ST. LOUIS (AP) — If big-game experience counts for anything, Denver hockey coach David Carle was encouraged how the defending champion Pioneers dealt with their share of second-half adversity to make it back to the Frozen Four.
“We’ve learned and grown up through every challenging experience,” the seventh year coach said of a season in which the Pioneers (31-11-1) won their first 12 games but are 17-7-1 since the Christmas break.
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FILE - Western Michigan left wing Liam Valente (23) celebrates with his bench after scoring against Minnesota State in the second period during the first round of the NCAA college hockey tournament on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Fargo, N.D. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig, File)
FILE - Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Pat Ferschweiler, left, and head coach Jeff Blashill watch during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - Denver forward McKade Webster (6) holds up a Frozen Four ticket while celebrating with Jack Devine (4) at the end of an NCAA men's college hockey tournament regional final against Cornell in Springfield, Mass., Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, left, talks with his players as assistant coach Jay Pandolfo looks on during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)
That includes blowing a 3-0 third-period lead in a NCHC tournament championship final 4-3 OT loss to Western Michigan, who they’ll meet in the semifinals Thursday.
How much that familiarity helps in Denver’s quest to win its third title in four years and NCAA-leading 11th overall, remains to be seen.
“Now you’re playing teams that I think have all been through the grinder, and I’m not sure how much that matters anymore,” Carle added. “All four teams are peaking at the right time.”
Boston University (23-13-2), making its 25th Frozen Four appearance, faces Penn State (22-13-4) in the other semifinal of a final four that features a decisive split in tournament experience.
With a combined 15 titles, Denver and BU bring championship pedigree to St. Louis. And then there’s Frozen Four first-timers in Western Michigan (32-7-1), the lone No. 1 seed left in the field, and Penn State (22-13-4), which launched its program 14 years ago.
Western Michigan might be new to the championship round, but no strangers to tournament play.
The Broncos have earned NCAA berths in each of coach Pat Ferschweiler’s four seasons, have a nation-leading and school record-matching 32 wins, and went 2-0-1 against Denver this season.
“To feel like a favorite against Denver, the defending national champions, a team that’s a known quantity, returning much of their lineup, I don’t want to go favorite or not,” Ferschweiler said. “But what we are is confident in ourselves.”
At Penn State, there’s very little experience coach Guy Gadowsky can draw upon for a program making only its fourth tournament appearance, and now 4-3 in tournament play after beating Maine and Connecticut in the regional round.
“We’re going into this fresh. We’re certainly going to enjoy every aspect of it,” Gadowsky said.
“As it pertains to our opponent, really, no matter what happens, you’re going to be playing a great team who is playing extremely well no matter what way you slice it,” he said of a Terriers team making its third straight Frozen Four appearance.
What’s been missing for BU, which last reached the final in 2015 and last won in 2009, is a semifinal win after losing in overtime to Denver last year and Minnesota in 2023.
“Obviously, the last two years haven’t gone the way we wanted,” junior assistant captain Quinn Hutson said. “I’m personally going to use that a lot. ... I think it’s a big moment, a big opportunity tomorrow to get that back.”
Denver is 26-13-2 against Western Michigan, including 4-1-1 in neutral-site meetings and 1-0 in tournament play following a 3-2 double-overtime win in a 2011 first-round matchup.
Western Michigan has won eight straight and ranks second in the nation with 158 goals scored. The Broncos are 3-9 overall in tournament play. Of captain Tim Washe’s 16 goals this season, 11 have been winners. Freshman goalie Hampton Slukynsky has allowed 16 goals during the Broncos eight-game run.
Denver features 13 players with NCAA tournament experience and seeks to become the first repeat champs since Minnesota-Duluth won in 2018 and ’19. The Broncos led the nation with 172 goals, and Jack Devine’s had a nation-leading 57 points (13 goals, 44 assists). Defenseman Zeev Buium, selected 12th in the NHL draft by Minnesota last summer, leads college defenseman with 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists).
This is the first meeting between the schools.
Boston University is just 12-7-1 since Christmas, including a 5-2 loss to UConn in the Hockey East semifinals. Cole Hutson leads college freshman with 46 points (14 goals, 32 assists). Coach Jay Pandolfo has combined for seven Frozen Four appearances, four as a BU player and three as coach.
Penn State overcame opening its Big Ten schedule 0-8-1, before finishing 9-11-4, and is 15-4-4 overall since Christmas. Charlie Cerrato ranks second among college freshmen with 42 points and has three goals and 14 assists in his past eight outings. Goalie Arsenii Sergeev is 15-4-4 since returning in January after missing six weeks with an injury.
The four teams feature a combined 38 NHL draft picks, with BU having 14, Denver 13, Western Michigan eight and Penn State three. ... The most recent time two first-time Frozen Four teams met in the championship was in 2013, when Yale defeated Quinnipiac. ... BU’s freshman class leads Frozen Four teams by combining for 134 points this season. Western Michigan leads the four teams with a combined 158 points from its seniors. ... St. Louis is hosting the Frozen Four for the third time, with Michigan Tech winning the title in 1975 and Michigan State in 2007.
