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SHOHEI OHTANI IS both text and subtext, the brightest light in the firmament and the candle flicker on the wall. He is right there in front of us, obvious in all his brilliance, yet slightly out of reach, his present as clear as his future is uncertain.

This current edition of “Season of Ohtani” feels like the height of something, like a great artist’s signature piece or a writer’s seminal work. Every oversaturated box score speaks to something previously unattainable, an unrepeatable (for now) shift of the game’s tectonics. It feels as if it could be the end of something, or at least a gateway to something completely different.

Ohtani’s pending free agency hovers above the Angels’ season, following them everywhere. When manager Phil Nevin is asked whether he believes his team can compete with the Astros and Rangers in the American League West, he is being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani. When general manager Perry Minasian is asked how many games per month his team needs to win to remain in contention, or whether there is a magical number of losses that will denote non-contention, he is being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani. When Angels players are asked whether they feel momentum flowing or ebbing or remaining the same, they are being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani.

The only one who is not asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani is Ohtani.

I set out to contextualize this moment, whatever it is now and whatever it might become: Ohtani on the brink of free agency, and the Angels desperately trying to play well enough to win him over. The idea was to capture the experience beginning with one Ohtani start on the mound and finishing with the next; in this case, seven otherwise random games in June, three against the Astros, three against the Cubs and one against the Mariners. The Angels won five of seven, the last five in a row. Ohtani was 11-of-28 with two homers and six RBIs, and he pitched 11 innings over two starts, striking out 12 and allowing seven earned runs. It was a decent but understated start to what would become one of the best months by an individual player in baseball history.

To watch Ohtani over an extended period of time is to be subsumed into his world. There is always a small, revelatory moment, far removed from the home runs and the 102 mph fastballs, that feels unique to Ohtani. In the sixth inning of Ohtani’s June 2 start against the Astros, Kyle Tucker rolled over on a pitch and tapped it to first, about 40 feet from home plate and 6 feet off the foul line. Ohtani ran over and picked it up and stood in the baseline, facing Tucker, who had stopped as Ohtani tried to decide the most respectful way to record the out. They stared at each other for a second or two before Tucker extended his right arm and presented it to Ohtani, as if to say, “Here, this is how this ends.”

I found myself constantly looking at my scorecard to see when he would come to bat again, and watching him and translator/friend/coach/consigliere Ippei Mizuhara gesticulate over a tablet in the dugout, and tracking the time it takes him to regroup after an at-bat and before he heads to the mound. (The umpires, understanding the moment, have granted him some between-inning leniency.) Every at-bat was accompanied by the collective lean of 30,000 people, suddenly engaged. There were times I wished — as I’m sure Nevin does — that Ohtani could expand his oeuvre and occupy two spots in the batting order at once.

Ohtani’s excellence is such a feature of the landscape that it can be difficult to believe it wasn’t always like this. During his first spring training with the Angels, in March 2018, I sat in the stands in Tempe, Arizona, watching him bounce fastballs and hang breaking balls against the Tijuana Toros, a Mexican League team in town for a game so far off the radar they played it in the morning and didn’t sell tickets. Ohtani was terrible — wild, rhythmless, confused. He threw very few strikes, and the ones he threw got hit hard. I listened as people told me the American baseballs were too slick and the mounds too hard, and I listened as his high school coach, Hiroshi Sasaki, told me that Ohtani needed two years of struggle to reach his potential. “Right now,” Sasaki said, “Shohei is crouched. He must go down before he rises up.” I nodded and wrote it down, not sure I believed it.

THE PROBLEM WITH writing about Ohtani is that in between the writing and the reading he does something that surpasses everything else. While writing this, I watched him: beat the White Sox by hitting two home runs while striking out 10 and giving up just one run in 6⅓ innings; and hit home runs at what has to be called an alarming rate, including a 493-footer that, even through the television, sounded like a gunshot in the woods. He hit 15 home runs in June and amassed a 286 OPS+ (league average: 100). He also pitched 30⅓ innings with a 3.26 ERA. It has reached the point where it’s a surprise whenever he doesn’t do something ridiculous.

A random Sunday afternoon, two outs in the ninth, nobody on, Angels up a couple of runs, Ohtani working on an 0-for-3 afternoon, and he cracks one 454 feet; a Monday night in Texas, 459 into the second deck in left-center, to a place other left-handed hitters don’t even know exists; two nights later, 453 to the same spot.

(And the ancillary problem of assessing the Angels’ playoff chances vis-à-vis Ohtani’s future is the franchise’s inability to get out of its own way. Even the best of times — winning eight of nine from early to mid-June to grab ahold of a theoretical wild-card spot — are just a grim reminder of what’s ahead: Mike Trout’s broken hamate bone; Anthony Rendon’s long-running series of injuries; Ohtani’s cracked fingernail/blister combo that ended his subpar July 4 start and kept him off the mound at the All-Star Game. They win eight of nine, they lose nine of 10. Such are the Angels.)

Discerning the meaning of something demands some sort of comparison, or at least a relevant reference point. Ohtani, having driven past — and then backed over — the Babe Ruth comparisons, has left us to our own devices. Academics who study prodigies talk about the constant push for more and the compulsion to move on from mastering one task to pursuing another. It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if we learned Ohtani was going to spend an offseason working on switch-hitting or hitting .400 or throwing a knuckleball.

“Every day he wakes up thinking about how he can be the best baseball player on the planet,” Nevin says. “Every movement he makes is toward that purpose. Not just at the field but how he eats, how much he sleeps, how he organizes his day. He does whatever it takes to get there.”

Nevin is asked about Ohtani so often he long ago ran out of descriptions, but he consciously takes a few minutes every day to appreciate what he’s experiencing. “It feels like every day I come into the press room and someone says, ‘Sho set this record today. Nobody’s ever done this, or that,'” he says. “I’ve found I need to step back and not take it for granted.”

BY NOW IT’S safe to assume our prying eyes will never be allowed access to Ohtani’s world, no matter how boring and rote we presume it to be. He is content to narcotize the masses with uniquely unilluminating sentences presented with unrelenting politeness.

