The Frozen Four descends on T-Mobile Arena this week, bringing college hockey’s premier event to Las Vegas for the first time. While the Golden Knights are on the road, several players on the roster carry vivid memories of their own runs to the national semifinals.
Jack Eichel, Reilly Smith, and Nic Dowd each played in the Frozen Four during their college careers, and they shared their experiences as the tournament prepares to take over their home arena.
“I hope it’s great,” Eichel said. “I assume the teams that are in it will have really good support from their fans and university’s community.”
Eichel’s Frozen Four appearance came in 2015 with Boston University, held at TD Garden in Boston. The Terriers knocked off Yale and Minnesota-Duluth to reach the semifinals, where they faced North Dakota.
“It was actually a pretty North Dakota-full crowd,” Eichel recalled. “They travel well.”
Eichel, who won the Hobey Baker Award that season, scored two goals and added an assist to lift BU past North Dakota 5-3. The Terriers then fell to Providence 4-3 in the national championship game.
“I’d always dream of playing in the Frozen Four,” Eichel said. “To be a part of that weekend and everything that comes with it, and the fact that it was in Boston, it made it that much more special.”
Smith’s Frozen Four experience came in 2010 with Miami (OH), which reached the semifinals at Ford Field in Detroit a year after losing the national championship in overtime to Boston University. The RedHawks defeated Alabama-Huntsville and Michigan in double overtime in the regional to set up a matchup with top-ranked Boston College.
“Good memories going into it,” Smith said. “Then we lost 7-1 in our first game.”
Boston College, loaded with future NHL talent like Chris Kreider, Cam Atkinson, and Brian Dumoulin, dominated Miami. Smith noted, “National championship would’ve been great for your school, but we came up a little short.”
Dowd captained St. Cloud State in 2014, a year after the Huskies made their first Frozen Four appearance. They lost 4-1 to Yale, which went on to win the national title.
“I think that’s the goal of any college hockey player is to win the national championship,” Dowd said. “You kind of daydream about stuff like that as you get into that age in your life.”
Dowd also noted the challenge of playing at an NHL arena like T-Mobile, saying, “I think it’s probably going to shock a lot of the players early. It’s going to be one of those things where it’s not like they get to adjust over a season.”
