{"id":147184,"date":"2024-04-10T23:56:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T04:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=147184"},"modified":"2024-04-11T09:55:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T14:55:47","slug":"disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini, right, ranks second in the country in scoring heading into Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinal against Denver (photo: Brad Olson).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It takes more than a strong offense to win championships.<\/p>\n

For No. 2 overall seed Boston University and No. 3 overall seed Denver, set to face off in the first NCAA Men’s Frozen Four semifinal Thursday, defense isn’t typically the first thought. But it just might come down to who has the better overall play. Disrupting the other team\u2019s rhythm will be what it takes.<\/p>\n

Staying focused on the ultimate goal and having a short memory was the key for BU after a blowout loss to archrival and top overall seed Boston College in the Hockey East championship on March 23.<\/p>\n

Head coach Jay Pandolfo credited the short turnaround and the long trip halfway across the country to Sioux Falls, S.D., for the regionals the next week as a big part of his team\u2019s success in advancing to St. Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were certainly disappointed but we knew we weren\u2019t done,\u201d he said. \u201cOur guys, they took it upon ourselves to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini leads the way for the Terriers as the nation\u2019s No. 2 scorer (32 goals, 32 assists). While the talented 17-year-old Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist is expected to be the top overall pick in the next NHL draft, he insisted Wednesday that his focus is bringing home the program\u2019s sixth national championship and first since 2009.<\/p>\n

The same goes for his teammates. So what will it take to keep pace with Denver\u2019s top-ranked offense of 4.71 goals per game?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for us it\u2019s dictating the way we want to play,\u201d said defenseman Case McCarthy. \u201cI think when we\u2019re playing our style, we\u2019re hard to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Denver is] a deep team. We’ve just got to make sure we manage the game,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cWe’ve got to make sure that we\u2019re staying above the puck, make sure our reloads are really good, make sure our gaps are good for our D so they don\u2019t have a lot of time and space.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Pioneers, that mighty offense was held in check in the Springfield Regional. But DU qualified for its second Frozen Four in the last three years by winning in a way it couldn\u2019t early in the season — defense.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Denver practices Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center. The Pioneers play Boston University on Thursday in the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four semifinals (photo: Jim Rosvold).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pioneers won a pair of 2-1 games over UMass and Cornell in their regional without having to put up big offensive numbers like they did March 22-23 when they took the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship in the same building they\u2019re playing in this week, the Xcel Energy Center.<\/p>\n

They know they\u2019re capable of lighting the lamp any time they want, and the improvement of their defense in the second half to complement the scoring makes them a tough out. But they\u2019re not about to underestimate a skilled Terriers team as they pursue their 10th title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to play Denver hockey,\u201d forward McKade Webster said. \u201cWe want to make them come through us, want to play a 200-foot game stopping on pucks and make them come to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team [here] has offensive weapons,\u201d said Pioneers coach David Carle. \u201cLimit their
\nopportunities and time and space the best we can, and I think our team showed how committed they are to team defense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men’s Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":147186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,1426],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[1711],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDisrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-11T04:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-11T14:55:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean Davich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean Davich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/\",\"name\":\"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-11T04:56:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-11T14:55:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd83cdb03d11514385f9439163108161\"},\"description\":\"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Mens\u2019 Frozen Four NCAA Hockey Xcel Energy Center. St. Paul, MN\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd83cdb03d11514385f9439163108161\",\"name\":\"Sean Davich\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c853b9ada997e0ce5db15369e739b94a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10c79f67273e7a476aa849d9be4706d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10c79f67273e7a476aa849d9be4706d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sean Davich\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/seandavich\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2024-04-11T04:56:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-11T14:55:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sean Davich","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sean Davich","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/","name":"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-11T04:56:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-11T14:55:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd83cdb03d11514385f9439163108161"},"description":"Denver is the top offensive team in the country and Boston University is fourth. They meet in the Men's Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/buphotowed.jpg","width":1500,"height":1000,"caption":"Mens\u2019 Frozen Four NCAA Hockey Xcel Energy Center. St. Paul, MN"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/04\/10\/disrupting-strong-offenses-key-as-boston-university-denver-eye-frozen-four-opener\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disrupting strong offenses key as Boston University, Denver eye Frozen Four opener"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd83cdb03d11514385f9439163108161","name":"Sean Davich","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c853b9ada997e0ce5db15369e739b94a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10c79f67273e7a476aa849d9be4706d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10c79f67273e7a476aa849d9be4706d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sean Davich"},"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/seandavich\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147188,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147184\/revisions\/147188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147184"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=147184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}