His teammates look upon him with a mixture of awe and curiosity. (“When a guy does what he does,” pitcher Tucker Davidson says, “it’s OK to be in awe.”) Strangely, the guys who share a clubhouse with Ohtani don’t know a lot more about him than the rest of us. They discuss what might happen at the trade deadline or where he might be next year, but reliever Aaron Loup says, “We haven’t asked him about it. Definitely not. But it’s a topic. You can’t avoid it.” They don’t know his daily routine — “It’s a great question,” reliever Chris Devenski says, “I’d like to know his secrets, too” — despite marveling at its results. Nevin goes on and on about Ohtani’s discipline and preparation, but when I asked him whether he knows the day-to-day specifics of how Ohtani compartmentalizes his two crafts, Nevin says, “I don’t. I don’t know what he’s doing every day at the ballpark. I leave that to him.”

But who Ohtani is has always been secondary to what he does, and what he does is so cosmic in a baseball sense — and who he is, from all available evidence, so comparatively boring — that it’s probably enough. Openness is the enemy of myth, and nobody ever crafted a legend without mystery.

He has strained the limits of language. Historic and unprecedented, just to get those two out of the way early. But how many ways can disbelief be expressed? How many superlatives strung together does it take to equal utter meaninglessness?

Every season Ohtani grows bigger, his shoulders now as wide as the batter’s box, as if in response to the expectations. He has grown more demonstrative, occasionally expressing disagreement with umpires’ calls and routinely celebrating his achievements more openly. His purchase of the celebratory kabuto helmet he and his teammates wear while prancing through the dugout after home runs would have been unthinkable even four years ago.

And maybe some measure of distance is not just preferable but necessary. It’s hard to imagine the chaos his life would become with just the merest hint of controversy. He must be left alone to do what cannot be done.

“He doesn’t share too much, to be honest with you,” Loup says. “When it comes to the work side and preparation, he definitely has his own program. I’m sure the weight he’s got on his shoulders is beyond everyone else’s.”

A Japanese journalist standing near the third-base dugout in Anaheim filming Ohtani’s center-field plyo-ball workout three hours before a game tells me, “He’s a megastar. We’ve grown numb to not getting anything from him. We’ve accepted it.” Mizuhara stands two steps behind Ohtani with a radar gun. Several Japanese journalists film while others take notes. They all wear the same languid looks; never before has someone so active been responsible for so much lethargy. The appetite for Ohtani content in Japan is prodigious; video of the plyo-ball routine shot from 200 feet away will be seen throughout the country. The beast must be fed; the beast is insatiable.

“None of us can imagine what it’s like for him,” says Angels rookie shortstop Zach Neto. “You go out and see all the media watching and filming him just throwing plyo balls against the wall. Like, every time. It’s hard to imagine being in that kind of spotlight.”

Ohtani’s career is historic in so many ways, and soon that will include the amount of wild conjecture that will accompany his free agency this offseason. With the trade deadline at the end of July, every rumor is already retailed to the masses. Another Japanese reporter holds out his phone and translates a social media message detailing how the New York Mets have enlisted fans to spread disinformation about Ohtani as a means of decreasing interest from other MLB teams, thereby increasing the Mets’ chances of signing him. It’s preposterous, of course, but since it’s 2023 and since it’s Ohtani, the reporter asks around to see whether anybody thinks it could be true.

AT 3:45 P.M., ROUGHLY three hours before Ohtani is to pitch against the Astros in Minute Maid Park on June 2, he and Mizuhara sit at a four-top in the players’ lounge, looking at their phones. (In the interest of pith-helmeted investigative journalism, I can report that Ohtani is partial to lime-flavored sparkling water.) A few minutes before they sat down, the Angels’ lineup was posted on the wall of the clubhouse. Ohtani, pitching and leading off. (“Still crazy to see it,” pitcher Griffin Canning says. “Warm up in the pen, run to the dugout, throw on a helmet and face Framber Valdez. No big deal.”) Thirty-five minutes later, Ohtani and Mizuhara are still in the same seats, still looking at their phones, proving that even the busiest baseball player in the world has a lot of downtime. At 4:23, catcher Chad Wallach sits across from Ohtani to discuss the game plan against the Astros.

“He’s pretty involved,” Wallach says. “He definitely knows every hitter. He’s pretty confident and dialed into what he’s doing, so I’m just there to suggest a pitch every once in a while.”

The task is not small. Ohtani throws eight pitches: a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a sweeper, a “shorter” slider, a curveball, a cutter, a split-finger and something Ohtani calls a “running split” — a split that has more depth to it. There are eight buttons on his PitchCom, and he reaches under his arm and relays pitch type with the first push, location with the second. The pitch clock gives him 15 seconds to choose and throw a pitch with nobody on base, so there is no time to go through the suggesting and shaking of four pitches, much less eight.

“I’m amazed at what he can make happen off those eight pitches,” says injured catcher Logan O’Hoppe. “He’ll say, ‘I’m going to throw this pitch, but I want a little more depth to it.’ And then he’ll throw it and it’ll have more depth to it. It’s the same pitch, but it’s also not. He’s got eight pitches, but he can make it 16 if he wants.”

What you see today might not be what you see next start. What you see in the second inning might not be what you see in the sixth. Eight pitches and all their variants, adding to the mystery. This granular level of detail is necessary only because pitch selection came up as an issue for Ohtani in both of his starts over the course of the seven games. Against Houston, he threw consecutive sweepers to Yordan Alvarez, the first one a harmless ball and the second one a lifeless thing that Alvarez drove over the wall in right-center.

There is an awkward self-consciousness every pitcher feels when he has just allowed a home run on the road. Fireworks go off, the fans roar and the pitcher, as a sort of penance, is forced to stand out there while the hitter soaks it all in with a relaxing stroll around the bases. Most pitchers ask the umpire for a new ball immediately, as if having one in your glove negates the one in the bleachers. Ohtani nodded for a new ball before Alvarez hit first base, and before Alvarez hit third he had already reached under his left armpit to tell Wallach what he wanted to throw to the next hitter.

After the start, an Ohtani loss, Nevin said, “There are some pitch selection things we need to talk about. A guy like Alvarez seeing two pitches like that … if you put them in the right spot, then yeah. But I’m not saying he should have thrown a fastball, and I’m not saying he threw the wrong pitch.”

In the clubhouse, everyone waited for Ohtani. Mizuhara walked out of an adjacent video room, Ohtani still inside, and looked at the assembled group with a look of surprise. He quickly ducked back into the room and emerged with Ohtani, wearing a black New Balance T-shirt, his right arm wrapped in ice, sweat rolling off his forehead and into his eyes. Questions were asked and translated, and Ohtani earnestly gave different versions of the same anodyne answers we’ve heard for six years.

