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The field is set for the 2015 NCAA Frozen Four in Boston, Mass. on April 9 and 11 with the completion of Sunday's NCAA Hockey Tournament regional finals. Providence and Nebraska-Omaha join Boston University and North Dakota who punched their tickets to the TD Garden on Saturday.
Providence College earned the school's first trip to the Frozen Four since 1985 with a 4-1 win over the University of Denver in the East Regional Final. Tom Parisi's power play tally with 5:01 left in the game gave the Friars a 2-1 edge before Brandon Tanev and Kevin Rooney added insurance tallies with the net empty. Jon Gillies was stellar in net for Providence.
Omaha was the last team to solidify a trip to Boston with a 4-0 win over Rochester Institute of Technology in the Midwest Regional Final. The Mavericks are making their first ever appearance in the Frozen Four in the 18th year of the program. UNO defeated Harvard, 4-1, in the regional semifinal. Omaha was led by its underclassmen as it outscored opponents, 8-1, in the regional.
Boston University is in the Frozen Four for the first time since winning the national championship in 2009. The Terriers won the Northeast Regional with two close victories over Yale and Minnesota Duluth. A rebound goal by Danny O'Regan helped the Hockey East regular season and tournament champions squeak past Yale in the regional semifinal. Evan Rodrigues' power play tally with 2:24 left in regulation gave BU a 3-2 win over UMD in the regional final.
North Dakota had a much easier route to the Frozen Four. Dave Hakstol's team took down Quinnipiac and St. Cloud by identical scores of 4-1 on the way to becoming the West Regional Champion. UND is making its second straight appearance in the Frozen Four.
Both of Thursday's semifinals will be broadcast on ESPN2. Providence and Omaha will take to the TD Garden ice in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. BU and UND will square off in Thursday's second semifinal at approximately 8:30 ET. Saturday's championship game is set to begin at 7:30 ET and will be televised on ESPN.
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Jeff Cox covers college, junior, high school and prep hockey, NCAA recruiting and NHL Draft prospects. Follow him on Twitter @JeffCoxSports.