When the NCAA Frozen Four gets underway at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, Thursday, there will be 19 Minnesota high school hockey alums taking part with their respective teams.

Leading the charge is St. Cloud State, which features 14 Minnesotans on its 26-play roster, all of whom completed their senior season with their high school team before moving onward with their hockey careers.

The Huskies rosters features the top two goal scorers in state history in Ben Hanowski (Little Falls) and Midwest Region most valuable player Joey Benik (St. Francis).

In addition to over half of its roster hailing from Minnesota, St. Cloud State’s entire coaching staff has roots in the state’s high school hockey tradition.

Head coach Bob Motzko hails from Austin where he played for the Packers. Mike Gibbons spent his prep career at White Bear Lake while Garrett Raboin hails from Detroit Lakes and goalie coach David Rogalski led Benilde-St. Margaret’s to a state Class A title in 1999.

Top-ranked Quinnipiac features four Minnesotans on its roster while Yale sports one player in Robbinsdale Armstrong’s Tommy Fallen, who had a team-high four shots in the Bulldogs’ regional semifinal win over Minnesota and assisted on the game-winning goal in the regional championship win over North Dakota.

In all, 18 percent of the players converging on Pittsburgh this week have their roots in Minnesota high school hockey and 18 of those 19 players graduated from their Minnesota high school.

^-Frank Brimsek Award winner (top senior goaltender)