“I think he understands exactly what the question is before it’s translated,” Davidson says. “But I think it gives him a chance to think, ‘OK, here’s how I want to say this.’ He doesn’t like to give off any of his secrets.”

Mizuhara, 39, is an employee of the Angels, but that seems like something done strictly for accounting purposes. He’s been with Ohtani since he arrived in the United States. He is Ohtani’s ever-present plus-one, usually following two to three strides behind him and almost always carrying something. He carries Ohtani’s luggage into the clubhouse on getaway days; he carries Ohtani’s iPad for him to study hitters and pitchers. He carries Ohtani’s water jug, a comically large vessel designed to look like an office water cooler.

They drive to the ballpark together. They sit together at Ohtani’s locker and in the players’ lounge before and after games. They are apart only when Ohtani is on the mound or in the batter’s box. Mizuhara runs Ohtani’s pregame routine on the days he pitches and the bullpen sessions he throws the day before. He sits in the dugout with a tablet and confides with Ohtani on hitting and pitching between innings. When a new pitcher is called from the bullpen to face Ohtani, it is Mizuhara, not a hitting coach, who heads to the on-deck circle with the tablet to give Ohtani the rundown on the new guy’s stuff. When Ohtani hit the first of two homers on the night he pitched against the White Sox, he didn’t have time for the post-homer frivolity involving the samurai helmet, so he handed it to Mizuhara for the ceremonial tunnel run.

So: Do they ever get sick of each other?

“I wondered about it a lot, and I don’t think they do,” says first baseman Jared Walsh. “They’ve transcended friendship into brotherhood, truly. It sounds dumb, but it’s true.”

THE NEXT DAY in Houston, after grinding through 107 pitches the night before, Ohtani led off again and had four hits. He sent line drives like hornets all over the field: a single to center, a triple to center, a double to left, a single to right.

Long after the game ended, Astros manager Dusty Baker walked through the clubhouse toward his office shaking his head. “We thought he was gassed yesterday,” he said. “And then he comes out today and gets four hits. I’ve never seen anything like him.”

Baker’s comments sparked a question that dogged me through the better part of a week: What is Ohtani’s toughest day?

“I don’t know what day is hardest,” says Minasian, the Angels’ GM. “He makes every day look easy.”

Most of Ohtani’s teammates reflexively said the day he pitches — “Has to be, right?” Wallach asks — but nobody has ever asked. A cynic might wonder: How hard can it be when he’s hitting over .400 on those days?

“I would have to say the day after. Think of it this way: He’s rotating his body this way,” Walsh says as he mimics Ohtani’s pitching motion, “and then he’s swinging the bat and rotating 120 miles an hour the other way. So I would just assume the toll on the hips and the low back with as much torque as he puts on it — you’re going to feel that the next morning. But then again, I think he plays by a different set of rules than the rest of us.”

I asked just about everybody: Nevin, several pitchers, two catchers, four infielders. “I would imagine it’s the day after he throws all those pitches,” Devenski says, while Loup says, “The day he pitches. One, to have the energy to do it. Two, to be prepared the way he prepares to perform on the mound and at the plate.”

Finally, on the last day of the trip, I get the chance to ask Ohtani. He tilts his head a quarter-turn to the right and nods — you get it, the nods always seem to say, and I get you — the way he does when he’s preparing an answer. He listens to Mizuhara’s translation and says, “The biggest workload is obviously the day I pitch, but the hardest day depends on how my body responds after my start. It can be the next day or even the second day after the start.”

As Ohtani ended the interview with English-speaking reporters and turned to the Japanese contingent, Mizuhara stood off to the side and told me, with a hint of confidentiality, “The next day after his start he still has adrenaline. It’s the second day when he’s most sore.” Mizuhara’s insight cracked the door ever so slightly; in this hermetically sealed world, it felt momentous.

THE ANGELS WON the last game of the four-game series against the Astros to avoid a sweep. Ohtani hit an RBI double in the eighth inning to break a tie and push the Angels to a 2-1 win. It felt like a big win, for the team and for Ohtani and for the team’s chances to keep Ohtani, since every game is a referendum on the Angels’ worthiness as an offseason suitor. The clubhouse music played loud enough to bounce ribs.

As the music throbbed, a Japanese-speaking Angels media relations representative is asked whether Ohtani will answer a few questions. He generally speaks only after games he pitches, but there was news — the hit that won the game, plus Nevin’s postgame announcement that Ohtani’s next start would be pushed back a day. She says she will take the request to Mizuhara, who will take it to Ohtani in the players’ lounge to see whether he will answer a few questions in a couple of languages.

If Trout had hit a game-winning double, he would stand at his locker and answer questions until one side or the other grew bored. If Patrick Sandoval’s start had been pushed back a day, he would have called everyone over and chatted for 15 minutes. If Luis Rengifo had hit a game-winning double, a Spanish-speaking translator would be standing with him at his locker waiting for the reporters’ arrival.

The request is relayed to Mizuhara, who stands with Ohtani at his locker. The two speak briefly while more than a dozen reporters stand idly, about 20 feet away. Abruptly, Ohtani puts his head down and walks past everyone to the safety of the players’ lounge, Mizuhara two steps behind.

Many locker room interactions are awkward; this one is weird. Other Angels players, packing up for the flight home, are looking around wondering why the reporters are hanging around staring at their phones and their shoes. Did something bad happen?

After what seems like forever but is probably less than 10 minutes — longer than Ohtani ever speaks after he pitches — the negotiations are apparently complete. The Angels PR staffer approaches solemnly, with news:

“I have a quote,” she says.

First to the Japanese media, she repeats Othani’s words. The reporters start to write, then stop and look up, confused.

She turns to the American media.

“I am glad I got the hit,” she says, “and I’m glad we won the game.”

WHEN NEVIN WAS coaching third base last season before taking over for Joe Maddon, Ohtani asked him to stop giving him signs with a 3-0 count. Ohtani felt teams were pitching him differently on 3-0 depending on the sign; Nevin doesn’t know whether Ohtani believed the signs were being picked or whether the mere act of Ohtani looking to third and Nevin relaying a sign was triggering a certain response. He didn’t ask; he just complied.

“He said he knew when to hit and when not to,” Nevin says, shrugging.

A few at-bats later, Ohtani ran the count to 3-0, and Nevin turned and walked away from the third-base coaching box, determined not to make any motion that might be construed as a sign. Ohtani smoked a double off the wall in right-center — Nevin is looking out from the Angels’ dugout like he can still see it — and stared directly at Nevin when he pulled into second base.

