Good morning, hockey fans.
Well, it’s still morning out here in Las Vegas. For those on the east coast, good afternoon, and welcome to the Frozen Four.
It all comes down to this. Seven months of the college hockey season has come down to two teams still fighting for the national championship: Denver and Wisconsin.
How Wisconsin got here
There weren’t many people that would have picked Wisconsin to be in the Frozen Four championship just a few months ago. A six game losing streak in January dropped the Badgers into at-large territory for the NCAA tournament, and fast forward to the Big Ten tournament: a stunning 7-1 loss to Ohio State put Wisconsin’s playoff hopes out of their hands.
But other conference results went Wisconsin’s way, and the Badgers snuck in as a regional three seed. They handled business from there, dominating Dartmouth, 5-1, and stunning Michigan State, 4-3, in OT to win the Worcester Regional. They proved they can hang with the big dogs, and they did it again on Thursday against North Dakota.
A masterclass in defense, special teams and goaltending held North Dakota scoreless for 58:52 of the semifinal game before the Hawks finally got on the board with their goalie pulled. But G Daniel Hauser and the Badger defense locked it down and held onto the one-goal lead to advance to the final.
The Badgers aren’t playing with house money. They belong here. And they’re one more win away from a championship.
How Denver got here
Denver head coach David Carle has proven again and again that he knows how to build a playoff team. In what seemed like a down year for the Pios back in January — relative to their dominance the rest of the decade — they are once again playing their best hockey in March and April.
Freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks — who started the season as the third-string goalie — took over the starting job in late January after an uncharacteristic 1-7-0 stretch for Denver. In 16 starts, he hasn’t lost a game.
Hicks had his best performance of the season when Denver needed it most. Against the No. 1 offense in the country in Michigan, Hicks stopped 49/52 shots (.942 SV%) in a double-overtime marathon to propel the Pioneers back to the championship game. Does he have one more win in him today?
The championship game is set for 5:30 p.m. ET. We’ll be on-site at T-Mobile Arena giving you the highlights, insight and live updates on NCAA.com throughout the game.
