NCAA Frozen Four Has The 'Cinderellas' That The Final Four Is Missing
There's a lot of chatter about the lack of "Cinderella" teams making runs in this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. But the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament has three non-one-seeds heading to the Frozen Four on April 10 in St. Louis.
As has been well-documented, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has all #1 seeds heading to the Final Four. Even the Elite Eight featured four one seeds, three two seeds and one three seed. The furthest that a seed over seven made it was to the Sweet 16, and Arkansas then lost to Texas Tech.
However, the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament has been anything but chalk.
The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament might have all #1 seeds in the Final Four, but the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament only has a single one-seed headed to the Frozen Four.
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While the hockey tournament isn't seeded quite like the basketball tournament, there is a #1 seed in each region. Three of them lost prior to the Frozen Four.
Maine, the overall #3 seed in the tournament, lost in the "Sweet 16" to Penn State. The Nittany Lions advanced and defeated UConn in the "Elite Eight" to reach the first Frozen Four in program history.
Up until 2012, Penn State hockey only competed at the club level. They made the jump to an NCAA Division-I program for the 2012 season. Thirteen years later, they are in the Frozen Four. They are the lowest-seeded team remaining, the equivalent of a four-seed in the NCAA basketball tournament.
The #1 overall seed in the tournament, Boston College, reached the "Elite Eight" but lost to Denver, a three-seed.
Like Maine, Michigan State – the tournament's overall #2 seed – lost in the "Sweet 16." Cornell defeated MSU but fell in the "Elite Eight" to second-seeded Boston University. Like Penn State, Boston won in dramatic fashion with a sudden-death overtime goal.
Only one top seed advanced to the Frozen Four, and that was the tournament's overall #4 seed (i.e. the lowest-ranked #1 seed), Western Michigan. The Broncos nearly fell in the "Sweet 16" but pulled off a double-OT win over Minnesota State before defeating UMass in the "Elite Eight" to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time in program history.
While the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament might lack "Cinderellas," the Frozen Four is full of them. Two schools, Penn State and Western Michigan, are making the first appearances in program history.
Plus, there is a team from every seed line represented – #1 Western Michigan, #2 Boston, #3 Denver and #4 Penn State.
Denver will face Western Michigan at 5 p.m. on April 10 in the first of two Frozen Four matchups and Penn State will square off against Boston in the nightcap.