Ohtani looked at Nevin, pointed both index fingers and laughed.

“See?” he asked.

Everything must be examined. He consults sleep experts and nutrition experts. During his MLB-mandated media session the day before the All-Star Game, he revealed that sleep, that most important and boring human need, is the key to his success. He conserves his energy at the ballpark by prioritizing efficiency over repetition. “He understands now that 40 good swings is better than 100 swings,” Walsh says. “He knows when he’s right it doesn’t take much.” Depending on how he feels, he’ll throw his between-start bullpen — it’s really a comprehensive throwing workout that concludes with him on the bullpen mound — either one or two days before a start.

In his second June start, on a Friday night at home against the Mariners, Ohtani once again threw consecutive sweepers to a left-handed hitter, this time Jarred Kelenic, who hit a two-run first-inning homer. Once again, it was attributed to Ohtani’s perfectionism; he threw a bad sweeper in both cases, to Alvarez and Kelenic, then tried to right his wrong by coming back with the exact same pitch, out to prove he could throw it better. Both times the second one was worse: flabby and flat and catching too much of the plate.

After the game — a game in which Ohtani homered and the Angels won, by the way — Nevin was asked whether the problems with pitch selection might cause him and the coaches to rethink allowing Ohtani complete control. Should the catcher, or maybe the minds in the dugout, have a say in what he throws?

“We’d only consider something like that if he came to us with it,” Nevin said.

Ohtani is such a transcendent talent, and so obsessive about his craft(s), that the Angels are rightfully leery of offering even the slightest criticism. Their hopes for keeping him hinge on his comfort level, and his belief that the team has the means and the motive to become a consistent contender. Ohtani is the rare athlete who can play by his own rules and remain universally liked in a baseball clubhouse, perhaps the most insular and caustic place in sports.

“Nobody has done this, and he’s earned that trust,” Nevin says. “He’s the last guy I worry about being prepared for a game.”

Minasian is sitting on the bench in the Angels’ dugout, answering the same Ohtani and Ohtani-adjacent questions. In his third season as the Angels’ GM, Minasian inherited Ohtani and all the rules of engagement. He has maintained, publicly and privately, an air of confidence regarding the team’s ability to sign Ohtani after this season.

“We love this player, and we think he’s someone who fits,” Minasian says. “We hope he’s here for a long time, and right now we’re just trying to win games.”

Through 5½ years in Anaheim, Ohtani has been a bargain. He not only makes significantly less than his talent suggests, but his presence fills Anaheim Stadium with a dizzying number of Japanese advertisements. There are signs for Yakult probiotic drink, Bandai Namco video games, Funai/Yamada electronics. The water jug and towels in the dugouts bear the logo of Pocari Sweat, a Japanese version of Gatorade. A video spot for Churu — “Japan’s No. 1 cat treat” — runs after the top of the fifth inning at every Angels home game.

It’s all directly attributable to Ohtani, of course, but he is not in any conventional sense the face of the franchise. Trout is the guy taking batting practice on the field and signing baseballs for Little Leaguers behind home plate. Ohtani’s public offerings are on the field. Will his next employer — or the Angels — agree to the same conditions?

“Let’s say someone gives him $600 million,” I say to Minasian.

“Seven hundred,” he interrupts, laughing. “Eight hundred.” He throws his hands up. Pick a number, any number. Nothing is too outrageous at the moment; Ohtani is a $400 million hitter and a $300 million pitcher, or is it the other way around?

“Play money at this point,” Minasian says. But let’s take the Mets, I say, trying to play through. They’re desperate to win and compete with the Yankees for everything — championships, attention, star power, supremacy in the market. Wouldn’t they expect a more public version of Ohtani?

“You’d have to ask them,” Minasian says.

The inference is clear: You don’t have to ask the Angels. They’ve already answered the question.

ON A TUESDAY night in Anaheim, against the Cubs, the vision sprang to life. Ohtani and Trout were on base five times. Ohtani homered. In the fifth, the Cubs brought in left-handed reliever Brandon Hughes to face Ohtani, who walked to set up a two-out, two-run single by Trout that forever altered the game’s chemistry. A parade of Cubs relievers bounced in from the bullpen with big ideas ready to be deflated. This — this right here, on June 6, 2023 — is what it looks like when it works.

Ohtani has done what Trout did before him: provide a glossy cover to a sloppily plotted book. The Angels have made the postseason once in Trout’s time with the team, a first-round loss in 2014. Things will change, and change quickly, because change is the Angels’ specialty, but this win will be part of a stretch when the Angels win eight of nine to go eight games over .500. And on this day, a columnist at The Seattle Times wrote about the Mariners’ unexpectedly poor season under the headline, “Are the Mariners ruining any chance to sign Shohei Ohtani?” In San Francisco, a columnist outlined his version of what the Giants, suddenly viable contenders, need to do to stay in the running to sign Ohtani.

Against this backdrop — every game a referendum — Minasian set about the job of reupholstering the roster. “Everyone understands it takes more than two great players to win,” he says. His draft picks, including Neto and relievers Ben Joyce and Sam Bachman, were making an impact. Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar were brought in through trades, moves that served for the moment to quiet any talk of a pending Ohtani deal. With their audience clearly identified, they desperately tried to get better, to prove they’re serious, to make the playoffs, to answer the many iterations of the one question that will dictate everything else.

Can you keep Ohtani?

For his part, Ohtani seems happy to remain lost in the many tasks that await him. He seems comfortable in his self-contained world. His talent continues to keep its promise, regardless of what swirls around him. But what about the next two weeks, and then the next two months? That’s the thing about Ohtani: Aside from all the first-evers and never-befores and what’s-nexts, he seems singularly equipped to ignore the noise of the moment, and the noise to come.

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Stanley Cup playoff watch: Your guide to NHL’s 11-game Showdown Saturday

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April 12, 2025

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Stanley Cup playoff watch: Your guide to NHL's 11-game Showdown Saturday

The NHL has reached Showdown Saturday, with less than a week to go in the season — and exactly one week before the start of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs!

The identity of 12 of the 16 playoff clubs is known, but final seeding remains up for grabs, along with the race for the Presidents’ Trophy as the No. 1 overall seed and positioning in the draft lottery order.

