PITTSBURGH — When Yale played in the West Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich., two weeks ago, junior forward Kenny Agostino was the hot topic because he had been traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Calgary Flames at 1:30 a.m. the day of the first game.

Two weeks later, the media was all over Agostino again after the Bulldogs held their first practice in the Consol Energy Center — the arena the Penguins call home — the day before the semifinal games.

Agostino had all the right answers.

On the way the Bulldogs finished the season on the PairWise Rankings bubble, waiting until the CCHA tournament was complete to see if they’d receive a tournament berth: “A lot of things needed to go wrong in Atlantic City and everything went wrong, including us not performing. It was stressful a little on Sunday.”

On playing with linemate and Pittsburgh native, junior Jesse Root: “Every year I’ve been here we’ve played together to some extent. That’s the beauty I think of being on a line, [players] that you feel comfortable with and you get a sense of where they are and you already know what’s going to happen in playoffs. You don’t have to worry about where your linemate’s going to be.”

On being the center of attention: “Being drafted a few years ago, you get the media attention. It’s fine. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with it. I understand, obviously, in the business I want to pursue, it’s part of it.”

PITTSBURGH — Massachusetts-Lowell coach Norm Bazin and players Joseph Pendenza, Chad Ruhwedel and Riley Wetmore talked to the media at their pre-Frozen Four news conference. Here’s the video of the opening moments:

PITTSBURGH — Yale coach Keith Allain and players Colin Dueck, Andrew Miller and Jesse Root met with the media after their practice. Here are the opening minutes:

PITTSBURGH — It’s a balmy 76 degrees outside Consol Energy Center this morning, which is quite an odd feeling for someone whose definition of warm in the past couple of months has been cracking 40 degrees.

Did we bring part of Tampa with us?

Regardless, we’re on site at the arena will be bringing you coverage of the 2013 Frozen Four on this blog and on Frozen Four Central.

If you’re looking for a last-minute option for tickets to Thursday’s semifinals and Saturday’s championship game, organizers announced late Tuesday that a limited number of tickets were available through Ticketmaster or at the Consol Energy Center.

The packages cost $200 for all games.

The secondary market has some tickets available, too. StubHub lists packages starting at $75 as of 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

Headed to Pittsburgh this week for the 2013 Frozen Four? If so, come join us as we broadcast USCHO Live! from Souper Bowl, the best local sports bar in Pittsburgh, located across the street from Consol Energy Center.

Shows will include guests from the college hockey community. Stop by and get a free USCHO label pin (supplies limited) and other great USCHO merchandise.

If you can’t make it to Souper Bowl for USCHO Live!, join us at Frozen Fest in the Centre Avenue parking lot across from the arena before the games Thursday and Saturday. USCHO will share a booth with the Hockey Humanitarian Award, with more giveaways there.

We will also host a panel discussion at Frozen Fest at 5 p.m. Saturday on the center stage.

Schedule of events

How to find Souper Bowl

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All the coverage

Find all of our coverage from before, during and after the Frozen Four at Frozen Four Central.

It has been a long time since the doors to the NCAA hockey champions club have been this wide open entering the Frozen Four.

For the first time since 1958 — and only the second time since the tournament’s inaugural event — the Frozen Four will be made up of four teams all looking for their first national championship.

Yale, Massachusetts-Lowell, St. Cloud State and Quinnipiac earned trips to Pittsburgh for the 2013 Frozen Four by winning NCAA regional championships this weekend.

It’s a new-look group, to be sure.

Only Yale has ever been to the Frozen Four before, and that was a third-place finish in 1952.

Three teams will make their Frozen Four debuts at Consol Energy Center for the national semifinals on April 11. It’s the first time that’s happened in tournament history, excluding the inaugural event in 1948.

Both semifinals will be matchups of No. 1 regional seeds against No. 4s.

Massachusetts-Lowell, the top seed in the Northeast Regional, will play Yale out of the West Regional at 4:30 p.m. EDT in one semifinal; top overall seed Quinnipiac will face St. Cloud State at 8 p.m. EDT in the other.

For only the second time since 1993, college hockey will add to the list of teams that have won the Division I men’s championship. Minnesota-Duluth became the 18th member of the group in 2011, and either the Bulldogs, the River Hawks, the Huskies or the Bobcats will be No. 19.

The Frozen Four field contains two teams from ECAC Hockey for the first time since 1983. Both Yale and Quinnipiac, however, trail in the all-time series against their semifinal opponents.

Lowell has an 8-3 record against the Bulldogs, with the last meeting going to the River Hawks 2-1 on Jan. 15, 1999, in New Haven, Conn.

St. Cloud State has won three of the four games played against the Bobcats, all coming since the 2009-10 season. The teams split a series in St. Cloud, Minn., in October 2010 after the Huskies earned a road sweep the previous season.

Yale won the West Regional by beating Minnesota 3-2 in overtime and North Dakota 4-1. The Bulldogs finished third in ECAC Hockey.

