The Boston Bruins will prepare for a potential playoff opponent in the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Thursday, but they also will be keeping a keen eye on the 2023 NCAA Men's Frozen Four.
The Boston University Terriers and Quinnipiac Bobcats made it out of their respective regions as top seeds, and they will take on fellow top seeds Minnesota Gophers and Michigan Wolverines, respectively, at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday.
There are four BU alums on the Bruins in Charlie McAvoy, Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk and A.J. Greer, and Connor Clifton is the lone Quinnipiac alum that will be rooting for the Bobcats to make the final.
"Creeps me out sometimes," the defenseman, who wore a Quinnipiac hat, told reporters on sharing a locker room with four former BU players, per team-provided video. "No, it's all good. Hopefully, we face them in the final. That would be pretty cool."
Coyle, McAvoy and Jim Montgomery expressed their praise toward first-year head coach Jay Pandolfo and his work in getting the Terriers back to their first Frozen Four since 2015.
"We don't want to look too far ahead here," Coyle told reporters on the possibility of a BU-Quinnipiac final, per team-provided video. "One game at a time. But Cliff's already sky-high, chest up. He's already walking around like they won the whole thing, typical Cliff. But we'll talk if that actually happens. We'll see. There's a few of us that will have some talking with him. We'll see what we come up with."
"No wagers going on yet," Clifton said. "Wait till we play them Saturday. ... Those guys are a lot richer than me. I'm probably going to want to bet a couple dollars, but Chuck might want to go a little more than that. It'll be good. Obviously, it'll be pretty cool."
The Bruins won't be able to watch Thursday's games live since they have their own hockey game to play. The game will be of interest to the front office as 2021 draft pick Ty Gallagher suits up for the Terriers.
New England fans only can hope for a dream scenario of the Bruins, Boston University and Quinnipiac winning their games Thursday night.
