It’s an exciting time to be a hockey fan in New England. The Boston Bruins are in the thick of the playoff chase and the Frozen Four is making a long-awaited return to Boston in April.
That's exciting even if a New England school isn't among the final four teams this time.
For the first time since Providence captured its first-ever national championship in 2015, the four participants in Division 1 men’s hockey — Michigan, Minnesota, Denver and Minnesota State — are headed to a familiar place at TD Garden.
According to Chad Tolliver, the associate director of championships and alliances at the NCAA, there’s a reason for that.
“Boston is just a hockey hotbed, between an Original Six team in the NHL and so many top-quality Division 1 programs around there, so we know there is a great deal of support in the city and around New England,” Tolliver said. “When we’re going through the bid process for potential sites, we always try for a good balance between those hotbeds and some sites that are newer to the game. Boston is a standard when we’re looking for a hotbed with great support.”
After Boston, there truly will be a mix of hotbeds and up-and-coming hockey markets, with upcoming Frozen Fours to be held in Tampa, St. Paul, St. Louis and Las Vegas from 2023-26. The latter will be hosting the event for the first time at the end of that stretch. But few locales have been as frequent Frozen Four hosts as Boston.
This year’s event will be the ninth to take place in Boston or Chestnut Hill, Mass., and the third at TD Garden since 2004. Seven titles have been decided in Providence, meaning that this will be the 16th Frozen Four held in New England, passing Denver/Colorado Springs for the most in any region.
For those with a national view like Tolliver, Boston’s hockey history immediately was apparent.
“(The 2015 Frozen Four) was my first time in the Garden, and there’s just a uniqueness to the venue,” Tolliver said. “It’s so vertical and obviously has so much history with the Bruins, Celtics and so many other events.
In Boston, Tolliver said, "there was still a general excitement for hockey that you don’t get everywhere you go.”
Steve Metcalf, the second-year commissioner of Hockey East, echoed Tolliver’s sentiments from his experiences on NCAA committees during his time as an administrator at the University of New Hampshire.
“It’s a great hockey venue, and the fans know college hockey with the Beanpot and our tournament being here (at TD Garden),” Metcalf said. “The last time it was here, we were sold out for just an unbelievable championship game. When I was on the committee, Boston was such a strong site because you knew you’d sell tickets.”
It's a bittersweet job for Hockey East as the host this year with no team in the field. The conference started with three entrants in the field of 16 — UMass, Northeastern and UMass Lowell — but none made it beyond the first round. Harvard and AIC also lost in the first round, while Quinnipiac lost in the second.
Everyone involved is ready for the long-awaited return to normalcy that will come to TD Garden.
Last year’s Frozen Four was played in front of a reduced crowd of 25 percent in Pittsburgh, but a sellout is expected and many of the traditional events surrounding the tournament — including the Hobey Baker Award ceremony — are slated to return.
“Everyone has had a tough go over the last couple of years, so it’s just going to be great to return to that full experience for our student-athletes and fans,” Tolliver said. “We’re working with the local organizing committee, the Boston Bruins staff and TD Garden to put on a special event, whether you’re a fan of a participating school or a local fan that just wants to see some high-quality hockey. I think it’s going to be great.”
