The 2016 NCAA Frozen Four features four powers in the sport – not just the best teams last weekend, but the best all season and in recent history. The four teams’ 116 combined wins are the most entering a Frozen Four in the 16-team era of the NCAA Tournament (most overall since 2001, 119). It’s the first time that the Frozen Four has been comprised of all No. 1 or 2 seeds since the last visit to Tampa, in 2012.
Longest Active NCAA Appearance Streaks:
North Dakota – 14
Denver – 9
Boston College – 7
Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State – 4
Most Consecutive 20-Win Seasons
Denver – 15
North Dakota – 14
Boston College – 7
Quinnipiac, UMass Lowell, Minnesota – 5
First timer? – Each of the last three and four of the last five national champions were first-time winners (Minnesota Duluth ’11, Yale ’13, Union ’14, Providence ’15), a trend that could continue if No. 1 overall seed Quinnipiac were to win. The other three semifinalists have each won at least five NCAA titles (19 combined).
Future stars – More than half of all NHL teams (18 of 30) have draft picks in the Frozen Four (31 total), with several other free agent and 2015 NHL Draft prospects in the mix as well. Boston College and North Dakota lead the way with 12 draft picks on each roster, including four first-round picks. Chicago, Florida, New Jersey and Ottawa each have three prospects in the field to lead NHL teams.
The roads traveled – The four Frozen Four teams have followed unique paths to Tampa:
- Boston College: The preseason favorites in the USCHO.com poll, the Eagles rode lengthy shutout streaks from Thatcher Demko (San Deigo, Calif./U.S. NTDP/VAN) and a balanced offense to a share of the Hockey East regular-season title. A slight midseason lull gave way to head coach Jerry York’s 1,000th career win, a Beanpot title and a 15-3-4 record in the new year.
- Denver: The Pioneers were just 7-7-2 at midseason but are 18-2-4 since behind the dynamic first line of Danton Heinen (Langley, B.C./Surrey-BCHL/BOS), Dylan Gambrell (Bonney Lake, Wash./Dubuque-USHL) and Trevor Moore (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Tri-City-USHL), dubbed the “Pacific Rim Line.”
- North Dakota: The lone Frozen Four returnee from last year in Boston, North Dakota won the NCHC regular-season title in head coach Brad Berry’s first season behind the bench. The “CBS Line” of Drake Caggiula (Whitby, Ont./Stouffville-OJHL), Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn./Waterloo-USHL/VAN) and Nick Schmaltz (Verona, Wis./Green Bay-USHL/CHI) leads the offense while Cam Johnson (Flint, Mich./Waterloo-USHL) has filled Zane MacIntyre’s skates in net.
- Quinnipiac: The nation’s top-ranked team for most of the second half, Quinnipiac won regular-season and tournament titles in ECAC Hockey. The Bobcats lost just three games all year and only one in conference behind power play and penalty kill units that rank in the top four nationally.
Captains’ log – College hockey captains typically boast fascinating stories, and the leaders of these four teams are no exception:
- Boston College: Senior Teddy Doherty (Hopkinton, Mass./Dubuque-USHL) has bounced between forward and defense during his Eagle career and scored the first two goals in the Northeast Regional Final. He’s an unheralded star on a roster filled with NHL draft picks who played junior hockey for Denver coach Jim Montgomery.
- Denver: Senior Grant Arnold (Centennial, Colo./Green Bay-USHL) is a last man standing of sorts – the only player still playing college hockey who played juniors for Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. The two-year captain won two USHL titles in Green Bay.
- North Dakota: The leader of a formidable group of local players, Gage Ausmus (East Grand Forks, N.D./U.S. NTDP/SJ) is a physical force on the North Dakota defense. The former two-sport star was a quarterback at East Grand Forks HS.
- Quinnipiac: Senior Soren Jonzzon (Mountain View, Calif./Youngstown-USHL) broke through as a junior after playing roughly half of the team’s games the year before. This year the straight-A biomedical science major has 10 goals and 20 points – both equal to his first three years’ output combined.
Sunshine state – Two Florida natives will square off in the first semifinal in their home state and will play big roles for Boston College and Quinnipiac. BC’s Austin Cangelosi (Estero, Fla./Youngstown-USHL) ranks second on the team in goals and fourth in points; he had two goals in the first-round win vs. Harvard. Quinnipiac’s Chase Priskie (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Salmon Arm-BCHL) ranked second nationally in scoring among freshmen defensemen and is eligible for the 2016 NHL Draft.
On a roll – The four participating teams rank among the top six nationally in winning percentage since Jan. 1, with a combined 63-11-15 record in the 2016 portion of the schedule.
