NCAA hockey tournament: Forgotten Flyers prospects star, Penn State impresses in defeat

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — For the second consecutive season, the path to the men’s Frozen Four went through the PPL Center, and once again, Michigan was the last team standing after an NCAA regional.

The Wolverines will now take on Quinnipiac in one national semifinal, while Minnesota and Boston University will face off in the other. But before the Frozen Four kicks off in Tampa, Fla. on April 6, here are five takeaways from the regional round.

Penn State fell just short of its first-ever trip to the Frozen Four, losing, 2-1, in overtime to Big Ten champion Michigan in the regional final. But considering that just over a decade ago Penn State didn’t even offer hockey as a varsity sport, its program has enjoyed a meteoric rise.

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Hockey at Penn State was dropped as a varsity sport in 1947, and was only revived as a club team in 1971. It wasn’t until the 2012–13 season that Penn State officially sponsored hockey as an NCAA sport. After competing independently for a year, the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten hockey conference for their inaugural 2013–14 season. Now it’s proven that it can count itself among the top programs in the nation.

Penn State won the Big Ten in 2020, but the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It took three years after that for the Nittany Lions to return to college hockey’s showpiece event, and they made an immediate statement with an 8-0 win over Michigan Tech.

Though it ultimately came up short, Penn State made a statement in the regional final, too. In just their third-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Nittany Lions came mere inches away from knocking off a college blue blood loaded with first-round draft picks.

Penn State held Michigan scoreless until under eight minutes remained in the third period, shutting down an offense that had poured in 11 goals against Colgate two days prior. The Nittany Lions even took the lead late in the second, before Adam Fantilli knotted things up on the power play. Michigan’s Mackie Samoskevich then struck early in overtime to break Nittany Lion hearts, but until then, the game had never been out of Penn State’s reach.

“The biggest takeaway is, yes, this program knows what it’s doing. And we’re going to do it again,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said after the loss.

Though Allentown is three hours away from State College, both of Penn State’s games over the weekend functioned as home games for the Nittany Lions, with repeated chants of “Hockey Valley” raining down from the blue and white faithful in the stands.

“I think we are ranked as one of the most powerful college networks,” Gadowsky said. “There are a lot of advantages to that, and this is one of them. I have already been contacted by a lot of alumni that said, ‘We’re flying in,’ ‘We’re coming!’ It’s so great.

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“I’ve been here now over a decade and I still cannot get over how well Penn State University is loved and supported by alumni, other people that aren’t alumni, and they just love the university. It’s amazing and it’s a real treat to be here,” Gadowsky said ahead of the regional.

The regional final between the two Big Ten foes sold out the 8,420-seat PPL Center.

The Allentown venue didn’t just attract Penn State fans, either. A strong contingent of Michigan fans were present for both Wolverines wins. And Michigan Tech even piled 96 students onto a 17-hour bus ride to see the Huskies take on Penn State on Friday.

Allentown has already been named a regional host for the 2025 NCAA men’s tournament, while the Women’s Frozen Four will be held at State College in 2026.

Bryce Brodzinski, a seventh-round selection of the Flyers in the 2019 draft, was key in top-seeded Minnesota’s triumph at the Fargo Regional.

The senior winger scored a hat-trick in the Golden Gophers’ 9-2 win over Canisius Thursday, adding an assist for a career-high four points. He then netted his fourth goal of the weekend in Minnesota’s 4-1 win over St. Cloud State. The Flyers prospect was subsequently named to the Fargo Regional All-Tournament team.

Brodzinski has three hockey-playing older brothers, and each of the siblings has played in the Frozen Four. No Brodzinski brother has won a national championship, though, but Bryce will look to change that statistic in Tampa.

The Flyers are guaranteed at least one prospect in the NCAA title game, as Boston University forwards Jay O’Brien, a first-round selection in 2018, and Devin Kaplan, a third-round pick in 2022, will face Brodzinski and Minnesota in the semis.

The Terriers beat Western Michigan, 5-1, in the first round of the Manchester Regional, with O’Brien tallying an assist on BU’s first goal. In the final, the Terriers topped Cornell, 2-1. Neither Flyers prospect got on the scoresheet in the game, but O’Brien won 14 of 23 faceoffs and blocked three shots.

Flyers forward Joel Farabee even tweeted his support for his old college team after its regional final win.

While the NCAA men’s hockey championship is usually known for its parity, that wasn’t the case this season, as the first round saw blowouts and shutouts across all four regionals.

Top seeds Michigan (11-1 vs. Colgate), Minnesota (9-2 vs. Canisius), and Quinnipiac (5-0 vs. Merrimack) all steamrolled to victories in the first round, with Penn State (8-0 vs. Michigan Tech) and Ohio State (8-1 vs. Harvard) also earning lopsided wins.

Three No. 1 seeds ultimately won their regionals with BU, a No. 2 seed, rounding out the Frozen Four field.

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Michigan Tech coach Joe Shawhan pointed out the changing landscape of college hockey after his team’s blowout loss.

“You’re starting to see the emergence of the portal and the NIL and the Alston money and all those things,” he said. “The Big Ten is flexing a little muscle right now. I mean, how do you compete with players who are getting paid?

“I’m not complaining about it. I just think college hockey is such a beautiful sport, and the parity of it, the opportunity for schools like St. Cloud, Michigan Tech, [Minnesota] Mankato, [Minnesota] Duluth, all Division II schools, have won a lot of national championships ... To take the parity out of it, all of a sudden you get the SEC and the Big Ten in football, that’s all you get, and lose everybody else.”