After a pair of heart-stopping wins on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, two Boston Bruins prospects were looking to punch their tickets to the Frozen Four in two weeks in St. Louis. Unfortunately for Ryan Walsh and Dans Locmelis, they each came up a goal short.
Walsh and Cornell, which stunned Toledo Regional top-seeded Michigan State on Thursday night with a power-play goal with 10 seconds left for a 4-3 victory. Walsh had a pair of goals in the game for the Big Red and on Saturday afternoon against Boston University, he again found the back of the net.
BIG RED GETS ON THE BOARD FIRST IN TOLEDO#NCAAHockey x 🎥 ESPNU / @CornellMHockey pic.twitter.com/6KAmys9S5y
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 29, 2025
Walsh scored the game's first goal, his 17th of the season, at the 7:35 mark in the first period, but BU rallied, and after taking a 2-1 lead, Cornell forced overtime with a late third-period goal. However, in the extra session, the Terriers potted the game-winner for a 3-2 win and end Cornell's run.
Locmelis and UMass had a tough matchup in the Fargo Regional final against top-seeded Western Michigan and the Bruins fourth-round pick in the 2022 Entry Draft, scored the only Minutemen goal at the 8:50 mark of the first period. It was his eighth goal of the season.
MINUTEMEN ON THE BOARD FIRST! Dans Locmelis makes it 1-0 🚨#NCAAHockey x 🎥 ESPNews / @UMassHockey pic.twitter.com/LzmCeTDWjm
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 29, 2025
That would not end up being enough as the Broncos scored late in the second period and early in the third to pull out a 2-1 victory, ending the season for UMass. Locmelis finished with three shots that landed on the net.
Three Bruins prospects aim for Frozen Four berth on Sunday
There are three more Bruins prospects who will attempt to get back to the Frozen Four on Sunday when Boston College, the top overall seed in the tournament, plays the University of Denver in Manchester, N.H. Regional Final is at 7 o'clock on ESPN2.
Boston prospects Andre Gasseau, Oskar Jellvik, and Dean Letourneau will look to power the Eagles over the Pioneers after they survived Bentley, 3-1, on Friday. Denver beat Bruins' prospect, Providence goalie, Philip Svedbäck, 5-1 Friday night in the other first-round matchup in New Hampshire.