By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – The top teams in men's college hockey will face off this week in St. Louis.
The NCAA's Frozen Four tournament begins Thursday at the ScottTrade Center.
Maine faces Michigan State in the first semifinal. Then later that day North Dakota will play Boston College.
The two winners advance to the championship final Saturday night.
Mark Schreiber with the St. Louis Sports Commission said the tournament will be a boon to the local hotel business, which is usually slow on Easter weekend.
"This event is a lot like the college wrestling championships that we've done a number of times in St. Louis, when a large proportion of the fans - in this case at least 15,000 - are coming from out of town," Schreiber said.
St. Louis last hosted the hockey tournament in 1975.
Two years ago the NC AA's Final Four basketball tournament was here.