Frozen Four held in St. Paul

ST. PAUL - Hockey fans from all across the country flocked to Downtown St. Paul for the annual NCCA Hockey Frozen Four Championship over the weekend. Even though the field did not feature any teams in close proximity, we still saw powerhouse teams and skilled players battling for the title. 

Things got underway on Thursday as Denver and Boston University played in the first semifinal and then Boston College vs. Michigan followed. The first goal of the tournament in game one came shorthanded and was scored by the Terriers’ Luke Tuch to make it 1-0 vs. Denver in the first period, with the single assist going to Devin Kaplan. Boston University out shot the Pioneers 10-3 in the first frame and continued to get a good bulk of scoring opportunities to start the second period. Denver was on their heels throughout the first half of period two, but then found the back of the net to tie it up with 4:39 remaining in the period. Tristan Lemyre scored only his second of the season for Denver and it was assisted by Miko Matikka. After that, the rest of regulation went scoreless, which meant overtime for the first semifinal. There was back and forth action to start the overtime period, but there was no winner through the first ten minutes and change. However, Denver broke through with the game winning goal with 8:51 on the clock from former Gopher and Minnesota native Tristan Broz. Sean Behrens assisted Broz on the goal and Denver was heading to the championship for the second time in three years. The final shots in the game favored the Terriers 34-29 and the rest of the stat sheet was very even as well.