Thrilling First Weekend Sets Up Exciting Frozen Four in Boston

Story posted March 30, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Maclain Young

It took 12 games including three overtimes across four regions, but we finally have our Frozen Four.

No. 1 seeds Michigan, Minnesota and Denver as well as No. 2 seed Minessota will duke it out at TD Garden next week, but first let’s take a look back at how we got here.

Michigan was always going to have a large number of eyes on it going into the tournament. The Wolverines’ immense talent has been met with sky high expectations all season and they have not disappointed so far in the tournament.

Michigan began by handling its business against American International in Allentown.

The Wolverines used a three-goal second period to widen an early lead and ended up never trailing in the contest. The final score was 5-3.

In the other game in Allentown, Frozen Four contenders Quinnipiac and St. Cloud State played “anything you can do, I can do better” as the sides rapidly exchanged goals.

Ultimately, Quinnipiac won out in the third period, winning the game and earning them a date with Michigan in the Allentown final.

Despite Quinnipiac hovering around the top of the nation’s ranking for the second half of the season, the Wolverines dominated the matchup and once again never trailed.

They used surges of four unanswered goals and later three unanswered tallies to book a trip to Boston with a final score of 7-4.

In the Albany region, pesky Harvard and Notre Dame gave Minnesota State all it could handle with the Maverick’s eking out two one goal victories on their way to the Frozen Four.

Veteran goaltender and all time NCAA shutouts leader Dryden McKay led the charge with a 23 save shutout against Notre Dame in the Albany final.

In the Loveland region, Minnesota Duluth looked to be making large strides with a 3-0 win over Michigan Tech.

With the No. 1 seed of the region in Denver barely escaping with a third period victory against UMass Lowell, it looked like Duluth was in good shape to make it a ¾ Minnesota Frozen Four.

However, NCAA leading pointgetter-Booby Brink and his Denver squad were able to battle back from a 1-0 deficit in the first period and knock off Duluth 2-1 to secure a berth in the Frozen Four.

In the Worcester region, top-seeded Western Michigan escaped North Eastern 2-1 in an overtime thriller.

In the other game, Minnesota and defending National Champion UMass dualed in one of the best games of the tournament.

UMass led 3-1 in the second period, but the Golden Gophers stormed back capped off by a MatThew Knies power play goal in the third period.

In the overtime session, Big Ten player of the year Ben Meyers netted the winner that sent Minnesota to the final eight.

Against top seeded Western Michigan, standout goaltender Justen Close stepped into the spotlight with a 25 save shutout.

It should be exciting to see which of these four squads can prevail in Boston. All have shown determination, poise and immense talent to make it this far.

The best is yet to come with the puck dropping April 7 at TD Garden.

 

Maclain Young is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.