There are 11 games on the schedule throughout the day. Here’s what is at stake in each matchup:

New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers
12:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

The Islanders are close to being eliminated and the Flyers have been out of the mix for some time now, but there are draft lottery implications here. The Flyers begin the day in the No. 5 spot — tied in points with the Boston Bruins, one ahead of the Kraken — while the Isles are 10th, two ahead of the Detroit Red Wings and one behind the Anaheim Ducks.

Washington Capitals at Columbus Blue Jackets
12:30 p.m. (ABC/ESPN+)

Alex Ovechkin‘s goal-record chase is complete, but watching him down the stretch will be fun as he looks to bolster that record even further. The Caps begin the day having clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but three points behind the Jets for the Presidents’ Trophy. The Blue Jackets are six points behind the Canadiens in the race for the final wild-card spot and 13th in the draft lottery order.

New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes
3 p.m. (ABC/ESPN+)

Speaking of the Presidents’ Trophy, last season’s winners are on their last leg of the playoff hunt and are six points behind the Canadiens for wild card No. 2 in the East. They will need to win out (and get A LOT of help) to qualify for the playoffs. On the other side, the Hurricanes are locked in at the No. 2 spot in the Metro Division and will host their first-round series against the New Jersey Devils.

Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings
4 p.m. (ESPN+)

It’s impossible for the Avalanche to win their division, and they’ll most likely finish third in the Central. The Kings still have a shot at the Pacific Division title, but it’s more likely they’ll stick in the No. 2 slot. What do both teams have in common? Both are finishing strong, and will make for tough outs this postseason. This game could be a preview of the Western Conference finals.

Buffalo Sabres at Florida Panthers
6 p.m. (ESPN+)

It’s going to be another spring outside of the playoffs for the Sabres, although a recent 8-2-0 run does inspire some hope for the future. They sit in the No. 7 spot in the draft lottery order as play begins Saturday. The Panthers remain in the hunt for the Atlantic Division title, two points behind the Lightning and four behind the Maple Leafs.

Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs
7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Playoff hockey is (very likely) returning to la belle province! The Canadiens are six points ahead of the Blue Jackets, Red Wings and Rangers, with a magic number of three. As for their rivals from Toronto, the Leafs are fending off the hard-charging Lightning and Panthers to retain the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division. Toronto enters this game with a two-point cushion over Tampa Bay, and four over Florida.

Winnipeg Jets at Chicago Blackhawks
7 p.m. (NHL Network)

Two teams at different ends of the standings table square off here. The Jets hold a three-point lead over the Capitals for the NHL’s No. 1 overall seed heading into the playoffs — and a six-point lead over the Stars for the Central’s No. 1 seed (yes, they still haven’t clinched the division). A win here clinches the division and bolsters their hold on the Presidents’ Trophy.

The Blackhawks will finish no worse than No. 2 in the draft lottery order, as they can finish with no more than 62 points, and the Predators already have 66. Will they reach No. 1? The Sharks are five ahead (at 51), with four games remaining. This could come down to the wire.

Utah Hockey Club at Dallas Stars
8 p.m. (ESPN+)

The first season of hockey in Utah resulted in the Hockey Club sticking around in the playoff race until the penultimate week, which is better than what a team called the Arizona Coyotes did with a very similar group of players last season. The UHC is No. 14 in the draft lotto order, four points back of the Blue Jackets and Rangers. As noted above, the Stars can still catch the Jets for the Central’s No. 1 seed, although they’d need to win out and have the Jets lose the rest of their games.

Minnesota Wild at Vancouver Canucks
10 p.m. (ESPN+)

The Wild looked wobbly for a stretch there in March, but the return of Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek has them back on track. They begin play on Saturday as the West’s No. 1 wild card, with a three-point edge on the Flames. Vancouver went from Pacific Division champs in 2023-24 to out of the playoffs entirely in 2024-25, and currently they sit 15th in the draft lotto order, two points behind the UHC.

Nashville Predators at Vegas Golden Knights
10 p.m. (ESPN+)

One of the original Golden Misfits, Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP the year the Knights won the Stanley Cup. This will be his first game back in Vegas wearing a different team’s uniform, so while this game won’t have much of an impact on the standings, it’s notable for that reunion!

The Preds are locked in at the No. 3 spot in the draft lottery order, while the Knights lock up a division title with a regulation win.

St. Louis Blues at Seattle Kraken
10 p.m. (ESPN+)

A recent two-game skid for the Blues might have increased the amount of hope in Calgary, but Jordan Binnington & Co. hold a three-point advantage over the Flames for the final Western wild card heading into this one. Seattle begins play sixth in the draft lottery order, a point back of Philly and Boston.

With the regular season ending April 17, we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.

Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.

Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick

Current playoff matchups

Eastern Conference

A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils

Western Conference

C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 St. Louis Blues
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 Minnesota Wild
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers

Saturday’s games

Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).

New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers, 12:30 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Columbus Blue Jackets, 12:30 p.m. (ABC/ESPN+)
New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes, 3 p.m. (ABC/ESPN+)
Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings, 4 p.m.
Buffalo Sabres at Florida Panthers, 6 p.m.
Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.
Winnipeg Jets at Chicago Blackhawks, 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
Utah Hockey Club at Dallas Stars, 8 p.m.
Minnesota Wild at Vancouver Canucks, 10 p.m.
Nashville Predators at Vegas Golden Knights, 10 p.m.
St. Louis Blues at Seattle Kraken, 10 p.m.

Friday’s scoreboard

Ottawa Senators 5, Montreal Canadiens 2
Detroit Red Wings 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (OT)
Pittsburgh Penguins 4, New Jersey Devils 2
Edmonton Oilers 4, San Jose Sharks 2
Calgary Flames 4, Minnesota Wild 2

Expanded standings

Atlantic Division

Points: 100
Regulation wins: 39
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 4
Points pace: 105.1
Next game: vs. MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 98
Regulation wins: 39
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 101.7
Next game: vs. BUF (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 96
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 3
Points pace: 99.7
Next game: vs. BUF (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 92
Regulation wins: 34
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 95.5
Next game: vs. PHI (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 90.3
Next game: @ TOR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 98.3%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 84.1
Next game: vs. DAL (Monday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 1

Points: 76
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 79.9
Next game: @ FLA (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 2
Points pace: 74.8
Next game: @ PIT (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Metro Division

Points: 109
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 4
Points pace: 114.6
Next game: @ CBJ (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 97
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 4
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 3
Points pace: 92.4
Next game: vs. NYI (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 85.2
Next game: vs. WSH (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 3

