Events

Men’s Frozen Four returns to TD Garden

The NCAA champ will be crowned in Boston -- the site of several classic title contests in recent memory.

The Associated Press

1 minute to read

The Hub of Hockey will again serve as the epicenter for the college game, with the NCAA bringing its Frozen Four to Boston in early April.

The event features two national semifinals on Thursday, April 7, then pits the winners against each other in the national title tilt on Saturday, April 9. The first semifinal pits Michigan against Denver at 5 p.m., with Minnesota and Minnesota State set to battle at 8:30. Puck drop for the championship game is scheduled for 8 p.m.

In between, the weekend festivities will also include the presentation of the Hobey Baker Award to college hockey’s best player. That takes place on Friday at the Encore Boston Harbor Resort. It’s open to the public, and begins at 4:45 p.m. All three finalists for that honor are from teams that advanced to Boston.

At Buffalo in 2019, which was pre-pandemic, of course, “Frozen Fest” featured free events for fans that included red-carpet arrivals for all four teams, live music, interactive games, trophy displays, and photo opportunities. There will be no such fan experience this year, though the action on the ice should be spectacular if Boston’s Frozen Four history is any indication. This will be the fourth time the city has hosted college hockey’s championship weekend in the past 25 years, and every time the title game has turned into a classic.

Seven years ago, future Bruin Noel Acciari helped lead Providence College to a 4-3 win over Jack Eichel’s Boston University team in a tense, all-Hockey East affair. Back in 2004, the University of Denver made a first-period goal standup, and beat the University of Maine, 1-0. And six years before that, the University of Michigan topped hometown Boston College, 3-2, in an overtime thriller.

All three of those previous games had a local leaning, and this year’s national draw began with five New England schools looking to earn their way to the Garden. Ultimately, however, it was three regional No. 1 seeds, plus No. 2 Denver, that punched their tickets to Boston.