Massachusetts-Lowell added to a growing trophy case by advancing through the Northeast Regional, beating Wisconsin 6-1 and New Hampshire 2-0. The River Hawks won both the Hockey East regular season and playoff titles for the first time.

St. Cloud State beat Notre Dame 5-1 and Miami 4-1 in the Midwest Regional. The Huskies won a share of the WCHA regular season title for the first time.

Quinnipiac rallied for a 4-3 win over Canisius and routed Union 5-1 in the East Regional. The Bobcats rolled to the ECAC Hockey regular season title, winning by 10 points.

The Frozen Four semifinals will be televised by ESPN2, with the April 13 championship game on ESPN.

TAMPA, Fla. — With Cornell’s defeat at the hands of Ferris State in Green Bay two weeks ago, it was ensured that only two teams would finish the 2011-12 season with a victory: the tournament champs (Boston College, as it turned out) and … Northeastern.

The Huskies edged Boston University 5-4 in overtime in the regular-season finale, but lost the tiebreaker with Massachusetts and thus finished ninth in Hockey East, which has an eight-team playoff format.

This was the first time since the ’04-05 season (and only the second time in the last decade) that only two teams finished the campaign with victories. There are usually three or more teams that finish with wins, since the ECAC Hockey and CCHA tournaments feature consolation games. Since 2001-02, the most teams to go out with a W was six, in ’08-09.

Old-boys club

No program has won it all in its first title game appearance since Maine in 1993. No program has claimed the crown in its first Frozen Four appearance since Lake Superior State, back in 1988. Ferris and Union each entered the weekend with those accomplishments in mind, but alas, it’s another year of experience trumping novelty.

First time for everything

This Bulldogs hockey team became the first FSU athletic program to compete for a national championship.

Piling on

In its three most recent trips to the Frozen Four (2008, ’10, and ’12), Boston College has out-scored its opponents 32-5.

Lucky No. 7 indeed

Saturday marked the second time that BC took the trophy on April 7. The Eagles’ 2001 triumph over North Dakota in Albany, N.Y. was the program’s first national championship since 1949; this is the school’s fourth in the last 11 years.

Kicking it up a notch

Boston College’s Class of 2012 went 22-2 in the postseason, and York’s 37 career NCAA wins are the most in Division I history.

Golden

The Eagles went 9-0-0 this season when wearing their new gold jerseys.

In good company

Goalie Parker Milner finished the 2011-12 NCAA tournament with a 0.982 save percentage, good for third all-time (one can only imagine what it must take to finish first or second.) That said, it is the best save rate since 1972, as well as the best since the field expanded beyond four teams in advance of the 1978 postseason. Milner’s 0.50 goals-against average in this year’s tourney ties him for the best all-time, with BU’s Tim Regan (1972), Denver’s Gerry Powers (1968), and some guy by the name of Ken Dryden (Cornell, 1967). Note that all three of the latter netminders earned their .50 in the paltry four-team format.

TAMPA, Fla. – Boston College forwards Steven Whitney, Paul Carey, Chris Kreider and team chaplain Fr. Tony Penna talk after the 4-1 victory over Ferris State in the national championship game:

TAMPA, Fla. – Ferris State defenseman Brett Wysopal and winger Garrett Thompson talk after the 4-1 loss to Boston College in the national championship game:

TAMPA, Fla. – As you’re watching the game Saturday, listen as well: There’s a very distinctive voice behind the Tampa Bay Times Forum’s public address microphone.

Gene Honda may be announcing his first Frozen Four, but he’s no stranger to the stage. The Chicago native is the regular PA personality for the Chicago Blackhawks, White Sox and the DePaul Blue Demons men’s basketball team. He’s also served the role at 10 consecutive Final Four men’s basketball tourneys, including last week’s soiree in New Orleans.

The baritone was “discovered,” as they say, by NCAA associate director of media coordination and championships Mark Bedics at a mutual friend’s wedding in Iowa 11 years ago. The friend sheepishly asked Honda if he would announce the arrival of the bridal party, and Honda agreed. Bedics approached Honda at the reception’s bar later that evening, and asked — matter-of-factly — if Honda would be interested in doing the Final Four.

“How many have you had?” Honda replied incredulously.

And the rest is history. Honda encourages anyone and everyone to attend the Final Four and Frozen Four, “even if your team isn’t in it.”

“You can feel the passion, which is often lacking” in pro events, he said.

Tongue-tied

Honda’s favorite name in the tournament?

“[Boston College defenseman Brian] Dumoulin,” he said. “Mostly because BC’s sports info guy [Tim Clark] came up to me, and said, ‘You have no idea how many people get that wrong.’”

Most challenging name he’s ever faced?

“Hipólito Pichardo,” he said, referring to a former Kansas City Royals pitcher. “Everyone wanted to pronounce it ‘hippo-LEE-toe,’ but it’s actually ‘hip-POLE-itto,’” he said.

And, of course, his favorite all-time name?

“Frank Thomas,” he mused. “It’s just so simple.”

For more on Honda – including samples of his prestigious pipes – check him out on the Google machine.