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 84.1
Next game: @ CAR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 1

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: @ PHI (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.9%
Tragic number: 1

Points: 78
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 2
Points pace: 80.0
Next game: vs. BOS (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 76.7
Next game: vs. NYI (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Central Division

Points: 112
Regulation wins: 43
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 116.3
Next game: @ CHI (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 106
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 110.0
Next game: vs. UTA (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 100
Regulation wins: 39
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 2
Points pace: 102.5
Next game: @ LA (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 93
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 2
Points pace: 95.3
Next game: @ VAN (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 97.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 93
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 2
Points pace: 95.3
Next game: @ SEA (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 94.7%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 85
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 88.2
Next game: @ DAL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 66
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 68.5
Next game: @ VGK (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 56
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 58.1
Next game: vs. WPG (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Pacific Division

Points: 105
Regulation wins: 44
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 109.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 99
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 4
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. COL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 97
Regulation wins: 34
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 100.7
Next game: @ WPG (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 90
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 93.4
Next game: vs. SJ (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 7.5%
Tragic number: 3

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 90.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 78
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 81.0
Next game: vs. COL (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 2
Points pace: 75.9
Next game: vs. STL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 52.9
Next game: @ CGY (Sunday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Note: A “z” means that the team has clinched the top record in the conference. A “y” means that the team has clinched the division title. An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Race for the No. 1 pick

The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. More details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 14

Points: 56
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 66
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 25

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 21

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 28

Points: 76
Regulation wins: 28

Points: 78
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 78
Regulation wins: 24

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 27

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 29

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 33

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 85
Regulation wins: 28

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 28

Points: 90
Regulation wins: 29

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Men’s Frozen Four: How Western Michigan, Boston University could win title

Published

3 hours ago

on

April 12, 2025

By

Men's Frozen Four: How Western Michigan, Boston University could win title

Apr 11, 2025, 12:50 AM ET

The 2025 men’s Frozen Four is down to two teams: NCHC champion Western Michigan Broncos and the Boston University Terriers of Hockey East.

In Thursday’s first semifinal, reigning national champion Denver’s bid to defend its title fell short, as the Pioneers were beaten by Western Michigan 3-2 in double overtime. The Broncos, who are in the Frozen Four for the first time, also beat Denver in double overtime in the NCHC championship game. The teams split two meetings in the regular season.

For BU, the third time was the charm as the Terriers beat Penn State 3-1 to advance to the title game after losing in the national semifinals the last two years.

The Broncos and Terriers will play for the national title at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be on ESPN2, and streaming on ESPN+.

Western Michigan is the only one of the top four overall seeds to make the Frozen Four, marking the first time since 2011 that only one of the top four seeds has made it this far. Boston College, Michigan State and Maine all were eliminated in regional play.

In terms of NHL talent, a combined 38 players have been drafted from the Frozen Four teams. BU leads the way with 14, Denver has 13, Western Michigan eight and Penn State three.

Below is a look at what needs to go right for each team to win the national title, with insight from ESPN college hockey analysts Colby Cohen and Andrew Raycroft, as well as players to watch and key statistics from ESPN research.

Western Michigan (33-7-1)

How the Broncos got here: Western Michigan dominated Denver over the first 40 minutes, holding a 2-0 lead and 32-8 shot advantage after two periods. The defending national champs wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, as the Pioneers controlled the third period and tied the game 2-2 with 2:39 to play in regulation. After a scoreless overtime, the Broncos struck 26 seconds into double OT, with Owen Michaels roofing his second goal of the game to win it.

Regional recap: The top seed in the Fargo Regional, Western Michigan needed double overtime to beat Minnesota State 2-1, advancing on Grant Slukynsky’s goal, then beat UMass 2-1, erasing a 1-0 deficit with power-play goals by Liam Valente and Tim Washe on the same five-minute major penalty. The Broncos then had to kill off a five-minute major of their own to fend off the Minutemen.

Numbers to know: Western Michigan is playing for the national championship in its first trip to the Frozen Four. Excluding the first NCAA men’s hockey tournament in 1948, only three teams have won the national title in their Frozen Four debut: Denver in 1958, Cornell in 1967 and Lake Superior State in 1988. … The Broncos, who have a team-record 33 wins, are on a nine-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the nation. … Western Michigan is among the most balanced teams in the country, averaging 3.95 goals per game (second only to Denver’s 4.00), while allowing just 2.05 goals per game, fourth fewest in the nation. … Broncos goaltender Hampton Slukynsky entered the Frozen Four having allowed just two goals in 147:14 for a 0.82 goals-against average, the best among all tournament goalies. He then held Denver to two goals over 80:34 in WMU’s semifinal win.

How Western Michigan can win the national title

Forward depth delivers: There is not much of a drop-off from the first line to the fourth line for the Broncos. They will need to roll over the four lines to try to wear their opponent down, beginning with the Pioneers.

Hampton Slukynsky stands on his head: The freshman goaltender stopped 28 of 29 shots in both games in Fargo, then had 20 saves against Denver, holding on during the Pios’ third-period push before keeping them off the board in overtime. The Los Angeles Kings draft pick has a 18-5-1 record and will have to be at his best for Western Michigan to hoist the trophy.

Player to watch: Liam Valente. The Swedish winger factored in on three of his team’s four goals in Fargo. He has an absolute rocket for a shot and will need to find ways to get it off. — Andrew Raycroft

play

0:46

Cole Eiserman doubles Terriers’ lead

Cole Eiserman scores to give Boston University a 2-0 lead over Penn State.

Boston University (24-13-2)

How the Terriers got here: After BU and Penn State felt each other out in the first period, the Terriers took control in the second. Jack Hughes got BU on the board at 1:35, taking advantage of a miscue by Nittany Lions goalie Arsenii Sergeev and poking home a loose puck. Midway through the period, Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman broke free for a 2-on-1 break, with Hutson setting up Eiserman for a pretty goal to make it 2-0. Penn State came out strong in the third period, scoring at 2:12 to cut BU’s lead in half, but Mikhail Yegorov (32 saves) held the fort, with Jack Harvey sealing the win with an empty-netter.

Regional recap: The No. 2 seed in the Toledo Regional, BU blitzed Ohio State with six unanswered goals en route to an 8-3 win, then secured its third straight trip to the Frozen Four on Quinn Hutson’s goal 6:25 into overtime, edging No. 4 seed Cornell 3-2. Freshman Mikhail Yegorov made 37 saves for the Terriers in his 16th career game.

