Boston College team captains past and present will be in opposing camps when the Eagles encounter the Wolverines of Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday night (8:30) at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn.

The Hockey East champion Eagles (33-5-1) have won 14 straight and are the No. 1 ranked team and top seed, while Michigan (23-14-3) in the No. 10 team in the USCHO poll. Boston University (28-9-2) will face perennial power Denver (30-9-3) in the opener at 5 p.m.

Michigan alternate captain Marshall Warren played 130 games at Boston College and wore the coveted ‘C’ on his jersey last season. The 6-0, 195-pound graduate transfer defenseman from Laurel Hollow, N.Y., was a popular performer and leader who helped BC make the coaching transition from Jerry York to Greg Brown.

“Marshall is such a tremendous person and obviously a great hockey player,” said Brown, the Hockey East Coach of the Year. “It will be weird to see him on the opposite side of the ice and I wish him all the best in everything but this game.”

Warren and BC captain Eamon Powell were not paired with each along the blue line very often last season but they were friends and roommates.

“This is obviously going to be a lot different having him on the other side,” said Powell, a 5-11, 175-pound senior from Marcellius, N.Y. “It is going to be a great matchup and they have a really strong team so I am looking forward to it.”

Powell credited former BC captains Marc McLaughlin, a Boston Bruins draft pick from Billerica, and Warren for teaching him the ways and means of team leadership on and off the ice. The three might someday cross paths again in the NHL. Warren was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round (166 overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, while Powell was taken by Tampa Bay in the fourth round (116 overall) in 2020.

“He (Warren) was an awesome captain obviously and we had a new team with a lot of new freshmen and a couple of grad transfers,” said Powell. “I think that is a similar part of what I was facing this year with a bunch of new guys coming in.

“It was his ability to kind of get everybody together and cultivate a team atmosphere that I thought was very strong. He was a great leader that everyone looked up to and I picked up a lot of things from him.”

Brown rebuilt the program after winning only 14 games his first season on the job. Brown brought in a strong freshmen class, all seven of whom were NHL draft picks, with three taken in the first round. Brown also bolstered his third line with Cornell transfer center Jack Malone, who scored the overtime game-winner against defending national champion Quinnipiac in the Providence Regional final.

Brown let Powell cultivate the team atmosphere in the same way he allowed Warren the year before. Powell combined team leadership with productivity on the ice to be the captain Brown needed. Powell enjoyed career high in scoring with five goals and 33 assists that included a 13-game point streak. Powell is a key player in BC’s vaunted transition game that contributed to the Eagles’ 179 goals this season.

“When you have such a young team with so many new players it is so critical that the leaders bring the team together and Eamon was able to do that,” said Brown. “He showed that very early in the season and they kept building on it.

“The guys are great in the locker room and being with each other and are excited to compete together. That is half the battle. If you have that the opportunities to create something special are significantly enhanced.”

Warren was crucial to the Wolverines overcoming a slow start to reach the Frozen Four. Warren played in 40 games with four goals, 14 assists and 47 blocked shots.

“We had him on a visit, talked to him a few times and we are fortunate enough to have him commit to Michigan,” said Wolverines coach Brandon Naurato. “He is the ultimate leader, the captain at BC and he wears a letter for us and he has been outstanding in the second half.

“He was that steady strong veteran presence on the back end and just doing it the right way.”