Catching Up on Everything From Frozen Four Weekend

Technically there were only three college hockey games this weekend, yet we somehow managed to post more than 40 stories over the weekend. You're forgiven if you missed a couple of them. To help you get you caught up, here's a quick breakdown of everything that happened over the weekend, in case you missed any of it.

Frozen Four

Union won the national title. You may have heard something about that. You may have also heard something about this Shayne Gostisbehere fellow. He was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player, and also showed that he's ready to take the next step to the NHL.

SBN College Hockey photographer Matt Dewkett took beautiful photos all weekend. Here are his galleries from Boston College vs. Union, Minnesota vs. North Dakota, and the national championship game.

In the title game, things were looking pretty good for the Gophers when Sam Warning put Minnesota up 2-1 with this weird angle shot. But Union came storming back. This goal by Mike Vecchione was kind of indicative of the way Union dominated the Gopher defense in front of Minnesota's net. Despite the high-scoring game, Union goalie Colin Stevens came up with some big saves, including this breakaway beauty. And Max Novak made this perfect tipto put Union up 5-3, in what would end up as the game-winning goal.

Minnesota

Minnesota came up one game short in what should be remembered as a really great season. But not before Justin Holl entered into Gopher Hockey lore with this game-winning goal with .6 seconds left against North Dakota. To say it was an instant classic is an understatement. So much so, that Holl's dad was seen wearing a .6 t-shirt prior to Saturday's championship game.

Boston College

Boston College said goodbye to the best line in college hockey this year, and one of the best we've seen in quite some time.

Awards

Johnny Gaudreau took home college hockey's top honor, the Hobey Baker, in possibly the least suspenseful Hobey announcement ever. Here is our photo gallery from the awards ceremony.

UMass Lowell goalie Connor Hellebuyck capped off his two-year college career by taking home the inaugural Mike Richter Award for college hockey's top goalie. The stats said Hellebuyck was the most-deserving of the award.

And this year's All-American teams were announced on Friday. An impressive, and deserving collection of players.

Pro Signings

Most everyone heard about Hobey Baker winner Johnny Gaudreau and linemate Bill Arnold signing with Calgary immediately after Gaudreau was named winner of the Hobey Baker, and both making their NHL debuts with the Flames on Sunday. But they weren't the only players to sign pro contracts.

Their Boston College teammate, and team captain Patrick Brown signed a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.

There was one early departure over the weekend when Cornell's Brian Ferlin gave up his final year of eligibility to sign with the Boston Bruins.

And finally, Mercyhurst senior Daniel O'Donoghue became just the fifth player in Mercyhurst program history to sign an NHL contract after he signed a free agent deal with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Coaching

No word on the coaching front as Lake Superior and Colorado College still have vacant head coaching jobs. Expect those to get sorted out during the national coaches convention in Florida coming up in early May.

Meanwhile, Nebraska-Omaha head coach Dean Blais got an extra bit of job security when his contract was extended for an extra years on Friday.

Recruiting

While the four teams in the Frozen Four were battling to win this year's national title, everybody else was working to bring in the talent that might take them to a future Frozen Four.

St. Cloud was the weekend's big winner on the recruiting trail, picking up a verbal commitment from former UMass commit Jake Wahlin.

Ohio State made a splash as well when they got a verbal commitment from one of the country's best '99 born players in Chicago Mission forward Sean Dhooghe.

And Alaska-Anchorage continued to show they can convince top Alaskan players to stay at home for college after getting a commitment from Anchorage native Aaron McPheters.