The blue bloods and new blood face off in Frozen Four

— -- In college hockey circles, names like Boston College, North Dakota and Denver are top of mind when it comes to naming national powers. The three programs have combined for 62 Frozen Four appearances, 19 national championships and 92 NCAA tournament berths. Yes, these three Frozen Four finalists are the Goliaths of the sport.

Then there is Quinnipiac.

The Bobcats started their hockey program in 1975 and moved to Division I in 1998. They may have the No. 1 ranking, top seeding in the tournament and the most wins of any team in the field this season. But they don't have the national respect of the other participants. That is what the Bobcats are hoping to change this weekend in Tampa, Florida.

The Bobcats come into the semifinals on a four-year NCAA tournament streak, advancing as far as the national title game in 2013. So even though they don't have the long tradition of the other three programs, they do possess just as much recent postseason experience.

This year's Frozen Four will be rich in talent, as a star-studded field of future NHL players will hit the ice at Amalie Arena. Boston College and North Dakota lead the nation with 12 NHL draftees on each of their rosters. Denver has five players who were previously drafted, while Quinnipiac has two. Don't be swayed by that stat, though. In 2014, Minnesota had a team that featured 13 NHL draftees, and it lost 7-4 to a Union team that had exactly one draftee: Frozen Four MVP Shayne Gostisbehere.

Thursday's semifinals will see Quinnipiac take on BC (5 p.m. ET on ESPN2) while NCHC rivals North Dakota and Denver square off (8:30 p.m. on ESPN2).

Despite being next-door neighbors up in the Northeast, BC and QU have never faced each other on the ice. On the other end of the spectrum, the Denver and North Dakota are well-versed on the opposition, having faced off five times already this season. North Dakota won the two games played in Grand Forks and Denver took the two games played in the Mile High City. They also skated to a 1-1 tie in the third-place consolation game in the NCHC tournament.

Here is how the teams stack up and what to look for in Thursday's semifinals:

Quinnipiac

Record: 31-3-7

Regional results: 4-1 win vs. RIT, 4-1 win vs. UMass-Lowell

Frozen Four appearances: 2

National titles: 0

Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook odds: 13-5

Key stat: 129 career goals. Top scorers Sam Anas and Travis St. Denis lead the Bobcats with 69 and 60 career goals, respectively. They are also an integral part of why Quinnipiac has the best power play among the Frozen Four finalists. Anas and St. Denis have scored 29 and 20 career markers with the man advantage. For the season, the Bobcats have a 27.4 percent power-play conversion rate and have ramped that up to 30.8 percent in seven postseason games.

What to like: goaltender Michael Garteig. The Bobcats netminder has been nails throughout his career and leads the field with 77 wins and 19 shutouts. National title teams often ride a hot goalie, and that would be Garteig right now, having allowed just one goal in 120 minutes of hockey during the regional round.

Watch out for: lack of size. At 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, Anas is a good representation of this team, which is mostly undersized in comparison to the other three in the field. The Bobcats will have to play their style if they are going to get a pair of wins in Tampa. That means getting everyone involved in all three zones and not getting caught in the corners. The defensemen are active, having potted 31 goals this season, the most of any team here.

Boston College

Record: 28-7-5

Regional results: 4-1 win vs. Harvard, 3-2 win vs. Minnesota-Duluth

Frozen Four appearances: 25

National titles: 5

Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook odds: 11-4

Key stat: 10 shutouts. Behind Thatcher Demko and his .936 save percentage and a stout pack of blueliners, the Eagles have set a school record by posting 10 shutouts this season, besting the old mark of eight. Demko is one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, and if he should happen to post two more shutouts in Tampa this weekend, he'd tie an NCAA record.

What to like: the penalty kill. For the season, BC is posting a penalty kill percentage of 87.9, which is second only to Quinnipiac among the four semifinalists. But most impressive is the fact that it has allowed just seven power-play goals in the past 19 games.

Watch out for: youth. This is one of the youngest teams of coach Jerry York's tenure, with an average age of 21.04, easily the youngest team in the Frozen Four. And you know how youth and inconsistency go hand in hand during crunch time, right? 

North Dakota

Record: 32-6-4

Regional results: 6-2 win vs. Northeastern, 5-2 win vs. Michigan

Frozen Four appearances: 22

National titles: 7

Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook odds: 19-4

Key stat: 54 points. Freshman phenom Brock Boeser leads the Fighting Hawks (and the Frozen Four field) with 54 points this season, which is an NCHC freshman record. He is bidding to join Landon Wilson (33 points in 1993-94) and Troy Murray (78 points in 1980-81) as the only freshmen to lead UND in scoring. He has 26 goals and 28 assists this season.

What to like: the CBS line. Drake Caggiula, Boeser and Nick Schmaltz make for a strong top line for the Fighting Hawks. The three members of the "CBS line" lead the nation in plus/minus rating. Caggiula has a school record plus-41 on the year which is the best in the country. Schmaltz is plus-39 and Boeser is plus-38. Each one has surpassed the 40-point mark.

Watch out for: early deficits. Keep an eye on the first 40 minutes of each game that North Dakota plays. The Hawks have a 1-6-0 record in games in which they have trailed after two periods, and they are 25-0-3 when leading after two. Behind the solid play of goalie Cam Johnson and his .934 save percentage, UND is giving up just 1.86 goals per game, which is the best in the field in Tampa.

Denver

Record: 25-9-6

Regional results: 7-2 win vs. Boston University, 6-3 win vs. Ferris State

Frozen Four appearances: 14

National titles: 7

Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook odds: 3-2

Key stat: five goals from blueliners. In regional wins over BU and FSU, the defensemen came up huge for the Pioneers, as Will Butcher, Nolan Zajac and Blake Hillman combined for five goals and eight points. Getting production like that from the back end was a huge key in the blowout wins in St. Paul.

What to like: 13 goals in two games. If you like offense, this is the team to watch this weekend. The Pioneers are coming off a weekend of hot sticks at the West Regional, where they scored 13 goals against BU and FSU. The win over the Terriers was particularly stunning, as the Pioneers were firing on all cylinders.

Watch out for: scoring depth. The "Pacific Rim" line of Dylan Gambrell (a native of Washington), Danton Heinen (British Columbia) and Trevor Moore (California) has accounted for 45 percent of the Pioneers' scoring this season and registered 12 points and 17 shots in the two regional games. And yes, there is the contribution from the defensemen to take into account. But the big question will be whether the second, third and fourth forward lines can step up when needed.