Frozen Four Preview: #1 Boston College Men's Hockey vs. #3 Denver

This is the big one. After an incredibly successful regular season, a Hockey East Tournament championship and three straight NCAA Tournament victories, the Boston College men's hockey team will play for their first national championship since 2012 when they take on Denver in the finals on Saturday night.

WHO: #3 Denver Pioniers (31-9-3) vs. #1 Boston College Eagles (34-5-1)

Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota

When: Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 6:00 PM ET (5:00 PM CT)

How to watch: Saturday's championship game will air and streamed on ESPN2

How to follow: Follow the match on X (Twitter) by checking in with our live coverage at @bcinterruption

TEAM SUMMARY:

Denver has been a powerhouse in college hockey for much of head coach David Carles' tenure and will look for their second championship in three seasons on Saturday night. The Pioneers entered the NCAA tournament topped the nation's top-scoring offense, but have done things a little differently over the past three games, all three beating UMass, Cornell and of course Boston University by the same 2-1 score beat. , with both games against BC's Hockey East rivals decided in overtime.

While Denver's best offensive players don't quite have the jaw-dropping point totals that BC's leaders do, the Pioneers make up for this with an impressive amount of depth, with 14 different players averaging at least half a point per game on the season ( e.g. comparisons, BC has eight players above that number). Junior Jack Devine leads Denver in season scoring with 27 goals and 56 points, while his linemate Tristian Broz has 16 goals, including two overtime winners in this tournament. The Pioneers also got a big boost in Thursday's semifinals when Massimo Rizzo (44 points in 29 games) returned to the lineup after being out with an injury since February.

On the blue line, the big name to watch is Zeev Buium. Buium is second on the team with 49 points and is projected to go in the first round of this year's NHL draft, possibly as high as the top 10. And while Denver's offense is rightly getting a lot of praise , gets their team defense has been very strong lately. They've allowed more than two goals just once in the last seven games and are coming off a good impression against BU, where they more or less shut down expected first-choice Macklin Celebrini, something that hasn't happened much at all this season.

In net for the Pioneers is junior Matt Davis, who has stopped 103 of the 106 shots he has faced so far in this tournament. Davis' best performance of the entire season might have come in the opening game of the tournament, when he stopped 46 of the 47 shots he faced in a double-overtime victory against UMass.

How does Boston College compare?

These two teams already played on October 21 this season, with Denver beating the Eagles 4-3 on a power play goal late in the third period. Much like the semifinal against Michigan, BC will be going up against a team that can absolutely match them in terms of scoring, so Jacob Fowler and the defense will have to be on their toes. Denver's defense is also rock solid and has been even better than that lately, so the Eagles will once again look to their big name players to convert the scoring opportunities they can create.

BC had a much easier time getting through the neutral zone with speed and puck possession against Michigan after struggling to do so in their first two games of the tournament, so a lot of this could come down to whether they can do the same against Denver . or if the Pioneers manage to slow them down. Will Smith and Gabe Perreault had a big game on Thursday after struggling to do much during the regional rounds, which can only be a good sign for the Eagles. With how well Denver is playing right now, we should have a fantastic title game in store, and hopefully one that ends with BC taking home their sixth championship trophy.

Betting

• The over/under for the game is 5.5 goals
• Boston College (-320) is favored over Michigan (+230) on the moneyline.