Frozen Four 2015: Boston University Will Face Providence

The stage is set for the Frozen Four championship game on Saturday night. The Providence Friars knocked down the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks while the Boston University Terriers held on to take down the top seeded North Dakota.

Providence used their strong offensive possession skills to get past a weaker offensive Omaha team. Now they will face their Hockey East rivals in front of a Boston crowd.

BU got off to a strong start, taking a 4-1 lead by the third period over North Dakota. North Dakota scored after Boston University goaltender Matt O’Connor gave away a goal mishandling it behind the net. This made the game 4-2 in the Terriers favor.

Connor Gaarder scored a short handed goal with 3:43 left in the game for North Dakota, cutting the lead to a 4-3 Terriers lead. North Dakota kept the pressure on for the rest of the game until Jack Eichel hit the empty North Dakota net from his own defensive zone to lock down a 5-3 win.

After the two contests on Thursday night, we have an all Hockey East matchup on our hands from Boston on Saturday night.

The matchup with the Friars will be intriguing for the Terriers. Many experts though North Dakota would be the toughest matchup for the Terriers since they are a physical and experienced team. However, Boston University’s offense was just too much, even for a goaltender as good as Zane McIntyre.

The Terriers face another elite goaltender on Saturday night with Terriers netminder Jon Gillies. Gillies is a junior who is a prospect of the Calgary Flames and stood on his head against Omaha to advance.

The key for Providence will be shutting down the top Terriers line of Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues, and Danny O’reagn- if it’s possible. Eichel picked up three points again last night while Rodrigues found the back of the net.

This is the Terriers first title shot since 2009 and they look like one of the all time great scoring teams. Interestingly, BU would have played Providence in the Hockey East conference finals if they had not been upset by the New Hampshire Wildcats.

In fact, these two teams played twice in the regular season. on October 31st, the Terriers took a 4-1 contest and the very next day the Friars stepped up to take a 2-1 victory. Rodrigues led BU with three points and Eichel had two in the first game, while in the Providence win Mark Jankowski and Shane Luke scored.