No. 2 Minnesota Golden Gophers (28-13-1, 20-8-0 WCHA) vs. No. 1 Boston College Eagles (31-10-1, 19-7-1 Hockey East)
What: 2012 NCAA Tournament Frozen Four, National Semifinal
Time: 8:00 PM Eastern
Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012
Place: Tampa, Fla.
Arena: Tampa Bay Times Forum
Capacity: 19,204
TV: ESPN2
TV Announcers: Gary Thorne (play-by-play), Barry Melrose (analyst) and Clay Matvick (reporter)
Radio: Westwood One
Radio Announcers: Sean Grande (play-by-play), Cap Raeder (analyst) and Adam Wodon (reporter)
Online Audio: bceagles.com
Announcers: Adam Kaufman (play-by-play) and Ken Hodge (analyst)
Series: BC and Minnesota have previously met 27 times. Minnesota leads the all-time series 14-11-2.
Last Meeting in NCAA Tournament: Boston College 5, Minnesota 2 (March 29, 2008, NCAA Tournament Northeast Regional semifinal)
Last Five Meetings:
W - Boston College 5, Minnesota 2 (March 29, 2008)
L - Minnesota 2, Boston College 1 (December 28, 2002)
W - Boston College 4, Minnesota 1 (October 30, 1999)
L - Minnesota 6, Boston College 5 (October 29, 1999)
T - Boston College 3, Minnesota 3 (January 3, 1999)
Trends: Boston College has won 17 straight games, the longest active streak in the nation. Boston College is 5-9-2 at home, 1-8-0 on the road and 1-1-0 in neutral site games against the Gophers (the two neutral site games being the 1954 and 2008 NCAA Tournament games). BC owns a 5-4 edge in the all-time NCAA Tournament series between the Eagles and Gophers. York has a 35-19-1 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament and owns a 30-9 mark at Boston College. York's 35 wins are the highest total in NCAA Division I history.
Minnesota's Leading Scorers: So. Erik Haula (20-28-48), Fr. Kyle Rau (18-25-43), So. Nick Bjustad (25-17-42)
Minnesota's Leading Goaltender: Sr. Kent Patterson (28-13-1, 2.23 GAA, .911 SV%)
Leave your thoughts on the game below. Two. More. Wins. Go Eagles!
Prediction: Boston College 3, Minnesota 1
Record-to-date: 30-12-0