For the second time in three years, a New England club will play for a Division 1 men’s hockey national championship.
Saturday night’s ultimate game at the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., will feature the top two seeds in the entire tournament in Quinnipiac and Minnesota.
The ECAC’s Bobcats ousted yet another uber-talented Michigan team, 5-2, in Thursday night’s second semifinal to win their program-record 33rd game of the season. Sophomore Jacob Quillan scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Bobcats offense, while Yaniv Perets continued his stellar season in goal with 29 saves.
After winning the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles, Boston University saw its strong first season under head coach Jay Pandolfo (Winchester, Mass.) end with a 6-2 loss to Minnesota.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday night for New England teams at the Frozen Four:
Quinnipiac went with a familiar game plan
Quinnipiac lost just four games all season, but still had its doubters. Were the Bobcats that good?
Longtime coach Rand Pecknold’s (Bedford, N.H.) veteran team — with an award-winning goaltender in Perets — answered that question against Michigan, the youngest but one of the most talented teams in the country.
In a game that was the ultimate contrast of styles between a high-flying Michigan offense (4.23 goals per game) and stout, gritty Quinnipiac defense (1.54 goals allowed per game), the Bobcats showed their true colors and just how a team wins as many games as they have.
Their will won out.
“I thought Quinnipiac culture was on full display tonight,” Pecknold said. “That was just outstanding. The battle level was great. We won a lot of races. We won a lot of battles. When we got beat at times, we had a second, third wave.”
All along, Pecknold admitted that the opponents his team faced in Tampa would probably have more talent, but the game plan to beat a team like Michigan was not an unfamiliar one.
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Pecknold coached players from both Michigan and Minnesota through the U.S. World Junior team, noting that the teams were not dissimilar. However, a game against the Wolverines reminded the Bobcats of a more common opponent.
“I think there's a lot of similarities with Minnesota and Michigan,” Pecknold said. “One of the things we talked about this week getting ready for Michigan was we're playing probably a little better version of Harvard. We played tonight how we played against Harvard. … Obviously, you've got Luke Hughes, and — who is a game-changer — and I thought Seamus Casey might have been the best player on the ice tonight. He really gave us a lot to handle.”
Capitalizing was key
Getting ahead and staying ahead is just how the Bobcats want to play, and they ultimately put Michigan in that position and put them away in order to advance to the program’s third-ever national title game.
After Quillan banked in a goal off Michigan goalie Erik Portillo and scored on a breakaway in the first period, the Wolverines found an answer from star freshman Adam Fantilli, a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
“We want to take care of the puck and limit their chances, but at the same time we want to pounce on offense,” Quillan said. “And that’s what we did early in the game.”
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The score remained 2-2 through the end of the middle frame and into the third, but Quinnipiac wasted little time taking control in the end. Perets made key saves to keep the game tied before freshman Sam Lipkin netted the game-winner at 1:24 of the third.
Quinnipiac is 19-1-3 this season when leading after one period.
Scoring first and protecting a lead will be vital on Saturday, too.
“We've done that for 40 games. We do it every game,” Pecknold said. “We play fast, we play north, that's how we want to operate, whether it's Michigan, Harvard or anybody we play.”
Not BU’s recipe
Despite senior Sam Stevens scoring the opening goal in the first period and Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) equalizing at 2-2 in the second, the Terriers did not play to a winning recipe against the potent Minnesota attack.
The top-seeded Gophers, boasting 14 NHL draft picks including a pair of 50-point freshmen in Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud, peppered BU junior Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) with 34 shots and went 3 for 7 on the power play.
“That's not winning hockey for us,” Pandolfo said. “We have to learn from it. … It's really hard to win, and I don’t think we gave ourselves a great chance. Not taking anything away from Minnesota. That’s probably the best team we’ve seen this year.”
After stressing puck management and discipline entering the Frozen Four, Pandolfo believed his team was caught up by the big-game moment at the start and ultimately got deflated as Minnesota started a four-goal third period by scoring only 1:40 in.
Commesso kept the Terriers in it as long as he could, especially stopping a strong flurry to maintain the 2-2 score after Minnesota’s 5-on-3 power play late in the second.
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Season of building
BU’s first trip to the Frozen Four since 2015 came with a first-year coach behind the bench in Pandolfo, who joined the program as an assistant in 2021 following a stint in the Boston Bruins organization.
Backed by an 11-member senior and graduate class that is incredibly rare for the talent-rich program, the Terriers banked 29 wins and overcame a February rough patch as the lone non-No. 1 seed in the Frozen Four field.
Pandolfo often credited his senior class for the team's accomplishments. The senior class returned the favor in Thursday’s postgame press conference.
“He's been amazing,” said captain and defenseman Domenick Fensore, a Thornwood, N.Y., native who assisted on both goals. “He comes to work every day, pushes us. Doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a senior, he treats you the same way. That's exactly what you want from a head coach. … He’s the right guy at the helm to lead this team in the future.”
For every Fensore and Matt Brown, the Terriers had strong youngsters such as Hockey East Rookie of the Year Lane Hutson. There is plenty to build around.
“I think throughout the year you kind of saw guys buy into roles and really understand what it takes to win here,” Fensore said. “Give it to them, they put their egos aside and wanted to be a part of success. That's what playing for BU means.”
