Two of the teams in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four are veterans of the experience. Two will be making their first appearance in the event.
Boston University and defending national champion Denver represent the old guard, with a combined 46 trips to the national semifinals between them.
Western Michigan and Penn State will go to St. Louis for their debut in college hockey’s final weekend.
That’s the next stop for the final four teams left competing for the 2025 NCAA championship. Western Michigan will play Denver at 4 p.m. CT in the April 10 semifinals at Enterprise Center, with Boston University playing Penn State at 7:30 p.m. CT.
The season wraps up with the April 12 championship game at 6:30 p.m. CT. All three games of the Frozen Four are on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
The NCHC has two teams in the Frozen Four for the first time since 2021. The Big Ten is represented for the fourth straight season and Hockey East has a team playing in its third straight Frozen Four.
The Denver-Western Michigan semifinal is a rematch of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game March 22. The Pioneers led 3-0 after two periods before the Broncos rallied to force overtime and won it in the second extra session. The teams split their other two games this season in Kalamazoo, with Western Michigan winning 3-2 and Denver rebounding with a 3-2 overtime victory.
The game between Penn State and Boston University will be the first meeting between the teams.
Boston University (23-13-2) was the first to qualify for the Frozen Four but it needed overtime against Cornell to win the Toledo Regional. Quinn Hutson’s goal delivered the Terriers their 25th trip to the semifinals and third in as many seasons under coach Jay Pandolfo.
They finished third in Hockey East behind Boston College and Maine and fell to UConn in the league semifinals. BU overcame three one-goal deficits in the regional opener against Ohio State before it scored five times on eight shots in the third period for an 8-3 victory on Thursday.
The Terriers, who are looking for their sixth NCAA title, fell behind again against Cornell in the regional final but took the lead on a Cole Hutson power-play goal early in the third. Jack O’Leary’s goal for the Big Red with 5:30 remaining forced overtime but BU advanced with a 3-2 decision on Quinn Hutson’s shot from the right point.
Western Michigan (32-7-1) needed overtime to get past Minnesota State in Thursday’s opening round and got past UMass by the same 2-1 score on Saturday to clinch its first Frozen Four berth.
The Broncos won both NCHC championships this season, with the playoff title being their first since they won the CCHA in 2012. They’ve made the NCAA tournament in all four seasons under coach Pat Ferschweiler, and their 32 victories this season has tied a program record set in 1985-86.
They fell behind UMass on Saturday but scored twice on a five-minute power play, by Liam Valente and Tim Washe, to go ahead. Western Michigan carries the nation’s best scoring margin (1.90) into the Frozen Four.
Penn State (22-13-4) won a thriller Sunday, outlasting UConn 3-2 in overtime in the Allentown Regional. It continued an impressive resurgence by the Nittany Lions this season.
They started 4-7 overall and lost their first eight Big Ten games. But they’ve lost only three times since Jan. 10, including an overtime defeat against Ohio State in the Big Ten semifinals. They had to sweat out results on the conference championship weekend and made the NCAA tournament as the last at-large team.
The Nittany Lions survived a number of UConn pushes in the third period and overtime Sunday before Matt DiMarsico sent them to the Frozen Four in front of their home-state fans. It’s also the first Frozen Four appearance for Guy Gadowsky in 25 seasons as a head coach.
Denver (31-11-1) is in the Frozen Four for the fourth time in the last six tournaments and for the 19th time officially; the Pioneers had their 1973 trip vacated by the NCAA. They’re looking to add to their NCAA-record 10 national championships and go back to back for the first time since 2004 and 2005.
The Pioneers started the season 12-0 but then lost four of their next five games. They went through the second half of the season without losing consecutive contests.
Denver held off No. 1 overall seed Boston College 3-1 on Sunday to win the Manchester Regional in a rematch of the 2024 national championship game. Coach David Carle has led the Pioneers to four straight 30-win seasons and two of the last three NCAA titles.
