The University of Denver Pioneers entered the NCAA Championship game with a chance to make history, and they did, winning their second championship in two years.
“They are the best guys in the world in that locker room,” Senior Captain McKade Webster said. “I am super happy for them, especially the guys that have not won one. Now, they do not have to listen to us talk about what it was like when we won.”
Denver defeated the Boston College Eagles 2-0 to win their 10th national title and second in the past two years. Its victory gives Denver the record for most NCAA titles of any hockey team and marks the first time a team other than Michigan has held the record for the most NCAA titles.
It was a low-event first period. The Pioneers came out hot and prevented the dynamic BC offense from registering a shot for the first 10 minutes of the game; however, the tables turned, and BC held DU to no shots in the final eight minutes of the period. While freshman Will Smith had an excellent chance, DU goaltender Matt Davis made a big save to keep the game scoreless.
Head Coach David Carle said the key to keeping BC contained was playing well in the neutral zone and preventing BC’s fast transitions.
“They are dangerous… we tried to control the middle of the rink and make them play through us,” Carle said. “We trusted that if we did that… if we get the transition going the other way from good defense, that we would get our opportunities and our chances.”
Carle has won two championships with the Pioneers and, this year, also won the World Junior Championships coaching team USA. Rieger Lorenz praised Carle as one of the critical reasons that DU could defensively stifle BC.
“We have the best coach in college hockey. He prepares us through the weeks and in the pre-scout as well,” Lorenz said. “He has helped me and our team so much through our careers. We are incredibly blessed to have him and could not do it without him.”
It was a sentiment that meant the world to Carle.
“It means a lot,” Carle said. “It is a far cry from six years ago when everybody said I was too young to do this.”
The score remained locked at 0-0 until midway through the second period when DU’s Jared Wright collected the puck high in the circle and fired it over Jacob Fowler’s right shoulder to open the scoring and give the Pioneers the lead.
Wright broke down his goal, crediting his teammate Lorenz for the play that facilitated it.
“I just remember coming up the ice with the puck and kicking it out to Rieger [Lorenz]. I tried picking the guy’s stick. Rieger [Lorenz] made an awesome play to get it back to me,” Wright said. “I just threw it blind to the net, and I was lucky enough it rolled in.”
Five minutes later, Zeev Buium made an incredible backhand pass to Lorenz, who fired the puck from the left circle over Fowler’s and into double DU’s lead. It was Lorenz’s second point of the night.
Lorenz said it was par for the course for Buium, who has had a standout freshman season, and that his goal was a by-product of Buium’s quick thinking.
“Zeev’s [Buium] been doing it all year,” Lorenz said. “He climbed up the ice and beat a few guys. I was lucky enough to find open ice, and he found me. And I was lucky enough to put it in.”
It was the second goal of the night for DU’s third line; Wright and Lorenz credited their work ethic and ability to stay above pucks as contributing factors to their success.
“We move our feet a lot, stay above pucks and reload really well,” Wright said. “I am beyond blessed to play with Zeev [Buium] and Rieger [Lorenz]. We just complement each other really well.”
DU went into the third period with the task of holding one of the most talented and high-octane offenses in BC to no goals for a third straight period. In the words of Carle, the third period was “Matt Davis’s show.”
Davis made 23 saves in the third period to maintain DU’s 2-0 lead. Beyond that, Denver’s team also sold out defensively, blocking ten shots in the third period.
According to Carle, competition and intensity were crucial to closing out the game.
“The goaltending and the level of desperation on the D-side in critical moments was extremely high,” Carle said. “That’s a little bit of the game plan and such.”
Davis finished the tournament with a .979 SV%, making 139 saves on 142 shots even though
Denver had one of the worst team save percentages at Christmas. However, despite the slow start, his championship-winning performance was highly predictable for Webster, who lives with Davis.
“I said he will win a national championship one day. If I am not here, he will still do it,” Webster said. “So, like, we all knew this in the back room, and he would carry us to a national championship.”
Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
