(#286) Thursday at the Frozen Four, Minnesota State update

TAMPA, Fla. — In today’s update (#286), which is coming to you from Tampa and the Frozen Four, I have quotes from all four teams following tonight’s semifinal games. Also, an update on the coaching search at Minnesota State, where the Mavericks have moved on their process.

At the Frozen Four, Minnesota beat Boston University 6-2 in the early game. The Gophers scored three power-play goals and Luke Mittelstadt had two of them in the third period.

The Gophers advanced to the title game for the first time since 2014 when they lost to Union in Philadelphia. Minnesota’s last national championship was in 2003, the second of back-to-back titles under Don Lucia.

Saturday’s national title game will also be the first appearance for Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko. He led Minnesota to the Frozen Four last season and helped St. Cloud State reach the Frozen Four in 2013, but both times his team fell in the national semifinals.

In the second semifinal, Quinnipiac beat Minnesota 5-2. Quinnipiac will make its third appearance in the national championship game. The Bobcats were runners-up in 2013 (Yale) and 2016 (North Dakota).

Lastly, I do have the latest portal update in this issue. However, travel to Tampa and covering the Frozen Four has occupied more of my time than I anticipated. So, all of the latest transactions from the portal are in this issue, but I had to forgo write-ups for these entries and commitments due to time (I wanted to make sure I got them out to subscribers in a timely manner).

You can view our portal tracking sheet (a PDF is attached for subscribers and there is a link to a live Google Doc) for stats on these players.

Transfer Portal By the Numbers

New Additions: 25
New Commits: 16

Players Entered: 236
D-I Commits: 82
D-III/USport Commits: 2
Days Remaining in Window: 42