The game can be seen live on ESPNU.

In the Northeast's other game, the reigning national champion Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs will take on the Maine Black Bears at 7:30 p.m. the same day. The game can be viewed live on ESPN3.com.

The losers will go home, while the winners will play each other the following night at 8 p.m. It seems as though most would expect Boston College to do battle with UMD for the right to go to the Frozen Four, but in a one-game playoff situation, anything can happen.

For more on the road to the Frozen Four in Tampa, stick with our 2012 NCAA hockey tournament StoryStream.