The Frozen Four Is New England’s March Madness
When it comes to the sports-crazed landscape of New England, it’s no secret that games of the collegiate variety don’t usually top the list.
Sure, there have been memorable college sport moments featuring local schools, from Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary to UConn’s basketball dominance in the new millennium, but most of the time, the general New England sports fan pays attention to the professional level, which has produced nine championships in the four major sports over the past 13 years.
But when it comes to the passion for college sports in this region, it’s hard to top college hockey. Instead of having one or two good collegiate programs in a sport, like in football or basketball, New England is home to some of the top collegiate programs in the entire country, with the conferences of Hockey East, the ECAC, and Atlantic Hockey residing here. From the time the NCAA first crowned a Div. I champion in 1948, teams from New England have won 14 national titles, including Boston College (5), Boston University (5), Maine (2), Harvard (1) and Yale (1), while a New England team has finished as runner-up in 23 title games. Since 2008, just two of the past seven national champions (Minnesota-Duluth in 2011, Union in 2014) have come from outside the region.
New England’s passion for college hockey will come to a head this weekend when Boston hosts the Frozen Four, the culmination of a 2015 NCAA Div. I Men’s Hockey Tournament with heavy New England involvement. Six New England schools entered the 16-team tournament. Two, Providence and BU, made the Frozen Four: BU for the first time since winning it all in 2009, while Providence had to wait 30 years between appearances.
The NCAA championship will be decided on Garden ice for the first time since 2004, when the University of Denver took down Jimmy Howard and Maine in a thrilling 1-0 finish. Omaha will face Providence on Thursday at 5 p.m., with Boston University and North Dakota facing off at 8:30 p.m.
An all-New England championship game? Wouldn’t that be something special.
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