Numbers to know: BU’s win over Penn State was its 50th in NCAA tournament play, making the Terriers the fifth program to reach that mark, joining Minnesota (62), Michigan (59), North Dakota (53) and Boston College (53). … BU coach Jay Pandolfo is a combined 10-0 in NCAA regional games as a head coach and player, resulting in seven trips to the Frozen Four. Pandolfo is the third Division I men’s hockey coach to reach the Frozen Four in each of his first three seasons, joining Doug Woog (Minnesota) and Dave Hakstol (North Dakota). … Despite their recent success, the Terriers haven’t reached the national title game since 2015. This is BU’s 12th championship game appearance, tied for third most all time. … Brothers Quinn and Cole Hutson are BU’s top two scorers this season (Quinn 50 points, Cole 47), with Cole the points leader in NCAA tournament play with seven. Cole’s 33 assists are tied for the most by a BU freshman over the last 10 seasons with his brother Lane, who had 33 in 2022-23.

How BU can win the national title

Create off the rush: BU is a dynamic offensive team that loves to make plays on the rush. The Terriers are fast and get going quickly in transition, and they’ve had a lot of success in the tournament creating off the rush.

Take care of the house: BU has not been known for its defense, but against Cornell, the Terriers buckled down around their net and limited second and third chances. Goalie Mikhail Yegorov typically will stop the first one, so if BU takes care of its own end, it has a great chance to play for a championship.

Player to watch: Cole Hutson. Cole is one of the most dynamic players in the sport of hockey, not just the NCAA. I have not seen a player since Cole’s brother Lane — BU alum, current member of the Montreal Canadiens and a favorite to win the Calder Trophy — have the poise and offensive instincts that Cole has. Big moments seem to be where Hutson shines brightest — the Beanpot, the gold medal game of World Juniors, the Toledo Regional and again against Penn State — so it will be exciting to see what he brings to the national title game. — Colby Cohen

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NCAA hockey schedule, results, previews, highlights

Published

3 hours ago

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April 12, 2025

By

NCAA hockey schedule, results, previews, highlights

Apr 11, 2025, 12:25 AM ET

The 2025 men’s Frozen Four started with two newcomers and two blue bloods. The championship game will feature one of each.

In the title game, Western Michigan, making its Frozen Four debut, will face Boston University, which is in the national title game after losing in the semifinals the last two years, Saturday night at 7:30 ET on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

In the first semifinal Thursday night, Western Michigan knocked off defending national champion Denver 3-2 in double overtime on Owen Michaels’ second goal of the game 26 seconds into the second extra period. The Broncos held a 2-0 lead after dominating the first 40 minutes, but the Pioneers turned the tables in the third period and tied the game at 17:21 on Jared Wright’s goal off a scramble out front.

In the nightcap, BU used a pair of goals in a dominant second period, from Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman, to eliminate Penn State 3-1. The Terriers are seeking the sixth national title in program history, but the first in 16 years. The Nittany Lions were making their Frozen Four debut.

Every NCAA tournament game will be available on ESPN+. Subscribe to watch.

Below is the schedule for entire tournament, which will be updated with results as games are played, plus highlights from the Frozen Four games, features of the top storylines of the tournament and a look at each of the 16 teams.

Jump to a section:
Frozen Four highlights
Top storylines | Teams at a glance

Schedule

All times Eastern

Toledo (Ohio) Regional

Semifinals, March 27
Boston University 8, Ohio State 3
Cornell 4, Michigan State 3

Final, March 29
Boston University 3, Cornell 2 (OT)

Boston University wins Toledo Regional

Fargo (N.D.) Regional

Semifinals, March 27
Western Michigan 2, Minnesota State 1 (2 OT)
UMass 5, Minnesota 4 (OT)

Final, March 29
Western Michigan 2, UMass 1

Western Michigan wins Fargo Regional

Manchester (N.H.) Regional

Semifinals, March 28
Boston College 3, Bentley 1
Denver 5, Providence 1

Final, March 30
Denver 3, Boston College 1

Denver wins Manchester Regional

Allentown (Penn.) Regional

Semifinals, March 28
UConn 4, Quinnipiac 1
Penn State 5, Maine 1

Final, March 30
Penn State 3, UConn 2 (OT)

Penn State wins Allentown Regional

FROZEN FOUR
at Enterprise Center, St. Louis

National semifinals, April 10
Western Michigan 3, Denver 2 (2 OT)
Boston University 3, Penn State 1

National championship game, April 12
Western Michigan vs. Boston University, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2

Highlights

BU-PENN STATE

play

0:35

Jack Hughes gives Boston University early lead

Jack Hughes scores to give Boston University a 1-0 lead over Penn State.

play

0:46

Cole Eiserman doubles Terriers’ lead

Cole Eiserman scores to give Boston University a 2-0 lead over Penn State.

WESTERN MICHIGAN-DENVER

play

0:52

Jared Wright ties the score late for Denver

Denver’s Jared Wright pokes the puck past the goalie to help the Pioneers tie the score late in the third period.

play

0:32

Owen Michaels’ wrister adds to Western Michigan’s lead

Western Michigan’s Owen Michaels finds the net on a wrister to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead in the second period.

Tournament storylines

‘Till the rafters ring’: Maine’s resurgence has its fans believing again

Once a perennial power, the Black Bears fought through tragedy and tough times to be a Frozen Four contender 25 years after their last national title. Read more

play

8:17

The Maine awakening

It’s been 18 years since Maine hockey’s last Frozen Four appearance, but as John Buccigross reports, a resurgence up in Orono has the Black Bears sights set on a return to St. Louis.

‘Have fun out there’: A simple message keeps Trey Augustine on his game

The Spartans goaltender, who hopes to lead his team to its first national title since 2007, recalls his late grandfather’s words every time he steps on the ice. Read more

play

6:13

The legacy and lineage of Trey Augustine

Jen Lada profiles the Spartans’ superstar goaltender, Trey Augustine, focusing on his relationship with his inspiration and namesake.

Top seed Boston College plays with Gaudreaus, Voce close to hearts

Three former Eagles — Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Gaudreau and Tony Voce — died this past summer. This year’s team, which has been No. 1 in the country most of the season, looks to win a national championship in their memory. Read more

play

9:44

Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau forever BC hockey family

Jeremy Schaap reports on how the Eagles are honoring the legacies of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.

