Heading into the season, two huge question marks for the University of Denver hockey team were whether new starting goalie Matt Davis could be the man in net, and if the Pioneers’ youngsters would be able to help carry them where they wanted to go.
Consider both concerns allayed.
As the Pioneers head into their 19th Frozen Four on Thursday, DU wouldn’t be flying to Minnesota if it weren’t for Davis and the team’s talented freshmen class. In the NCAA Regionals March 28-30, Davis stopped 70 of 72 shots en route to Most Outstanding Player honors, while DU’s rookies scored three of the team’s four goals and combined for six of its 12 points.
“(Davis) has really steadied his game over the past couple months,” DU head coach David Carle said. “The team has gotten better in front of him, but he’s gotten better behind them, too, and that’s gone hand-in-hand with (our recent surge.). We don’t win Game 1 or 2 in the regional without him.”
It would’ve been difficult to pull off both without their freshmen, too.
DU features 11 freshmen, and a handful of them are key contributors. Boston Buckberger, Sam Harris and Miko Matikka all lit the lamp in regionals. And in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, DU’s first-year players scored four goals and had 11 of 23 points en route to the tournament title.
Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium has submitted one of the best rookie seasons in program history. He leads DU with 38 assists and is second in scoring with 49 points, while also pacing all Denver defensemen with 11 goals.
Add in nine players who were on Denver’s 2022 national championship roster, including six who played in that year’s Frozen Four, and DU has the ideal mix of veterans, new firepower and goaltending to win a record 10th national championship this weekend.
“We have a lot of guys who have won a national championship before, and that’s resulted in a great leadership group that’s pushed this team along during the season and helped us grow,” junior defenseman Sean Behrens said. “With so many freshmen and so many young guys contributing, to have guys with that experience is going to help us a lot on the biggest stage.”
Davis, who was the backup to Magnus Chrona the last two seasons, is on a tear entering the Frozen Four. On top of his brick-wall performance at regionals, he is 18-4-2 in 24 starts since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for 13 games.
That stretch included two career-long shutout streaks over the last month, including a new high of 127:19 across three games March 9-16. His play in the 2-1, double-OT win over UMass in the regional opener — the longest game in program history — was followed by another stellar performance in the 2-1 win over Cornell in the second round. The latter included a highlight-reel save with seconds left in the game that sealed this week’s trip to St. Paul, Minn.
For his recent play, Davis earned the honor of National Goaltender of the Month for March.
“That was a special one for me (against UMass), and I can’t wait to head to St. Paul and make a couple more special ones,” Davis said. “I really had no idea how many shots I had stopped. It was just focusing on the next one, and trying to make the next save.
“It was definitely tough (sitting out due to injury), but the coaching staff and the team was stressing the long-term benefit of not coming back too early and making sure I was 100%. That has paid off.”
DU heads into Thursday’s match against Boston University having been in playoff mode for about two months. The Pioneers are 13-2-1 in 16 games since the start of February. That heater came after a two-game road sweep by North Dakota on the final weekend of January and then a 7-2 home loss to Western Michigan the next weekend that Behrens described as a “wake-up call.”
“The start of the season and a bit of the middle, we didn’t have a problem putting the puck in the net, but we had a problem keeping it out,” sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz said. “To see that growth throughout the season, and to win 2-1 games in our only 2-1 games of the season, was pretty reassuring going into the Frozen Four.”
The Pioneers boast the top scoring offense in Division I at 4.71 goals per game, but BU has a potent attack headlined by Macklin Celebrini. He is the youngest player in college hockey at 17 years old and is second in the nation with 32 goals. DU features junior forward Jack Devine, fourth in the nation with 27 goals, while Matikka has 20 goals.
Overall, DU’s balanced attack features 11 players with 10 or more goals and nine with 30 or more points, both tallies the most in the nation.
Senior captain McKade Webster emphasized that DU can beat BU, and then either Michigan or Boston College in Saturday’s title game, no matter what direction those games take — be it low-scoring, physical affair or track meet on skates. Should the Pioneers meet the Wolverines in the final, the winner would be the first program to 10 national titles.
“We can play any style: We can play the skilled, shootout style if you want, or we can play the (gritty) playoff hockey where it’s not too pretty,” Webster said. “This past month has proved we just know how to get the job done.”
DU in the Frozen Four
The DU Pioneers will go for a record 10th national title when they head to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., this week for the NCAA Frozen Four. Here are the details about the event:
Semifinals
Time: 3 p.m. Thursday, vs. Boston U
TV: ESPN 2
Stream: ESPN.com & ESPN+
Radio: Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan HD3
Championship
Time: 4 p.m. Saturday, vs. Boston College/Michigan
TV: ESPN 2
Stream: ESPN.com & ESPN+
Radio: Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan HD3
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