NCA-Aux Part 2: Press Play to Win.
“Great moments, are born, from great DJ opportunities.” I believe Herb Brooks said something like that, and boy was he right. The Frozen Four isn’t just about a group of college kids going to Boston and playing for a chance to make history. It’s called the big dance for a reason, and that reason starts in the locker room. One DJ. One win song. If you played it 10 times you might strike out at the bar 9 times, but not this song. Not tonight.
That was the motto for every team’s aux-cord aficionado coming into the Frozen Four. Unfortunately, not every DJ would get to press play one final time for the boys. Thankfully, with the the tournament officially behind us, and some time to process—we have a full break-down of what transpired. We were even able to interview a player from each team the Frozen Four in the behind-the-scenes video below. Enjoy.
Breaking things down, Michigan came in strong. Not only did they have a rockstar lineup on the ice, they also brought a shredder of a win song to the table with “Bro Hymn” by Pennywise. It was a great throwback effort and almost took the program back to glory for the first time since 1998. Unfortunately, the Wolverines backchecking disappeared more often than Pennywise in the movie IT, so their title chances floated away vs Denver.
The Golden Gophers played the best hand they could. A storied season needed a win song that tells a story, and “Closing Time” by Semisonic does just that. However, the DJ clearly did not study the tape. If he did, he would know that Andy Bernard introduced “Closing Time” as an end of the day tradition in season 8, episode 6, of The Office. A year later in Season 9, Episode 6, Andy leaves his job to sail his rich-family's boat and ultimately is fired. Literally abandoned the ship after establishing a tradition. Not saying they’re connected, but the writing was on the wall. Minnesota State took them home, again.
Minnesota State and the #HornsUp faithful put all of their trust into Guy Fieri’s brother, aka DJ Otzi with his unforgettable song, “Hey Baby.” Maybe unforgettable is the wrong word, but this song was on the Kangaroo Jack soundtrack for a reason—it gets the people going. The Mavericks jumped all over the Gophers and had Denver on the ropes with this bold yet effective win song, but that all changed when Jack Devine and the Pioneers woke up in the 3rd period.
In 2014, The University of Denver won the first NCHC Conference Tournament. That same year, Wiz Khalifa would introduce the world to his song, “We Dem Boyz.” The two will now be tied together for the rest of time, as the Pioneers’ DJ knew exactly what he was doing when he pressed play on this banger. It’s no secret, hockey has changed a lot in the past decade or two. Fighting and checking are moving out as speed and agility take over. Denver knew this. They didn’t mess around with any old-timey show tunes, instead they put their foot on the gas and blew out the competition. 5-1 was the final on the ice, but quite frankly, it wasn’t ever close when it came to the win-song battle.
Thanks to college hockey and the Frozen Four, for the first time since the pandemic, we all came together and learned something. It wasn’t easy, but through a grueling trial and error process that only locker room DJ’s can sort out, a champion was crowned. We learned that the Denver Hockey program is in fact, Dem Boyz. Congrats to the Pioneers. And for any of you college hockey DJs next season, hopefully our thoughtful breakdown of the NCA-Aux situation at the Frozen Four will help you select the win song with the best chance of taking you all the way.