Best Winning Percentage, Since Jan. 1
.870 – Northeastern (19-2-2)
.833 – Denver (18-2-4)
.794 – Michigan Tech (12-2-3)
.786 – Quinnipiac (14-2-5)
.773 – Boston College (15-3-4)
.773 – North Dakota (16-4-2)
Heavy firepower – Of the 37 NCAA players with more than 40 points this season, 11 are in the Frozen Four (29.7%). Each of the four teams is represented among the top seven scorers in the field.
Most Points, Frozen Four Participants
54 – Brock Boeser, North Dakota
50 – Sam Anas, Quinnipiac
48 – Danton Heinen, Denver
47 – Dylan Gambrell, Denver
46 – Ryan Fitzgerald, Boston College
46 – Drake Caggiula, North Dakota
46 – Travis St. Denis, Quinnipiac
Young guns – North Dakota’s freshman class leads the nation in goals (60), while Boston College’s led in assists (93), two signs of the impressive group of rookies in the field. Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn./Waterloo-USHL/VAN) leads UND in scoring, while Denver’s Dylan Gambrell (Bonney Lake, Wash./Dubuque-USHL) and BC’s Colin White (Hanover, Mass./U.S. NTDP/OTT) both rank second on their teams. Gambrell and Quinnipiac’s Chase Priskie (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Salmon Arm-BCHL) are two of the eight NHL draft-eligible players in the field, seven of them freshmen.
O from the D – All four teams feature defensemen who are active offensively, with each of the four defense corps ranking among the top 11 in scoring. Six of the top 15 defensemen in scoring nationally are in the field.
Points from Defensemen, by Team:
123 – Boston College (30-93); leads nation in points, but includes Teddy Doherty, who has also played forward
120 – Quinnipiac (31-89); third nationally in points
117 – North Dakota (26-91); fourth nationally in points
87 – Denver (20-67); 11th nationally in points
Most Points by Defensemen, Frozen Four Participants
31 – Will Butcher, Denver (t-3rd nationally)
30 – Devon Toews, Quinnipiac (4th)
28 – Troy Stecher, North Dakota (t-8th)
27 – Connor Clifton, Quinnipiac (t-11th)
26 – Casey Fitzgerald, Boston College (t-13th)
26 – Chase Priskie, Quinnipiac (t-13th)
From all over the map – Players from five countries, 19 states and five Canadian provinces are in the four-team field. Minnesota leads all states and provinces with 16 players in the Frozen Four; Wisconsin is the only state or province with players on every team.
By State
16 – Minnesota
11 – Massachusetts
9 – Colorado
7 – California
6 – Wisconsin
5 – New Jersey
4 – Michigan, North Dakota
3 – New York, Pennsylvania
2 – Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire
1 – Arizona, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, Washington
By Province
10 – British Columbia
7 – Alberta
4 – Ontario
3 – Saskatchewan
2 – Manitoba
By Country
81 – United States (74%)
26 – Canada (24%)
1 – Austria, Finland, Slovakia
NOTE-WORTHY
The teams are a combined 95-0-9 when leading after two periods … Quinnipiac and North Dakota (108 wins each) are the two winningest programs in college hockey in the past four years … Two NHL teams have teammates whose alma maters will be facing off in the DU-UND game: Los Angeles (Nick Shore vs. Matt Greene) and Minnesota (Jason Zucker vs. Zach Parise/Chris Porter) … Amalie Arena is the 10th NHL arena to host an NCAA game this year … Fourteen players in the field – with at least one per team – were part of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program … Quinnipiac’s Michael Garteig and Travis St. Denis and North Dakota’s Troy Stecher were teammates on the 2011-12 Penticton Vees that finished 54-4-0-2 and won the RBC Cup as Canada’s Junior A champion.
Boston College: Thatcher Demko is the lone Hobey Baker finalist in the field … The Eagles lead the field in faceoff percentage (55.2%) … BC also led the nation in first-period goals (53) … Eight players from BC’s 2012 team, which won the NCAA title in Tampa, have appeared in the NHL.
Denver: Dylan Gambrell is the top scorer in the nation among NHL draft-eligible players … The Pioneers return to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2005 and enter as the only team in the field with no players who have Frozen Four experience … Assistant coach David Carle’s brother, Matt, is a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. David was drafted by Tampa Bay (7th round, 2008), although a pre-draft physical had revealed a heart issue that ended his playing career.
North Dakota: Brad Berry, who had been an assistant under Dave Hakstol, is the nation’s only first-year head coach … Brock Boeser is one of eight freshmen to lead his team in scoring outright this season … Cam Johnson is the one starting goaltender of the four in his first season as a starter.
Quinnipiac: Sam Anas, though just a junior, leads all players in the Frozen Four in career goals (69) and points (132) … Quinnipiac’s six British Columbia natives on the roster are the most in Division I … Travis St. Denis is the lone Bobcat who saw action in the 2013 Frozen Four in Pittsburgh … The Bobcats are the only team in the NCAA Tournament field that hasn’t had an alum in the NHL this year, though multiple alums are on NHL contracts.