Frozen Four 2015: Key Storylines in College Hockey Semifinals

There will be stars, there will be future NHL players and there will be four teams ready to do battle when the Frozen Four gets underway in Boston on Thursday.

But what are the storylines you should be following? What are the key factors for the four best teams remaining?

Let's break it down.

It's All About the Goalies

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Isn't it always?

But goaltending is never as important as in the postseason, and as Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy wrote, the team with the stronger netminding has generally won thus far in the tourney:

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So important is the quality of goaltending to outcomes in the NCAA tournament that if you were picking games based solely on one factor, and you chose even-strength save percentage alone, you would have been right 10 out of 12 times so far. The only outliers were BU (.938) beating Yale (.941), and Nebraska-Omaha (.937) beating Michigan Tech (.938).

In both cases, there were mitigating circumstances. BU has Jack Eichel's line to power its offense, while Yale's leading two leading scorers had 21 points. And Michigan Tech built its impressive numbers on the back of playing teams like Alaska-Anchorage and Alabama-Huntsville four times each.

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Zane McIntyre is North Dakota's most important player. Though he had some struggles this year, Providence's Jon Gillies is more than capable of carrying his squad to a national championship. Boston's Matt O'Connor has a heck of an offense in front of him, but he's certainly no slouch. Omaha's Ryan Massa leads the nation in save percentage.

McIntyre and Gillies are the players with the most pro potential, of course, and they'll need to be huge for their teams to advance. 

McIntyre in particular will have his hands full against Boston's devastating attackers.

More on that below.

Will Boston's Top Line Carry the Team to a Championship?

It wouldn't be surprising if it did.

Freshman Jack Eichel is the best college player in the country, leads the nation in points and will likely be the No. 2 overall pick in this year's NHL draft. Evan Rodrigues scored 61 points this year and has a penchant for scoring clutch goals. 

Danny O’Regan is probably the most overshadowed of the bunch but still finished as a second-team Hockey East All-Star this season.

This is the best line in the nation and anchors a very talented Boston side that doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. But if the Terriers win it all, well, Eichel, Rodrigues and O’Regan will likely be the main reasons why.

Which Supporting Cast Will Come Up Big?

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It's common to focus on the stars in Frozen Four previews, but it's often the unheralded players who ultimately make the biggest difference.

Examples include Dominic Zombo, Brian O’Rourke, and James Polk—the senior leadership for a young Omaha squad—or the defensive pairings in front of McIntyre for Providence. Or anyone not on Boston's top line.

Those are the players who might ultimately make the difference for the teams still alive in the NCAA tournament. There is always an unsung hero who rises to the occasion, a player who sacrifices himself to make a key block or hustles to a loose puck and creates a play.

Stars win games. Teams win championships, and teams need their supporting casts to show up at the Frozen Four. The team that gets it will go home with the title.