Roundtable: Teams and players to watch, plus Frozen Four picks

Are BC and Michigan State on a collision course for a title game matchup? What lower seed will be the toughest out? And who will make it to St. Louis? Andrew Raycroft and Sean Ritchlin break it all down. Read more

Teams at a glance

(Statistics entering NCAA tournament)

Toledo Regional

No. 1 Michigan State

Record: 26-6-4

PairWise rating: No. 2

How the Spartans got here: Big Ten champion

Last 10 games: 6-3-1

History lesson: This is Michigan State’s 29th NCAA appearance. The Spartans have been to the Frozen Four 11 times and have won three national titles, the last in 2007. Michigan State lost to Michigan in the regional finals last season, which was its first time in the tournament since 2012.

No. 2 Boston University

Record: 21-13-2

PairWise rating: 7

How the Terriers got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 6-3-1 (lost Hockey East semifinal to UConn)

History lesson: This is BU’s 40th NCAA appearance, including three of the past four years. The Terriers have been to the Frozen Four 24 times and have won five national titles, the last in 2009. The Terriers lost in overtime to Denver in the national semifinals last season, the second straight year they lost in the national semis.

No. 3 Ohio State

Record: 24-13-2

PairWise rating: 10

How the Buckeyes got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 5-5 (lost Big Ten final to Michigan State)

History lesson: This is Ohio State’s 12th NCAA appearance and its second in three years. The Buckeyes have been to the Frozen Four twice, most recently in 2018, and have never won the national title.

No. 4 Cornell

Record: 18-10-6

PairWise rating: 17

How the Big Red got here: ECAC champion

Last 10 games: 8-2

History lesson: This is Cornell’s 27th NCAA appearance, including the past three years in a row. The Big Red have been to the Frozen Four eight times and have won the national championship twice, most recently in 1970. Cornell lost to Denver in the regional finals last season.

Fargo Regional

No. 1 Western Michigan

Record: 30-7-1

PairWise rating: 4

How the Broncos got here: NCHC champion

Last 10 games: 8-2

History lesson: This is Western Michigan’s 10th NCAA appearance, including the past four years. The Broncos lost in overtime to Michigan State in the first round last season, falling to 1-10 all time in NCAA tournament play.

No. 2 Minnesota

Record: 25-10-4

PairWise rating: 5

How the Golden Gophers got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 5-4-1 (lost Big Ten quarterfinal series to Notre Dame)

History lesson: This is Minnesota’s 42nd NCAA appearance, including the past five years. The Gophers have been to the Frozen Four 23 times and have won five national titles, the last in 2003. Minnesota lost to Boston University in the regional finals last season.

No. 3 UMass

Record: 20-13-5

PairWise rating: 11

How the Minutemen got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 5-2-3 (lost Hockey East quarterfinal to BU in overtime)

History lesson: This is UMass’ seventh NCAA appearance, including five of the past six tournaments. The Minutemen have been to the Frozen Four twice and won one national title, in 2021. UMass lost to Denver in double overtime in the first round of last year’s tournament.

No. 4 Minnesota State

Record: 27-8-3

PairWise rating: 14

How the Mavericks got here: CCHA champion

Last 10 games: 9-0-1

History lesson: This is Minnesota State’s 12th NCAA appearance, including six of the last seven tournaments. The Mavericks have been to the Frozen Four twice and are still looking for their first national championship. Minnesota State didn’t make the tournament last year and lost to St. Cloud State in the first round in 2023.

Manchester Regional

No. 1 Boston College

Record: 26-7-2

PairWise rating: 1

How the Eagles got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 6-3-1 (lost Hockey East quarterfinal to Northeastern)

History lesson: This is BC’s 39th NCAA appearance. The Eagles have been to the Frozen Four 26 times and have won five national titles, the last in 2012. BC lost to Denver 2-0 in last year’s championship game after not making the tournament the previous two years.

No. 2 Providence

Record: 21-10-5

PairWise rating: 8

How the Friars got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 5-4-1 (lost Hockey East quarterfinal to UConn)

History lesson: This is Providence’s 16th NCAA appearance, its first since 2019. The Friars have been to the Frozen Four five times and won the national title once, in 2015.

No. 3 Denver

Record: 29-11-1

PairWise rating: 9

How the Pioneers got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 7-3 (lost NCHC final to Western Michigan in double overtime)

History lesson: This is Denver’s 34th NCAA appearance, including 15 of the past 16 tournaments. The Pios have been to the Frozen Four 18 times and won 10 national titles, the most ever. Denver beat BC for the national championship last season, its second title in three years.

No. 4 Bentley

Record: 23-14-2

PairWise rating: 22

How the Falcons got here: Atlantic champion

Last 10 games: 8-2

History lesson: This is Bentley’s first NCAA appearance in the program’s 26th season in Division I and the second year with Andy Jones as coach. The Falcons have set a school record for victories and are enjoying their first winning season since 2020.

Allentown Regional

No. 1 Maine

Record: 24-7-6

PairWise rating: 3

How the Black Bears got here: Hockey East champion

Last 10 games: 6-2-2

History lesson: This is Maine’s 21st NCAA appearance. The Black Bears have been to the Frozen Four 11 times and have won two national titles, the last in 1999. Maine lost to Cornell in the first round last season, its first tournament appearance since 2012.

No. 2 UConn

Record: 22-11-4

PairWise rating: 6

How the Huskies got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 8-1-1 (lost Hockey East final to Maine)

History lesson: This is UConn’s first NCAA appearance in the program’s 27 years in Division I. The Huskies set a school record for wins as a Div. 1 team in Mike Cavanaugh’s 11th season at the helm.

No. 3 Quinnipiac

Record: 24-11-2

PairWise ranking: 12

How the Bobcats got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 7-3 (lost ECAC semifinal to Cornell in overtime)

History lesson: This is Quinnipiac’s 11th NCAA appearance, including each of the last six tournaments. The Bobcats have been to the Frozen Four three times and won one national title, in 2023. Quinnipiac lost to Boston College in overtime in the regional finals last season.

No. 4 Penn State

Record: 20-13-4

PairWise rating: 13

How the Nittany Lions got here: At-large bid

Last 10 games: 7-2-1 (lost Big Ten semifinal to Ohio State in overtime)

History lesson: This is Penn State’s fifth NCAA appearance. In 2023, the Nittany Lions lost in the regional finals to Michigan in overtime. Penn State has never been to the Frozen Four.

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