2024 NCAA Frozen Four: Schedule, bracket, picks, results

Denver has a chance to become the first school to win 10 NCAA men's hockey championships but will have to beat a certified juggernaut to do it.

The Pioneers, who advanced to Saturday night's national championship game with a 2-1 overtime win over Boston University, will meet No. 1 overall seed Boston College, which overwhelmed Michigan 4-0 in the other semifinal Thursday night at St. Paul, Minnesota.

BC, which has been the No. 1 team in the country much of the season, won its 15th straight game behind a two-goal, 49-second blitz in the second period that turned a tight 1-0 game into a comfortable 3-0 advantage.

Denver posted its third straight 2-1 win in the NCAA tournament. The Pioneers, the highest-scoring team in the country, had not won a game in which it scored fewer than three goals all season entering the tournament.

Three of the four No. 1 seeds -- Boston College, Boston University and Denver -- emerged from the regionals, with Michigan, a 5-2 winner over Michigan State, the fourth top seed, rounding out the field.

The Frozen Four teams have won a combined 28 national titles, with Denver and Michigan tied for the most of all time with nine each, and Hockey East rivals BC and BU winning five each. Denver won the championship in 2022, BC's last title came in 2012, BU's in 2009 and Michigan's in 1998.

Every game of the tournament, including Saturday's national championship game, will be aired on the ESPN family of networks and streamed on ESPN+.

Below is the tournament schedule, which will be updated with results as games are played. (An interactive bracket that will be updated can be found here.) Additionally, ESPN college hockey analyst Colby Cohen breaks down the keys to the game as we preview the championship matchup.

Every game of the NCAA men's hockey tournament, including the Frozen Four and championship game, will be available on ESPN+. Subscribe to watch!

Frozen Four schedule

All times Eastern

at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota

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BC's Smith, Gauthier score consecutive goals in under a minute

Will Smith and Cutter Gauthier extend Boston College's lead to three goals with consecutive scores in less than a minute.

National semifinals

Denver 2, Boston University 1 (OT)

Boston College 4, Michigan 0

National championship game, Saturday
BC vs. Denver, 6 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN+)

Teams at a glance

Boston College (34-5-1)

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Will Smith buries opening goal for Boston College

Will Smith takes advantage of a two-on-one breakaway chance and lights the lamp for Boston College.

Cohen's keys to the title game

1. Over-support in the neutral zone. The Eagles have to use short support plays to get through Denver's 1-2-2 zone defense. BC must keep the Pioneers from isolating one puck-carrier.

2. Make Denver goalie Matt Davis uncomfortable. Right now, if Davis sees it, he's going to stop it. BU didn't do a good enough job getting in front of Davis and forcing second and third opportunities.

3. No blue line turnovers. BC plays high risk, high reward at times, so the Eagles need to make sure if there's no play there, they should drive into the offensive zone or self chip. Denver's speed is dangerous, so BC can't play into its structure.

How the Eagles got to St. Paul: The defending national champs had the No. 1 overall seed on the ropes as Quinnipiac took a 4-3 lead over Boston College in the first minute of the third period and nearly made it hold up. But the Eagles tied it with 4:44 remaining and won in overtime when Jack Malone poked home a loose puck after a scramble in front of the Quinnipiac net.

Entering the game, BC was clearly the hottest team in the country and had won its three postseason games (Hockey East, NCAA) by a combined 20-4 score. But when faced with the considerable pushback of Quinnipiac, the Eagles were up to the task, showing how adept they are at taking advantage of their scoring chances and how hard it is to keep them down for 60 minutes.

"It was a good game for us in terms of handling that adversity that coach is talking about and being down and not getting out of the fight," Malone said. "There's a lot of benefits and a lot of positives that we can take away from this game moving forward."

History lesson: BC qualified for its 26th Frozen Four, second most all time behind Michigan. The Eagles have won their past 15 games to break the program record for wins in a season (34). BC has won five national titles, the last in 2012. Ryan Leonard had a pair of two-goal games at Providence, giving him 31 on the season to break the BC freshman record (Brian Gionta, 1997-98).

Denver (31-9-3)

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Denver's Tristan Lemyre ties it up with goal

Tristan Lemyre sneaks in a goal in the second period of the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal vs. Boston University.

Cohen's keys to the title game

1. Lock up the neutral zone. Denver has shown the ability to frustrate teams with a 1-2-2 neutral zone to create turnovers for their skill players, as evidenced by their three consecutive 2-1 wins in the NCAA tournament.

2. Stay out of the penalty box. BC's power play is lethal, so Denver's best chance is in a low-scoring game that doesn't feature a ton of special teams.

3. Show defensive patience. The Pioneers need to let BC come to them; over-committing or puck watching will work against them.

How the Pioneers got to St. Paul: Denver, the highest scoring team in the country, entered the NCAA tournament averaging 4.85 goals per game. In two games combined -- 7½ periods in fact -- at Springfield, the Pioneers failed to reach that mark. Entering the regional, Denver hadn't won a game all season in which it scored fewer than three goals. But back-to-back 2-1 wins over UMass (double OT) and Cornell earned the Pios a trip to the Frozen Four.

That ticket was in doubt until the very end of the regional final, as Denver goalie Mark Davis held off a furious Cornell rally, making a game-saving save on Ryan Walsh in the closing seconds. The pair of tight, physical wins exemplified the improvement of the Pioneers defense, which was an issue the first half of the season but has allowed fewer than three goals in eight of their last 11 games.

"You look at our team, we're comfortable playing any type of game now," Denver coach David Carle said. "We have a lot of confidence regardless of the style of play."

History lesson: This is Denver's 19th Frozen Four appearance and its fifth in the past eight tournaments. The Pioneers' nine national titles are tied with Michigan for the most all-time; they last won in 2021 and also took the title in 2017. They've reached 30 wins for the third consecutive season, a first in program history.

Regionals recap

Springfield (Massachusetts) Regional

Semifinals

Denver 2, UMass 1 (2OT)
Cornell 3, Maine 1

Final

Denver 2, Cornell 1

Denver wins Springfield Regional

Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Regional

Semifinals

Boston University 6, RIT 3
Minnesota 3, Omaha 2

Final

Boston University 6, Minnesota 3

Boston University wins Sioux Falls Regional

Providence (Rhode Island) Regional

Semifinals

Boston College 6, Michigan Tech 1
Quinnipiac 3, Wisconsin 2 (OT)

Final

Boston College 5, Quinnipiac 4 (OT)

Boston College wins Providence Regional

Maryland Heights (Missouri) Regional

Semifinals

Michigan State 5, Western Michigan 4 (OT)
Michigan 4, North Dakota 3

Final

Michigan 5, Michigan State 2

Michigan wins Maryland Heights Regional