Frozen Four 2015: Semifinal Results, Scores, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

The national semifinals kicked off the Frozen Four on Thursday in Boston.

In the first matchup of the night, the Providence Friars took on the Omaha Mavericks, and closing out the festivities were the Boston Terriers and North Dakota. This is the pinnacle of college hockey, and with the 2015 NHL draft a few months away, the event is a great showcase for some of the country's top talent.

Here's a brief look at how the semifinals unfolded.

Providence vs. Omaha

	1st Period	2nd Period	3rd Period	Final
Providence	0	2	2	4
Omaha	0	0	1	1

After getting shut out in the first period, the Friars exploded for two goals in the second. Two goals in the third period weren't entirely necessary, but they helped secure a 4-1 win for Providence over Omaha, sending the Friars through to the final.

Following the first period, some of the Friars must have wondered what it would take to get past Mavericks goaltender Ryan Massa. Providence out-shot Omaha 16-9, but that didn't translate to the scoreboard, with the two teams at a 0-0 stalemate.

"Massa played a real good game. He's one of the best goaltenders we've seen all year," said forward Trevor Mingoia in the post-game press conference. "Coach said we got frustrated; I did as well. We've got to stick to the game plan. Like coach said, you can't be frustrated and be done with the game. You gotta continue on playing your game."

The Friars had to wait a little over halfway through the second period before they could finally draw first blood. During a scrum in front of the net, Noel Acciari located the puck and poked it past a helpless Massa.

NCAA Ice Hockey posted a highlight of the goal:

Mark Jankowski doubled Providence's lead with a top-shelf left-handed wrist shot. Mark Divver of The Providence Journal made sure to highlight the work of Nick Saracino, who provided assists for both of the goals:

Jake Guentzel made things interesting in the third period. His goal 10 minutes and 46 seconds in halved the deficit for Omaha. Nick Beaulieu felt that a comeback wasn't out of the question for the Mavericks:

However, Mingoia's goal really put the game out of reach. Even more heartbreaking than the goal itself from an Omaha perspective is that it came only 24 seconds after Guentzel made it 2-1:

Saracino got on the board with a goal of his own. He took advantage of the open net to score with 31 seconds left in the game.

With the victory, Providence will be vying for its first national title.

No. 3 Boston vs. No. 2 North Dakota

	1st Period	2nd Period	3rd Period	Final
Boston	2	2	1	5
North Dakota	0	1	2	3

While Providence peppered Omaha with a high volume of shots from start to finish, Boston proved that efficiency can still trump volume. Although the Terriers were out-shot 39-28 by North Dakota, they still walked out of TD Garden with a 5-3 victory.

Jack Eichel got things started off early with a goal 4:59 into the game, taking full advantage of the power play. The goal itself is rather straightforward. North Dakota goaltender Zane McIntyre got caught woefully out of position. That left the net wide open for Eichel, who doesn't need much help when it comes to goal-scoring:

The freshman forward is widely viewed as a top pick in the 2015 draft—the kind of player who can almost single-handedly turn around an organization.

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch turned on the game just in time to see Eichel's goal, which he believes might be a sign that the talented youngster is headed to Buffalo:

Brandon Hickey doubled the Terriers' advantage late in the first period, but just 44 seconds into the second frame, Luke Johnson got North Dakota on the board with a goal. How Johnson scored from this angle is anybody's guess:

A.J. Greer helped right the ship for Boston. He scored with 8:40 remaining in the second period, and Doyle Somerby followed suit a little less than two minutes later.

The Terriers carried a 4-1 lead into the third period, and that looked to be all she wrote.

Then, North Dakota got two goals of its own to trim the deficit to just a single goal with 3:43 left in the game. Troy Stecher nabbed the first, and Connor Gaarder found the net for the second.

The Boston defense held strong from that point forward, and an empty-net goal courtesy of Eichel book-ended his strong game.

Although the Terriers were a fixture of the Frozen Four during the 1990s, they're gunning for just their sixth national title and their first since 2009.