THE NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship better known as the Frozen Four will get underway on Thursday evening as the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Boston University Terriers, Quinnipiac Bobcats, and Michigan Wolverines will battle it out for the national title.
What to know:
This year’s Frozen Four is taking place in Tampa, Florida at Amalie Arena. The semifinal contests are set for Thursday evening at 5:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., the winners advancing to Saturday’s national championship game at 8:00 p.m. Each of the Frozen Four’s three games will be aired on ESPN2 and could also be streamed on ESPN.com.
How they got there:
The Frozen Four will feature three of the tournament’s top four teams with Minnesota, Quinnipiac, and Michigan ranked as the top three overall seeds. The tournament’s fourth No.1 seed, the Denver Pioneers were knocked out in the Manchester Regional by the Cornell Big Red who would eventually fall 2-1 to Boston University in the Regional Finals.
Minnesota, the top overall seed is playing in their second straight Frozen Four after appearing in the tournament last season before losing to Minnesota State in the semifinals. The Gophers went 26-9-1 this season and defeated Canisius and St. Cloud State in the Fargo Regional to advance to Tampa.
Quinnipiac is making its third NCAA Tournament Frozen Four appearance after also appearing in the 2013 and 2016 Frozen Fours. They were dominant this season with a 30-4-3 record. In both of their prior appearances, they would be the runner-ups in the tournament. They defeated Merrimack and Ohio State in the Bridgeport Regional to advance to the Frozen Four
Michigan, the third-overall seed was the Big Ten Tournament Champion and posted a 24-11-3 regular season record. They dominated Colgate in the Allentown Regional semifinals 11-1 before outlasting Penn State 2-1 in overtime to advance to their second straight Frozen Four.
Finally, Boston University, the No.2 seed in the Manchester Regional went 27-10-0 this season before beating Western Michigan and Cornell in Manchester. This will be their first Frozen Four appearance since 2015.
Semifinal Matchups
No. 1 Minnesota vs No. 2 Boston University (5:00 p.m.)
This matchup is between two very similar teams as both are high scoring but were also some of the best defensive teams in the country this season. Minnesota’s Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud were phenomenal throughout the regular season posting 57 and 50 points respectively. The Terriers will need to keep those two in check if they hope to win.
On the other end, Lane Hutson and Matt Brown will need to keep up the fantastic work they’ve put in all season with 48 and 46 goals respectively. The ultimate deciding factor in this one might be Boston U’s ability to stop the Minnesota power play that has scored on 26.2% of all opportunities this season.
Prediction: Minnesota 4 – Boston University 2
No. 1 Quinnipiac vs No. 1 Michigan (8:30 p.m.)
This game will likely come down to Quinnipiac goalie Yaniv Perets who has been dominant all season. He’s started all 39 games for the Bobcats this season, posting a 1.46 goals against average including a .932 save percentage. As a team, the Bobcats are only allowing 1.54 goals per game this season.
The Bobcats can also score with he best of them with 3.95 goals per game. With the Wolverines, you’re in for a high scoring affair usually, scoring 4.23 goals per game but also allowing 3.08 goals a night. A highly talented team, the Wolverines have two first round picks in Luke Hughes and Mackie Samoskevich on their roster with Adam Fantilli being a likely top five selection in this year’s NHL Draft.
Prediction: Quinnipiac 4 – Michigan 3