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
FILE - Western Michigan left wing Liam Valente (23) celebrates with his bench after scoring against Minnesota State in the second period during the first round of the NCAA college hockey tournament on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Fargo, N.D. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig, File)
FILE - Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Pat Ferschweiler, left, and head coach Jeff Blashill watch during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - Denver forward McKade Webster (6) holds up a Frozen Four ticket while celebrating with Jack Devine (4) at the end of an NCAA men's college hockey tournament regional final against Cornell in Springfield, Mass., Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE - Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, left, talks with his players as assistant coach Jay Pandolfo looks on during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)
A tense calm hangs over Venezuela after the U.S. military operation that deposed President Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face criminal charges.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Maduro and his wife landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York. The couple face U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.
Here's the latest:
Associated Press video on Sunday shows a banner now on display in Iran’s capital warning the United States and Israel that their soldiers could be killed if they take action in the country.
Trump’s recent comment that the U.S. “will come to their rescue” if Iran kills peaceful protesters has taken on a new meaning after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the “illegal U.S. attack against Venezuela.” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said adversaries of the U.S. should note that “America can project our will anywhere, anytime.”
From California to Missouri and Texas, protestors are planning demonstrations Sunday and through the week against President Donald Trump’s military operation and capture of Maduro, which one protest description called “the illegal, unconstitutional invasion of Venezuela.”
Dozens appear to be organized by chapters of Indivisible, a left-leaning group, and many take umbrage with Trump’s plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who serves as Senate president pro tempore, posted on X Saturday that Maduro is a narco-terrorist and his drug trafficking resulted in the deaths of too many Americans. He likened the Trump operation to then-President George Bush’s decision in 1989 to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega following his indictment for drug trafficking.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, posted that U.S. military action in Venezuela is unconstitutional and is putting troops in harm’s way with no long-term strategy. “The American people deserve a President focused on making their lives more affordable,” Pritzker wrote.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, posted a statement on X calling the strikes illegal and criticizing Trump for taking action without congressional approval. “The President does not have the unilateral authority to invade foreign countries, oust their governments, and seize their resources,” she wrote.
France’s foreign minister says the departure of President Nicolás Maduro “is good news for the Venezuelans” and called for a peaceful and democratic transition of power.
Jean-Noël Barrot said “Maduro was an unscrupulous dictator who confiscated Venezuelans’ freedom and stole their elections.”
“Then, yes, we pointed out that the method used infringes the principles of international law,” Barrot said about the U.S. military operation on France 2 national television.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, called Maduro “a horrible, horrible person” but added, “You don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. And that’s what’s happened.”
“We have learned through the years that, when America tries to regime change and nation-building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and results,” Schumer told ABC’s “This Week.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says President Donald Trump’s conversations with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez now are ”very matter-of-fact and very clear: You can lead or you can get out of the way, because we’re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence and our need to have a free country like Venezuela to work with rather than to have dictators in place who perpetuate crimes and drug trafficking.”
Noem tells “Fox News Sunday” that the United States wants a leader in Venezuela who will be “a partner that understands that we’re going to protect America” when it comes to stopping drug trafficking and “terrorists from coming into our country.”
She says that “we’re looking for a leader that will stand up beside us and embrace those freedoms and liberties for the Venezuelan people but also ensure that they’re not perpetuating crimes around the globe like they’ve had in the past.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to back off Trump’s assertions that the U.S. was running Venezuela, insisting instead that Washington will use control of the South American country’s oil industry to force policy changes and, “We expect that it’s going to lead to results here.”
“We’re hopeful, hopeful, that it does positive results for the people for Venezuela,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week.” “But, ultimately, most importantly, in the national interest of the United States.”
Asked about Trump suggesting that Rubio would be among the U.S. officials helping to run Venezuela, Rubio offered no details but said, “I’m obviously very intricately involved in the policy” going forward.
He said of Venezuela’s interim leader: “We don’t believe this regime in place is legitimate” because the country never held free and fair elections.
Venezuela’s capital Caracas was unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around. Convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed.
The presence of police and members of the military across the city was notable for its smaller size compared with an average day and even more so with the days when people protested against Maduro’s government in previous years.
Meanwhile, soldiers attempted to clear an area of an air base that had been on fire along with at least three passenger buses following Saturday’s U.S. attack.
The Brooklyn jail holding Nicolás Maduro is a facility so troubled that some judges have refused to send people there even as it has housed such famous inmates as music stars R. Kelly and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Opened in the early 1990s, the Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC Brooklyn, currently houses about 1,300 inmates.
It’s the routine landing spot for people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, holding alleged gangsters and drug traffickers alongside some people accused of white collar crimes.
Maduro is not the first president of a country to be locked up there.
Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, was imprisoned at MDC Brooklyn while he was on trial for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Hernández was pardoned and freed by President Donald Trump in December.
▶ Read more about MDC Brooklyn
Residents look at a damaged apartment complex that neighbors say was hit during U.S. strikes to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier stands atop an armored vehicle driving toward Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Shoppers line up at a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
