The NCAA brought their men’s hockey tournament to scenic Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday as the annual Frozen Four began, pitting the four top collegiate teams in the United States against each other.

Three Calgary Flames prospects were in action between the two semi-final games, with one of them advancing to the NCAA national championship game on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s how Thursday’s pair of semi-final clashes went down.

North Dakota featured two Flames prospects in their lineup: 2025 first-rounder Cole Reschny and trade acquisition Abram Wiebe, acquired in the Rasmus Andersson trade with Vegas. Cade Littler, also a Flames prospect, was scratched for North Dakota.

Wisconsin’s forecheck overwhelmed North Dakota in the first period, leading to some big challenges for the Fighting Hawks with their offensive zone breakouts and a pair of quick goals, scored by Wisconsin just 27 seconds apart.

But North Dakota made some adjustments and made a game of it. They pressed for much of the second half of the game, though they managed to really hurt themselves with a handful of pretty underwhelming power plays – including a lengthy two-man advantage in the second period.

Reschny made a superb shorthanded rush in the third period, but his shot glanced off netminder Daniel Hauser, hit the crossbar behind him… and stayed out.

With their goalie pulled the the extra attacker late, North Dakota finally scored to cut the lead to 2-1, but they couldn’t get another one and their season ended.

Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reported on social media that the Flames had sent two front office personnel to Las Vegas to see if Wiebe would be interested in signing, while Pat Steinberg indicated later on Thursday night that “optimism is high” that Wiebe would be signing with the club.

The second semi-final was a clash of two conference winners, as NCHC champion Denver faced Big 10 champion Michigan. Flames prospect Eric Jamieson represented Denver, while Henry Mews of Michigan is out for the season with a knee injury.

The game was pretty back and forth. Denver scored in the first period, only for Michigan to score a pair of games 59 seconds apart to take the lead for themselves, then Denver scored again to tie things up early in the second period. Michigan scored on the power play – with Jamieson in the sin bin – to take a 3-2 lead midway through the third period, but then Denver scored later in the third period to force overtime.

Michigan peppered Denver netminder Johnny Hicks with shots throughout a period and a half of overtime, but Kent Anderson scored in double-overtime – with Jamieson getting a secondary assist – to give the Pioneers the 4-3 win.

Shots were 52-26 in favour of Michigan, but Hicks’ brilliance gave Denver a chance to win…. and they came through.

Denver will face Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. MT on Saturday afternoon on TSN2 for the NCAA national championship.