It's been a long week of deep emptiness without college ice hockey, but have no fear! It's back, baby!
This week, the action on the ice continues with the Frozen Four in St. Louis, Mo. at the 22,000-seat Enterprise Center (home of the St.Louis Blues). The competition started with 16 teams and is now down to four; the remaining squads are the four regional champions who have survived the first two rounds of this single-elimination NCAA tournament.
The pool of remaining teams includes two newbies to the Frozen Four in the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Western Michigan University Broncos. Each Frozen Four first-timer will battle a tournament veteran in their national semifinal game. The Boston University Terriers, who have now made it to this part of the tournament 25 times and the last three years in a row, have to face Penn State, who capitalized in extra time in the Allentown regional final to send the UConn Huskies home early from their first-ever tournament berth. The Denver University Pioneers are looking to repeat as champs, but they have to get through the Broncos first. Denver has made the Frozen Four 19 times, but their claim to fame is the 10 nattys they've won. This is the most in NCAA DI ice hockey history, and I'm sure they're thinking that 11 would look even better next to their name.
St. Louis, here we come 🎟️#MFrozenFour pic.twitter.com/OPAIWCsQOx
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 31, 2025
For reference, here is a breakdown of the tournament so far and four key takeaways from the wild first weekend of action.
Who plays who in the 2025 Frozen Four
Denver vs. Western Michigan
First up on Thursday, April 10, at 5:00 p.m. ET is Denver vs. Western Michigan. The defending champs have offensive defenseman sophomore Zeev Buium (Minnesota Wild prospect) on their side; he is one of the three Hobey Baker Award finalists for this season. Buium is the top-scoring defensemen on the Pioneers roster, and mix him into the offensive playbook with forwards Sam Harris (Montreal Canadiens prospect), Jack Devine (Florida Panthers prospect) and others, you have a lethal mix of playmakers. But Western Michigan won't be a walk in the park. The Broncos were ranked fourth on PairWise this season compared to Denver at 11. The most recent USA Hockey rankings have Western Michigan ranked number one, which is the first time in program history they've been ranked this high. Denver is closer in the standings here, USA Hockey has them second. Regardless, it will be tight battle.
Boston University vs. Penn State
Rounding out play in Thursday's double-header at 8:30 p.m. ET is Penn State vs. Boston University. BU, like Penn State, also needed extra time to win their regional; they defeated a strong Cornell team when junior forward Quinn Hutson found the back of the net at 6:25 of the extra frame. Penn State has speedy sophomore Aiden Fink (Nashville Predators prospect) who can orchestrate plays and be in the right place at the right time. Don't underestimate sophomore winger Matt DiMarsico either. He led the team in shots this season with 147, but wasn't always finding the back of the net... until it really mattered. In the dwindling minutes of overtime vs. the Huskies, DiMarsico snuck one past Connecticut's Callum Tung (New York Rangers). I expect this game to be quick-paced with lots of shots, Penn State wanting to keep their season going and BU not wanting to be sent home short of a championship game appearance for the third time in a row.
The winners of each of these games will appear in the National Championship game on Saturday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The semifinals and finals will be aired on the ESPN family of channels with the ability to stream through ESPN+. I highly suggested not missing it, this hockey is so incredibly good!