Frozen Four Warms Vegas Strip With College Hockey Fans

^{The North Dakota men's hockey team (green) hopes to claim its first national title since 2016 at the Frozen Four in Las Vegas. (Photo: Casey B. Gibson / Alamy)}

LAS VEGAS – It seems fitting that T-Mobile Arena will finally be hosting the city’s first-ever NCAA championship event with the sport that made the venue famous nearly a decade ago. College hockey fans are headed to Las Vegas casinos and hotels for the Frozen Four, featuring the national semifinals on April 9 and title game on April 11.

This begins the most important four-year run in Vegas sports history. The 2027 College Football Playoff national championship game is scheduled for next January 25 and the 2028 Men’s Final Four will follow around this time two years from now on April 1 and 3. Both sporting events will take place at Allegiant Stadium, which can hold over 70,000 fans.

Las Vegas will also host its second Super Bowl in 2029. Before that happens, Sin City is expected to land its first MLB and NBA teams. 

But first, the arena that hosted the Vegas Golden Knights' first game back in 2017 and the Stanley Cup in 2023 is set to host a new championship moment soon. The Denver Pioneers, Michigan Wolverines, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, and Wisconsin Badgers will battle for the 2026 NCAA hockey title on Saturday night.

North Dakota a Hot Pick in Frozen Four

Randy McKay is a professional gambler who visits Las Vegas multiple times each year and has done so for almost three decades. The North Dakota native and respected sharp bettor is attending the Frozen Four this week to cheer on his beloved Fighting Hawks, formerly known as the Fighting Sioux.

“Frozen Four will be interesting going to Vegas but should be fine,” McKay said. “Vegas is used to hosting big events, it’s quite a change from the NBA All-Star Game failure [in 2007] to what it is now."

McKay has rooms booked at Park MGM and Circa, and will be hanging out at the North Dakota fan meetup before Thursday's game inside Tom's Watch Bar at New York-New York.

Michigan arrives in Las Vegas as the tournament's top seed, fresh off the Wolverines' NCAA men's basketball championship win against the UConn Huskies earlier this week. McKay is hoping North Dakota can find a way to avoid that school and win its first national title in a decade.

The Fighting Hawks will battle the Badgers in the first national semifinal game at 2 p.m. (PT) on Thursday. The Wolverines will then face the Pioneers in the second national semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. McKay is predicting North Dakota over Denver 3-2 in the title game.

According to Circa Sports, Michigan is listed as the tournament favorite with the best odds in the field at +185, meaning a $100 bet would return $185. North Dakota is a close second choice at +210, followed by Denver at +300, and Wisconsin at +615.  

Local Hockey Teams Heating Up for Playoffs

While college hockey takes center stage (or ice) in Las Vegas for a few days, the Golden Knights have only two home games remaining before they begin what they hope will be another successful playoff run. Their AHL affiliate team, the Henderson Silver Knights, also recently clinched a postseason spot for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

The Golden Knights are 4-0 since firing Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy and replacing him with another Cup winner in John Tortorella. The coaching change came as the team looked to stabilize a season that had hit a rough patch heading into the stretch run. 

Vegas will welcome the Winnipeg Jets to T-Mobile Arena on April 13, followed by the Seattle Kraken on April 15 in the home finale. 

The Silver Knights have been one of the hottest teams in the AHL, going 17-3-3 since the All-Star Break. Henderson will wrap up its home slate at Lee’s Family Forum with a two-game series against the San Jose Barracuda on April 10 and 11 before closing out there versus the Bakersfield Condors on April 14.