Boston College Has Best Odds Heading Into Frozen Four Championship Tournament
The Boston College Eagles are favored to win the Frozen Four, but Union, Minnesota and Ferris State will try to knock the No. 1 team off its pedestal.
Boston College has 6-5 odds to win, with Union (New York) next at 11-5. Minnesota has 7-2 odds, and Ferris State?s odds are 5-1.
The Eagles have been the best team in the country to this point. They have the nation's No. 2 ranked defense and No. 6 ranked offense, and that?s going to be hard for anyone to overcome.
Boston College has reeled off 17 straight wins, including taking down reigning champs Minnesota-Duluth in the regional finals.
The Eagles have yet to allow a single goal in the NCAA Tournament after posting back-to-back shutouts over Duluth and Air Force. They've allowed just seven goals in their last 10 games.
That defense will be put to the test as Boston College squares off with the high-flying Minnesota Golden Gophers in the national semifinals on Thursday.
If the Eagles are the hottest team, the Gophers are right there with them. They've won nine of their last 11 games, and they're getting scoring from all four lines. In its two regional wins over Boston University and North Dakota, Minnesota never trailed. More impressively, the Gophers have notched a whopping 24 goals in their five playoff games to date.
Seven different Minnesota players have collected at least 30 points, and that just may be the team-wide production necessary to knock off the Eagles.
The Golden Gophers have the No. 1 offense in the nation, and if it continues to click at this pace, their showdown with Boston College will be a classic offense-meets-defense contest.
The second semifinal will feature a couple of Frozen Four first-timers as the Union Dutchmen take on the Ferris State Bulldogs. The Dutchmen are not to be overlooked, as they have the fewest losses of any of the four teams remaining (24-7-7). They played a tough non-conference schedule, which included wins over two teams that spent time at No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll.
Both teams should have plenty of game tape to work with — the two teams played nine common opponents.
The key for Union seems to be the three-goal mark. This season, they are 25-0-6 when scoring three goals or more.
That could be a challenge against Ferris State, which uses stingy defense goaltending as its calling card. Senior goaltender Taylor Nelson went 20-6-3 this season while posting a 2.10 GAA and .923 save percentage. He?s started 10 of the last 11 games for Ferris State and allowed a goal or fewer in seven of them. He?s also stopped 47 of 49 shots so far in the NCAA Tournament. Ferris State has allowed one goal or less in 18 of its games this season.
