The Gophers and Terriers battle for a trip to St. Paul
The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Boston University Terriers will meet on Saturday night in Sioux Falls to see who will advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. Two of the most storied and historic programs in college hockey will face off for the tenth time in the NCAA Tournament with one team keeping their season alive, and one starting to make tee times.
The Gophers advanced to Saturday’s region final on a come from behind 3-2 win over Omaha. The Gophers got off to a slow start once again and were outplayed by the Mavericks for a majority of the period. Minnesota killed off one penalty and then Ryan Chesley was called for an elbow call with 55 seconds remaining in the period that upon review was upgraded to a five-minute major. Minnesota would escape the first period with it scoreless, but their luck would run out early in the second.
The Maverick would cash in on the Chesley Major with just over two minutes remaiing in the penalty to take a 1-0 lead. It would stay that way until the middle of the period when the Gophers would tie the game at one off of a goal by Jimmy Clark. Connor Kurth forced a Maverick turnover at their blue line and fed Clark for the top shelf wrister to tie the game. Minnesota continued to dominate the second half of the second period, but the score would remain tied at one after two periods.
Omaha would retake the lead early in the third period on a play that tricked most of the Minnesota defenders into watching the puck float in front and then past Justen Close. But the “hometown” hero Jaxon Nelson would not be denied. He would even the score after Bryce Brodzinski forced a turnover behind the Omaha goal and fed Nelson in front. With just under four minutes left in the game those two would connect yet again after a Omaha player fell at their blueline, Brodzinski took the puck and threaded a pass towards the front of the net that Nelson tipped up and over the Maverick’s goalie to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead. Omaha would put on some significant pressure with their goalie pulled in the last 90 seconds of the game but Close stood tall and kept everything out of the net and Minnesota advanced with their 3-2 win.
Boston University advanced with a 6-3 win over RIT. The Tigers came out hard and took it right at BU but could not get the puck past Terrier goalie Mathieu Caron to cash in. BU settled down and took a 1-0 lead in the opening period on a Lane Hutson goal and Ryan Greene put BU up 2-0 just 65 seconds later. RIT answered with a power play goal with 4:20 left in the period to cut the lead to 2-1 BU.
The second period was much like the first with BU scoring midway through the stanza to make it 3-1, but RIT came right back and cut the lead back to one goal with 4:40 left in the period. But BU dominated the final 4:40 and would stretch their lead back to a pair at 4-2 after a Macklin Celebrini goal. The terriers would put in the final dagger just 1:29 into the third period to go up 5-2, and RIT would add an extra attacker goal with just under four minutes to play to make it 5-3, but a BU empty net goal would finish off the scoring and the 6-3 final.
As said at the top of this post these two historic programs have a lot of NCAA Tournament history. This will be the 10th meeting all time in the NCAA Tournament between the two schools and the 28th meeting all time. The Gophers have an overall 13-12-2 record against BU, which jumps to a 6-3 edge in NCAA Tournament play including a 6-2 victory in the Frozen Four semifinal last season. Luke Mittelstadt was the hero in that game for Minnesota scoring a pair of third period goals in two minutes to take the game from a 2-2 tie after two periods and give the Gophers a 4-2 lead. Logan Cooley would add a pair of empty net goals to seal the game. The Gophers scored three power play goals in the game with Mittelstadt’s first goal joining a pair of first period goals from Mike Koster and Rhett Pitlick. Close would make 29 saves in the win.
Boston University is a much tougher team this season as they come in ranked #2 in the Pairwise where they have been most of the year. They trail only cross-town rival Boston College. The Terriers took syecond place in both the regular season and the Hockey East Tournament falling to the Eagles in both. They have been led all season long by Hockey East Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year and Hobey Baker Finalist Macklin Celebrini. The presumed #1 overall NHL draft pick this summer, Celebrini is third in the nation with 61 points and second in the country in goals with 32 trailing BC’s Cutter Gauthier. He is joined by defenseman Lane Hutson who is a Hobey Baker Finalist for the second season in a row. He’s second on the team in scoring with 48 points and is third in goals with 14, trailing only his brother Quinn who has 17 and Celebrini. In goal it will be Caron, a transfer from Brown who started all 38 games with a 2.35 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.
This game will likely look much different from Thursday’s as both the Gophers and BU want to play an uptempo offensive game. The Terriers are an offensive power ranking 5th in the nation with 4.11 goals per game compared to Minnesota who is 10th and 3.47 goals per game. Defensively the are nearly identical with BU 9th in the nation giving up 2.42 goals per game, and the Gophers 11th and 2.47 goals per game.
Special teams will be key as usual—BU of course is one of the nation’s best on the power play scoring on 28.08% of their chances while the Gophers who went 0-2 against the Mavericks score on 23.21%. The penalty kill again is nearly identical with Minnesota having a slight 79.55% to 79.1% edge. The Gophers and BU each gave up a power play goal on Thursday. What differs is the number of penalties each team normally takes. BU averages nearly 12 penalty minutes a game, while the Gophers still are the least penalized team in the nation at 6.74 minutes per game—even after being called for nine minutes against Omaha.
Minnesota absolutely can not be reckless and take extra penalties against this Terrier team. Just like Michigan their power play is deadly and the Gophers will be digging themselves in a deep hole if they do so. Minnesota should be able t keep up 5×5 with the Terriers, but they obviously will need to stop Celebrini. If the Gophers can keep him in check then the next thing will be trying to get their offensive stars back into the action. Jimmy Snuggerud and Rhett Pitlick have been very quiet over the past few weeks while Nelson has out this team on his back. A high octane, free-flowing offensive game is the time for the Gophers speedy stars to shine.
Of course Minnesota will need another stellar game from Close. He made 36 saves against Omaha, several of which were huge and literally saved Minnesota’s season. He played well against this Terrier team last year, but obviously BU has added significant fire power since then. But if Close is on his game, he gives the Gophers a great chance to get back to St. Paul. When BU loses, generally it’s a high scoring game. Caron has been in goal for all nine of BU’s losses this season and in seven of the nine he has given up at least four goals. Four should be the magic number for Minnesota to plan on needing if they want to return to the Frozen Four for the third season in a row.
If Minnesota can pull out a win, they will keep a streak alive. The Xcel Energy Center has held three previous Frozen Fours, and in each one not only has at least one team from Minnesota been in the Frozen Four—they have won the title. Minnesota won in 2002 and UMD won in 2010 and 2016. If BU wins, it will be a Minnesotaless Frozen Four for the first time at the X. We shall see by the end of Saturday night which scenario will come true.
HOW TO WATCH: NCAA HOCKEY REGIONAL FINAL
#2 Minnesota Golden Gophers vs #1 Boston University Terriers
Where: Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
When: 5:30 PM Saturday
TV: ESPNU
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio/ Varsity Network App