The No. 6 Pioneers’ path to the Frozen Four begins near where their NCHC Frozen Faceoff march was knocked off track, in St. Paul, Minn. Their NCAA West Regional foe is a relatively familiar one – No. 11 Boston University (21-12-5), which DU lost to, 5-4, in overtime at BU on Oct. 31. DU (23-9-6) advanced to the NCHC’s final four, losing to St. Cloud State and tying North Dakota, while BU was knocked out in the Hockey East quarterfinals by fellow NCAA Tournament participant Massachusetts-Lowell.

The teams meet at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in a game televised on ESPNU.

Let’s take a look back and an early look forward.

NCAA history: The teams have split their four previous meetings, the most recent of which was nearly 20 years ago. BU edged DU, 4-3, in an East Regional matchup in 1997.

Overall series: BU leads, 15-13-2

Last meeting: The Terriers built a 3-1 lead seven minutes into the second period, spelling the end of Tanner Jaillet’s afternoon in net. Gabe Levin cut the deficit to 3-2, but Ahti Oksanen scored the first of his two goals to make it 4-2 entering the third. DU tied it on Troy Terry’s first NCAA goal and Quentin Shore’s short-hander with 6:53 to go. Both of those goals were set up by Will Butcher, who also scored the Pioneers’ first goal. However, Oksanen struck again just 21 seconds into overtime. Jaillet stopped 18 of 21 shots on goal before being relieved by Evan Cowley, who stopped 12 of 14. … DU’s power play went 0 for 5 and it killed off three of four penalties. The weekend, which started with a 4-3 loss at Boston College summarized the Pioneers’ early season issues – giving up goals early and late in periods (five of the nine they allowed that weekend came in the first or last two minutes of a period), hit and miss goaltending and special teams problems (75 percent penalty kill in both games and the PP oh-fer vs. BU).

Talking point: Coach Jim Montgomery after the BU loss: “We’re obviously not happy with the results here this weekend but we can take a lot of pride in how hard we battled against two of the top teams in the country (BC was ranked fourth and BU eighth). Both of these losses were good, fast-paced college hockey games and we can learn a lot from how we matched up with the Eagles as well as the Terriers. Getting to where we want to be at the end of the season takes a lot of hard work and tough losses like these are a part of the learning process for our team. If we continue to learn and evolve as a group like we’ve been doing, the results we want will come sooner rather than later.”

Offense: Statistically, the teams are closely matched – BU averages 3.21 goals per game (14^th in Division I) and DU nets. 3.13 (16^th). Senior forwards Danny O’Regan (43 points), Oksanen (36), Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (29) and Matt Lane (28) are the main cogs on offense. A pair of freshmen also have made big contributions forward Jordan Greenway (25) and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (24). O’Regan (16), Oksanen (15) and Lane (14) lead six double-digit goal scorers though Lane has not scored since January. McAvoy is a highly rated prospect (potentially top 10) for the 2016 NHL Entry draft, while several of his teammates previously have been selected, including O’Regan (San Jose) and senior captain Matt Grzelcyk (Boston), defensemen Brandon Hickey (Calgary) and John MacLeod (Tampa Bay) and forward Robbie Baillargeon (Ottawa). … The Pioneers’ 12 double-digit scorers included three defensemen – Butcher (29 points), Nolan Zajac (18) and Tariq Hammond (10). While the Pacific Rim Line of Dylan Gambrell (43), Danton Heinen (42) and Trevor Moore (42) justifiably gets a lot of attention, the Pioneers have solid secondary scoring and an emerging threat in freshman Troy Terry, who has goals in three of four postseason games and nine overall. Terry (Anaheim), Shore (Ottawa), Butcher (Colorado), Cowley (Florida) and Heinen (Boston) have been drafted by NHL teams, and Gambrell undoubtedly will be come June.

Defense: Denver has tightened up considerably since the first meeting, allowing just 2.29 goals per game (13^th) overall, while the Terriers allow 2.61 (T26th). Senior Sean Maguire has better stats (13-8-1, 2.27 goals-against average and .924 save percentage) than sophomore Connor LaCouvee (8-4-4, 2.84, .901). Maguire started the Terriers’ past six games, going 3-3 and allowing a total of 13 goals in the process. … Jaillet had been undefeated in the second half of the season until the loss to St. Cloud on Friday night. Overall, he’s 16-4-5 with a 2.18 gaa and .926 save percentage. Cowley also has been exceptional since New Year’s Day, going 5-1-1. The tie was a 1-1 overtime effort against No. 1 North Dakota on Saturday.

Special teams: BU’s power play is excellent, hitting at a 21.4 percent clip (9^th), while Denver’s is successful 17 percent of the time (33^rd). Both get quite a few chances, BU leads 131-129. … O’Regan (7 PPG) and Oksanen (4) are the ringleaders with the man advantage. Grzelcyk is a threat from the point (4 goals). No Pioneer has more than three power-play goals, but five players have that amount. … The Pioneers’ penalty kill is slightly better, 82.9 percent to 81.8. … BU’s combined special teams percentage is 103.2, while DU’s is 99.9. Anything over 100 percent is considered good.

@MagnessMayhem