Matt Davis continued his stellar goaltending Saturday night, as Denver tops BC to win a record 10th men’s hockey national title

Published by %s
April 13, 2024

Denver goaltender Matt Davis was named the Most Valuable Player of the Frozen Four, and likely should be for the entire NCAA Tournament and that is an understatement. Davis continued his magnificent play by making 35 saves including what many believe was the save of the season, and Jared Wright scored a second period goal that turned out to be the game winner on Saturday night as the Pioneers defeated Boston College 2-0 in the Men’s Hockey Division I National Championship game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Another title for Denver and trophy to add to their case sets a record for the most national championships in Division I Hockey with 10, one more than Michigan (9) and two more than North Dakota (8).

The heavy defensive pressure by Denver didn’t give Boston College much time and space most of the night. The Eagles were held without a shot on goal for almost the first eight minutes of the opening period, before freshman Will Smith had a breakaway that was stopped by the pad of Davis. The Pioneers also had some good looks on Jacob Fowler, but it remained scoreless after 20 minutes.

BC had another great chance after a pass from Oskar Jellvik to Andre Gasseau in the low slot 9:09 into the second period. But in what ended up being the story of the night, Davis turned it away. 33 seconds later, Denver got the game winner from Wright. Wright got the bottom of the left faceoff circle and fired a shot to the near post that went over the right shoulder of Fowler, rang off the post and crossed the goal line at 9:42.

Wright almost had his second of the night almost three minutes later breaking in alone but was stopped by the pad of the BC netminder. The Pioneers did add some insurance at 15:16. Zeev Buium skated across the Eagles blue line and into the outside edge of the circle closest to the boards, and sent a backhanded pass finding Rieger Lorenz inside the left circle who fired one into the same spot that Wright scored over the right shoulder of Fowler inside the left post.

The save of the hockey season came 2:30 into the third period with Boston College on the powerplay. Gabe Perreault sent a pass to a wide open Ryan Leonard to the right of Davis, on what for sure looked like an easy goal to get the Eagles on the board. But somehow, Davis was able to make a miraculous diving stop getting a piece of the shot with his glove and deflecting it away.

The overall #1 seed once again had an opportunity to cut the deficit in half with 7:54 left to play with another powerplay, but they just couldn’t solve Davis as the other three opponents had found out the same fate in the NCAA Tournament on the Pioneers march to the championship game. BC pulled Fowler with just over three minutes remaining, but it wasn’t meant to be despite outshooting their opponents 23-5 over the final 20 minutes as Davis and Denver made it two national titles in the last three seasons.

Lorenz had one goal and one assist in the Denver win, while Zeev Buium, Shai Buium, and Sean Behrens had one assist each. The junior Davis stopped 23 shots in the third period alone, and in the NCAA Tournament he had 138 saves on 141 shots on his goal in the four victories. The Pioneers end their season on a nine game win streak and a final record of 33-9-3. Fowler had 24 saves in the loss for Boston College. Leonard and Smith peppered the net with eight and seven shots on goal respectively. The Eagles, who set a program record for wins in a season, ends up at 34-7-1 and had their 15 game win streak snapped.

Recap by Chris Lessner/Video highlights courtesy of DU_Hockey on Twitter 

 

 

 

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