Minnesota will play for its first national championship in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey in nine years, while Quinnipiac will be looking to win its first ever.
Top-ranked Minnesota blitzed Boston University, 6-2, in the first NCAA Frozen Four semifinal on Thursday before 19,119 on-lookers at Amalie Arena in Tampa, scoring four consecutive goals in the third period to break a two-all tie. Luke Mittelstadt tallied two goals in the first four minutes of the final frame, before Logan Cooley added two empty-net scores in the waning moments to power the Golden Gophers to their first national title contest since 2014.
For BU (29-11 overall), which took a 1-0 lead on a first-period goal by Sam Stevens and then tied the game in the second period on Jay O'Brien's tally, the loss ended both the Terriers' 2022-23 campaign and their nine-game winning string that included both the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles, plus the NCAA Manchester (N.H.) Regional championship. Drew Commesso made 28 saves for BU, which was outshot, 34-31, on the evening. Minnesota (29-9-1) got 29 stops from Justen Close, and finished 3-for-7 on the power play, while also hitting almost a half-dozen posts and a crossbar on offense.
In the nightcap, No. 2 Quinnipiac broke open a tie game after 40 minutes with three unanswered third-period goals to oust No. 3 Michigan, 5-2. Sam Lipkin's goal from behind the Michigan net less than 90 seconds into the final period stood up as the game-winner, with Zach Metsa and Ethan de Jong (empty net) later notching insurance goals to send the Bobcats to their third NCAA title game overall, and first since 2016.
Jacob Quillan scored twice in the first period for Quinnipiac, the second his 20th goal of the season, to stake the Bobcats to a pair of leads. Michigan's Seamus Casey and Adam Fantilli (30th goal) responded for the Wolverines each time to make it 2-2 after two periods, before Quinnipiac pulled away in the third. Yaniv Perets stopped 29 shots for Quinnipiac (33-4-3), which beat Michigan (26-12-3) for the first time ever in six meetings, including last year's NCAA Allentown (Pa.) Regional final that was won by the Wolverines. Erik Portillo had 25 saves for Michigan, although two pucks went in off him on shots from behind his net. Michigan outshot Quinnipiac, 31-30, while both teams finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
Minnesota will now meet Quinnipiac on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2), in a matchup of the top two ranked schools, to decide this year's national championship. Minnesota is seeking is sixth national title overall, first since 2003, and first-ever for the Big Ten Conference. Quinnipiac is looking for the first-ever NCAA crown in school history, and first for ECAC Hockey since 2014.
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