NCAA Frozen Four in Boston a clash of Midwest, West

BOSTON – Denver’s only other trip East this season didn’t turn out too well, with losses to Boston College and Providence before the long flight back home.

Now back for this weekend’s Frozen Four, the Pioneers don’t have to worry about the Eagles or Friars – or any Eastern teams at all. Four schools from conferences in the Midwest and West will compete for the NCAA hockey championship at the home of the Boston Bruins. It’s the first time since 2011 that the East has been without a representative at the Frozen Four.

“There’s good teams in every conference,” Pioneers forward Bobby Brink said on Wednesday, a day before Denver’s semifinal matchup with Michigan. “I wouldn’t say there’s really a divide; we don’t really look at (it that way). Maybe some people do.”

This weekend it will be hard to ignore, with the Pioneers and Wolverines followed by Minnesota State and Minnesota. All three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award – including Brink, the nation’s leading scorer – are in Boston and from western teams.

Only one team in this year’s Elite Eight, Quinnipiac, was from the East. There were two last year, when UMass won it all in a Frozen Four that featured three Minnesota teams.

“And we weren’t one of them,” Minnesota Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “They were going to enjoy that, with us not being there. If you’re going to pick on one team, they’re going to pick on the Gophers, I can tell you that.

“We got our shot this year,” he said, “and we’re back in it with them.”

Title tally

The four schools have won a combined 22 national championships, the most for a Frozen Four field. Michigan has won nine. Denver has eight; Minnesota won in 1974. Minnesota State, which lost in the national semifinal last year, is looking for its first title.