The British Columbia Hockey League was well represented at the 2014 Frozen Four, held this past weekend at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia. In total, 17 former BCHL players suited up for the four teams that battled it out for the championship of NCAA Division 1 men’s ice hockey.

The eventual champions, Union College, were led to victory by their team captain and former Powell River King Mat Bodie. Other past BCHL players on the Dutchmen squad are Daniel Carr and Noah Henry (Powell River), Matt Hatch (Alberni Valley), Cole Ikkala (Vernon), and Charlie Vassaturo (Salmon Arm).

Union won its first-ever national title by defeating the number-one ranked University of Minnesota Gophers 7-4 in a high-scoring final on Saturday. The Gophers’ roster includes a trio of former Penticton Vees (all with the same last name) – Connor Reilly, Mike Reilly and Ryan Reilly.

Union and Minnesota qualified for the NCAA championship final by winning hard-fought semi-final games against Boston College and the University of North Dakota respectively.

Daniel Ciampini’s hat trick paced the Dutchmen to a 5-4 victory over Boston’s Golden Eagles, whose lineup included former BCHLers Isaac MacLeod (Penticton), Evan Richardson (Victoria/Powell River) and Destry Straight (Coquitlam).

In the weekend’s other semi, the Gophers’ Justin Holl scored shorthanded with 0.6 seconds left in regulation to end North Dakota’s season. The former ‘Fighting Sioux’ of UND (see below) have five players on their roster with BCHL pedigree: Mark MacMillan (Alberni Valley/Penticton), Mitch MacMillan (Alberni Valley), Wade Murphy (Victoria/Penticton), Brendan O’Donnell (Penticton) and Troy Stecher (Penticton).

In an interesting aside, the University of North Dakota’s sports teams have been without a nickname since 2012, when the term ‘Fighting Sioux’ was deemed to be insensitive and inappropriate. The controversy over the name has raged since its inception in 1930, and finally culminated in the retirement of the name two years ago.

A state-mandated cooling-off period will continue until 2015, when the school will be allowed to select a new name for its teams.