There’s always a show in Las Vegas, and the most accomplished NCAA Division I men’s hockey teams are taking one there for the Frozen Four.
Michigan, North Dakota, Denver and Wisconsin earned spots in the Frozen Four by winning regional championships, setting up a pair of Big Ten-NCHC national semifinals.
North Dakota will play Wisconsin at 5 p.m Eastern on April 9 at T-Mobile Arena, with Michigan facing Denver in the other Thursday game set to start at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Both semifinal games are on ESPN2.
The winners meet in the April 11 championship game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
This year’s Frozen Four field includes the top four teams in NCAA championships: Denver has won 10, Michigan nine, North Dakota eight and Wisconsin six.
They’re also four of the top eight teams in Frozen Four appearances. Michigan qualified for a record 29th. North Dakota will be there for the 23rd time, tied with Minnesota for fourth. Denver and Wisconsin are going for the 20th and 12th official times, respectively, although each of those schools has had an appearance wiped out by the NCAA committee on infractions. The Pioneers rank sixth and the Badgers are eighth.
The programs are used to being at the Frozen Four historically but it has been a while for two of them. North Dakota last played on the final weekend of the season in 2016, when it defeated Quinnipiac for the championship.
Wisconsin’s last time in the Frozen Four was 2010; the Badgers lost to Boston College in the title game that season.
Denver is in its third straight Frozen Four and its fourth in the last five seasons. Michigan missed last season’s event but also has qualified for four of the last five.
All four teams were members of the WCHA from 1969 to 1981 so their all-time histories are lengthy. Wisconsin leads the series against North Dakota 87-73-13 but the Fighting Hawks have won the only three NCAA tournament meetings — the 1982 championship, the 2008 regional final and a 2014 first-round game.
Denver has a 47-36-1 record against Michigan. The Wolverines have won three of four NCAA tournament meetings — the 1964 championship, a 1999 first-round game and a 2002 regional final. But the Pioneers have won the most recent contest, a 3-2 overtime decision in the 2022 semifinals.
Wisconsin (23-12-2) was the first to clinch a spot in the Frozen Four on Saturday but it needed a late rally from a two-goal deficit to force overtime against Michigan State. Senior captain Ben Dexheimer scored off a deflection just 24 seconds into the extra session for a 4-3 victory in Worcester, Mass.
The Badgers’ spot in the tournament wasn’t sealed until the Saturday of conference championship weekend; a six-game losing streak in January pushed them down to 14th in the NPI after they started the month in third. But they’re 8-3 since the start of February.
North Dakota (29-9-1) won both games in the Sioux Falls, S.D., regional by shutout, beating Merrimack 3-0 on Thursday and Quinnipiac 5-0 on Saturday. Jan Špunar stopped all 53 shots he faced.
The Fighting Hawks finished second in the NPI in their first year under head coach Dane Jackson and they’re 15-5-1 since the start of 2026. They rank third nationally in offense (3.85 goals per game) and seventh in defense (2.26).
Denver (27-11-3) knocked out defending national champion Western Michigan 6-2 on Sunday to win the Loveland, Colo., regional that it hosted. It was their 11th straight victory and their 15th consecutive game without a loss, a stretch that coincides with freshman Johnny Hicks taking over as starting goalie after an injury to fellow first-year player Quentin Miller.
Junior defender Eric Pohlkamp was one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award; he has 18 goals and 39 points in 41 games. The Pioneers are in the top 10 nationally for both offense (3.55, 10th) and defense (2.10, fourth).
Michigan (31-7-1) advanced through the Albany, N.Y., regional, beating Bentley 5-1 on Friday and Minnesota Duluth 4-3 on Sunday. The Wolverines were 2-2 in their final two regular-season games to fall short of winning the Big Ten championship for the first time but they won the conference’s tournament for the fourth time.
Senior forward TJ Hughes was a Hobey finalist as the leader of the nation’s best scoring offense. The Wolverines also have the top power play and are tied for the most short-handed goals.