Fresh off the success of the Men’s and Women’s Final Fours in basketball this past week, Men’s Division I Hockey will crown a champion this weekend. The Frozen Four will head to Massachusetts, but the defending champion Massachusetts Minutemen will not be representing their state’s honor after getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Instead, it’s the usual collection of powerhouses with one notable exception in Minnesota State. The Mavericks are making just their second Frozen Four appearance.
The 2022 Frozen Four will take place in Boston, Massachusetts for the eighth time. Only Colorado Springs has hosted more Frozen Fours than Boston at this point, but we haven’t seen a tournament there since 1969. All three games will be played at the Boston Bruins’ TD Garden with the semifinals taking place on April 7 and the finals getting underway on April 9.
Denver and Michigan will meet in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday. Minnesota and Minnesota State are scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. ET, and both games will be on ESPN2. The Men’s Division I Hockey National Championship will be played on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
2022 Frozen Four Betting Odds
Denver Pioneers +132
Michigan Wolverines -148
Total 6.5
Michigan has more national championships than any other program in the country. The Wolverines won five titles in six years from 1951 to 1956, but they have only won two championships since 1964 and haven’t raised a banner since 1998. Despite their lack of recent success, Michigan is the favorite to win it all this year per the college hockey betting odds. The Wolverines were great on offense in the first two rounds of the tournament, netting 12 goals in victories over American International and Quinnipiac.
This team has a ton of top talent. Luke Hughes was exceptional as a freshman with 17 goals and 22 assists despite being a defenseman. Kent Johnson, Matty Beniers, and Brendan Brisson are probably the best first line in the country, and it’s going to be hard for opponents to put the clamps on this trio. Owen Power has been a solid two-way player too, but the defense and goaltending has been lacking at times. That’s why the total in this game is very high as far as hockey betting totals go.
Denver is hoping to tie Michigan as the most successful team in men’s college hockey. The Pioneers have one less national title than the Wolverines, and they claimed their eighth championship in 2017. They needed late goals to win both of their tournament games to date though.
Carter Mazur has been excellent as a freshman for the Pioneers, and Bobby Brink will need to be at his best for Denver to upset Michigan. Brink led all players with 56 points this season, and he averaged 1.5 points a game over the last 23 games.
Minnesota Golden Gophers +112
Minnesota State Mavericks -128
Total 5
This will be an intriguing matchup as Minnesota and Minnesota State have never met in the Frozen Four. The Golden Gophers have long been the premier program in the state, winning five national championships, but the Mavericks have turned the corner in recent years. They have now made the Frozen Four in back-to-back seasons and are looking to make their first national championship game.
Minnesota State’s Dryden McKay is arguably the best college goaltender in the nation. McKay was exceptional this season with a 1.28 GAA and a .934 save percentage to go with 10 shutouts. Nathan Smith, Julian Napravnik, and Cade Borchardt have been a top line, and that has the Mavericks favored by the hockey betting odds over the Golden Gophers.
It looked like Minnesota’s season might come apart after starting goaltender Jack LaFontaine left for the NHL three months ago, but Justen Close has been fantastic in net. Close has gone 14-4 with a 1.83 GAA and a .929 save percentage to take the Golden Gophers to the Final Four.
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