The NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament came down to the Frozen Four, and it was probably one of the best semifinal rounds in recent memory.
Here we present all the relevant information leading up to the highly anticipated match, along with some contenders for the semi-finals.
Frozen schedule
Thursday, April 11th, 5:00 PM ET: Boston University vs. Denver
Thursday, April 11th, 8:30pm ET: Boston College vs. Michigan
Saturday, April 13th, 6:00 PM ET: Championship Game
ET, all games will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
bracket
You can find the latest bracket by clicking this link on NCAA.com.
odds
As of Wednesday night, Boston College is a -180 money line favorite (bet $180 to win) against Michigan and Boston College is a -180 money line favorite (bet $100 to win) against Denver, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. I was a 160 money line favorite.
TV and live stream information
All three games will be televised on ESPN2. ESPN+ is the live stream home for Frozen 4.
prediction
The last time Boston College lost a regulation game to a team other than Boston College was on November 25th.
Simply put, the Terriers are a tough team to put away. Both RIT and Minnesota realized that in the middle of a tough 6-3 loss to BU in the NCAA Tournament.
Macklin Celebrini will be the biggest problem for opponents. The freshman forward from Vancouver has nine goals and 12 assists in the past nine games, including one goal and one assist against RIT and three helpers against Minnesota.
But BU has more to offer than Celebrini, with five players scoring 36 or more points and six double-digit scorers on the roster.
Like BU, Denver also defeated two NCAA Tournament opponents by identical scores to advance to the Frozen Four. Unlike BU, both were nailed down, with the Pioneers defeating UMass (in double overtime) and Cornell University 2-1 (in regulation).
This is very different from Denver. Denver has 11 players who have scored 10 or more goals, and has scored 198 goals on the year.
Junior forward Jack Devine leads the way with 27 goals and 29 assists. Denver also has a star freshman defenseman in Ze'ev Bouium, who leads the team with 38 assists. Bouium ranks first on the team in plus-minus rating (plus-33).
Denver also has the Frozen Four's hottest goaltender in Matt Davis, who has allowed just one goal per game over the past three games. He made 46 saves in the double OT win against Massachusetts.
This semifinal is a very difficult match to predict, especially with Denver also continuing to do well with seven straight wins and wins in 13 of 14 games.
At the end of the day, this feels like a coin flip. The coin fell to the BU side with a 4-3 overtime victory.
In the nightcap, not only did Boston College win 14 straight games, but the Eagles averaged 5.3 goals per game during that span.
The top five scorers are all freshmen or sophomores, led by Will Smith (23 goals, 46 assists). Cutter Gauthier (37 goals) and Ryan Leonard (31 goals) pace the team's scoring.
And Boston College has an excellent goaltender in Jacob Fowler, who boasts a 2.20 GAA and .924 save percentage.
Simply put, this team has no weaknesses. BC is currently 33-5-1 and has outscored its opponents by 92 goals.
But the Wolverines aren't going to let BC run them over on the way to a championship. Michigan State continued its Cinderella-like run by defeating North Dakota State 5-2 and its biggest rival (Big Ten champion) Michigan State University 5-2.
Seven Michigan players scored 34 or more points, led by Gavin Brindley (25 goals, 28 assists) and Rutger McGroarty (16 goals, 36 assists). But the player to watch is Dylan Duke, who scored four goals in the tournament (two each against North Dakota State and Michigan State). Duke is currently scoring 26 goals on the year and is definitely someone BC will keep an eye on Thursday.
After all, never expect a big loss here. But BC is simply a better team and the team picked to win 5-3.
If these predictions come true, it will be the second time in history that BC and BU will meet in the finals. BU defeated BC for the first time in 1978, 5-3.
