The way Tom Kurvers and his 1982-83 Minnesota Duluth teammates learned they had been selected for the NCAA tournament wasn’t much different from how many of today’s teams officially learn their fate.

Kurvers and the Bulldogs were at their favorite local watering hole and restaurant that Selection Sunday, but it wasn’t for any sort of formal selection show party sponsored by the university. For one, the NCAA tournament selection show wasn’t broadcast on television then, and secondly, Kurvers and crew had no clue the bid was coming.

“We were actually at Grandma’s on a Sunday night and a phone call came in on the hardline and there were half a dozen of us together, not waiting for a phone call,” said Kurvers, who was a junior defenseman on that team. “We were just having a hamburger and a beer. There was a scramble. ‘Get out of the bar, we’re practicing tomorrow at 8 o’clock and heading to Providence next Friday.’ ”

Thirty-three years ago, UMD played in the eight-team NCAA Division I men’s hockey tournament for the very first time, losing a two-game, total-goal series 10-5 to Providence. The Friars won 7-3 and 3-2 on home ice.

Thirty-three years later, the fourth-seeded Bulldogs were again the last team into the NCAA tournament - now expanded to 16 teams - and again are playing top-seeded Providence, but this time in a one-and-done Northeast Regional semifinal at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the neutral DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The winner advances to the regional championship against either Harvard or Boston College at 8 p.m. Saturday in Worcester.

Heading east is nothing new for the 2015-16 Bulldogs. They were in Manchester, N.H., a year ago for the the Northeast Regional where they defeated Minnesota in the semifinals before falling to Boston University in the final. UMD was last in the tournament in back-to-back seasons in 2011-12, and they began those tournaments in Bridgeport, Conn., and Worcester, respectively.

But in 1983, playing in Providence in the NCAA tournament was something different for the Bulldogs.

“I remember it was cool going out east,” said Bill Watson, then a freshman at UMD. “I remember our first night we just didn’t, not that we didn’t play well, but Providence just took care of a lot of bounces that night. We hadn’t played in a couple weeks and we were rusty and they were an experienced team. They took it to us the first night. I think they had one really good period. The rest of the weekend was really close. It was a great experience, our first experience as a school.

“I think it catapulted us into the next two years. We got a taste of it.”

The 1982-83 season was the first of 18 seasons coaching for Mike Sertich. He was only an interim coach that year, but his Bulldogs started 7-0-1, eventually getting to 14-2-1. UMD stumbled a bit down the stretch to finish 28-16-1 overall and fourth in the six-team WCHA at 14-12. Gregg Moore, a senior wing led the team in scoring with 33 goals and 29 assists. Sertich was named WCHA Coach of the Year and sophomore goaltender Bob Mason of International Falls went on to win the WCHA Most Valuable Player Award.

The Bulldogs thought their season may be over after being ousted in the WCHA tournament semifinals by regular-season champion Minnesota 11-6 in the total-goal series. Pairwise rankings were a long ways off so the Bulldogs didn’t know their NCAA chances, but they only had a sliver of hope they’d get an at-large bid, Mason said. The team held some captains practices at Wessman Arena in Superior to stay fresh - the ice at the DECC already was removed - and waited to see if they received a call.

“We weren’t even making preparations,” Mason, in his 13th season as Minnesota Wild goaltending coach, said of the NCAAs. “It was on the backburner. The odds probably weren’t even 50-50. We had to gather up, skate over at Wessman because there was no ice in Duluth. I know I was in scramble mode because I know I was terrible that first game. Providence was also pretty good.”

“It happened in a flash,” said Kurvers, who is in his fourth season as senior advisor to Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman. “We had a few days to practice and then went to go play Providence. They took us down. More than anything it was disappointing we had an opportunity and didn’t take advantage of it.

“If anything, the next year, all that experience we had ― we had a good senior class ― they helped change the program. The program changed in the course of the ’82-83 season and it was sent on that direction. It was an important part of the success that followed.”

The Bulldogs went on to win the WCHA regular-season and postseason titles the next two seasons to secure bids to the NCAA tournament - no surprising phone calls to Grandma’s in those years.

UMD hosted Clarkson in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1984 - winning the series 9-8 - and beating Harvard 8-4 in total goals in 1985. The Bulldogs reached the national championship game in 1984, but lost in four overtimes to Bowling Green State, which had been the first team eliminated in 1983. In 1985 ― a tournament in which Providence, Harvard and Boston College were all among the final eight ― UMD lost in three OTs to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the Frozen Four semifinals.

Norm Maciver, a UMD freshman defenseman in 1982-83 and now assistant general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, said it’s hard to say whether or not the Bulldogs would have made the runs they did in following seasons without the 1983 NCAA bid. That first trip raised the excitement around the program and gave the team an added boost of confidence.

“We had a lot of young players on that (’82-83) team and it gave us a lot of confidence that next season, the next couple seasons,” Maciver said. “I think a fair amount of the younger players were important parts of those teams. It gave us a lot of confidence going forward. We made it as freshmen and I think it just raised our expectations. We wanted more success after what we did as freshmen.”

Current Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin is hoping last year’s trip to Manchester, last weekend’s trip to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and this weekend’s Northeast Regional sparks future UMD teams like 1983 did for the program. The 2015-16 Bulldogs are veterans, but also have plenty of youth.

“It’s still new stuff for your younger guys,” Sandelin said. “You hope that those experiences, to me they are important. You have to get there and experience those things. The NCHC tournament is like preparations. It’s very similar. You’re at a neutral site venue. You don’t have your per say home crowd.”