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Frozen Four set to feature multiple Chicago Blackhawks' prospects

The NCAA Tournament for men's hockey opened play this past weekend, and while only a few Blackhawks' prospects and their teams remain, there were still plenty of contributions from those that made the tournament.

By Sean Williams |
Boston University Terriers v Boston College Eagles
Boston University Terriers v Boston College Eagles / Winslow Townson/GettyImages
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The men's hockey NCAA Tournament began on Thursday, which featured a variety of Blackhawks' prospects that made the field. Even though we now know who will be heading to the Frozen Four in Saint Paul, whether those teams won or lost over the weekend, there were quite a bit of contributions from those prospects.

Kicking off the festivities was forward Liam Gorman and the UMass Minutemen, as they took on forward Aidan Thompson and the Denver Pioneers on Thursday. In a game where goals were at a premium, the Pioneers were able to survive with a 2-1 2OT win.

Early in the second period Gorman scored his first goal of the season for UMass, and it could not have come at a better time, as it was the equalizer that eventually sent the game to sudden death. Gorman finished the year with four points on one goal and three assists in 27 games for the Minutemen.

Hoping to play in a Frozen Four close to home were the Minnesota Gophers, however, they would fall just short of achieving that goal. After winning their first round game by a final of 3-2 over Omaha, the Gophers' season came to an end with a 6-3 loss to the Boston Terriers in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Freshman defenseman Sam Rinzel was held without a point in the opening round win, but was able to add two blocks and finished with a plus/minus of two. On Saturday, Rinzel received a secondary assist on a goal by Jaxon Nelson that gave the Gophers an early 1-0 lead.

Another freshman for the Gophers, forward Oliver Moore, was held without a point throughout the weekend. Moore went a combined 6-for-20 on faceoffs and took three shots. Still, the pair put together tremendous first-year campaigns for the Gophers in 2023-24.

Moore finished with 33 points on nine goals and 24 assists in 38 games and was named to the 2023-24 Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Rinzel finished with 28 points on two goals and 26 assists with 47 blocks and a plus/minus of +24 in 38 games. Rinzel also was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team as well.

The Boston Terriers and forward Ryan Greene picked up a 6-3 win over RIT, then topped Minnesota by the same score to advance to the Frozen Four on April 11. In the opening-round win vs. RIT, Greene picked up a beautiful unassisted goal to extend Boston's lead to 2-0 in the first period.

Greene went 8-for-15 on faceoffs and added one block against RIT, then followed that up by winning 12-of-19 faceoffs against Minnesota on Saturday night.

Although it was a mostly quiet weekend for forward Aidan Thompson of the Denver Pioneers, Thompson still made his presence felt in the faceoff circle and helped the Pioneers advance to the Frozen Four with wins over UMass and Cornell.

In the opening round win against UMass, Thompson 9-for-18 in the faceoff circle and added one block to his line. Against Cornell, Thompson went 4-of-9 on faceoffs to bring his weekend total to 13-for-27.

Frank Nazar III and the Michigan Wolverines were able to bounce back from a loss in the Big Ten Tournament Title game by coming out on top in a 4-3 final against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the quarterfinal round.

In the win on Friday night, Nazar scored the equalizer to make it a 1-1 game in the second period and went 9-for-18 on faceoffs. After having gone seven games in a row without a goal, Nazar managed to score three goals in a two-game span with two against Michigan State in the Big Ten title game, then the other against North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament.

Closing out the opening weekend on Sunday night, Nazar and Michigan got another crack at revenge as they took on Michigan State. The Wolverines would get their revenge, as they beat the Spartans by a final of 5-2.

Putting the finishing touches to an already successful weekend was Nazar, who added an assist against Michigan State and it was one of the best assists you will see all year. In addition to that, Nazar went 8-for-11 in the face-off circle.

The Frozen Four will feature a battle of Blackhawks' prospects, as Denver and Boston will play eachother on April 11 at 4 p.m. CT. Michigan will face Boston College on the same day at 7:30 p.m. CT for the other Frozen Four matchup. At the very least, we will get one Hawks' prospect that will play for a national championship.

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