Hockey, Men's Sports

Buium Leads DU Over Providence 5-1, Stage Set for Title Rematch

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Any fears that the #3 seed Pioneers would be too tired or uninspired to defend their title against #2 Providence were dispelled Saturday afternoon in Manchester, New Hampshire. Zeev Buium paced the dominant performance with 3 points en route to the 5-1 win. Goaltender Matt Davis was nearly perfect, displaying his championship form. Next up is an intriguing rematch with the Boston College Eagles, a repeat of last year’s National Title game.

Providence owned the first two-minutes of the game but a strange turnover by Providence goalie Philip Svedebã€ck. Svedebã€ck fed the puck from behind the goal directly onto the twig of a charging Connor Caponi who tucked the gimme into the cage, 1-0 DU. The period ended with that single tally and the Friars unable to erase the early error.

The second period was all Denver as Zeev Buium took over the game. At 3:17, Aiden Thompson fed Zeev Buium who weaved through the defense and rifled a shot into the Providence goal, 2-0. Zeev Buium and Carter King fed Sam Harris in the low post for a nifty tic-tac-toe score, 3-0. The Pioneer powerplay was steller during the period as Denver neutralized three Providence odd-man chances.

The third period was the second act of the Zeev Buium show as he fed Aidan Thompson in the right circle for a one-timer, 4-0. It looked like a coronation for the defending champs but there was still suspense in the final ten minutes. At 8:25 DU’s Garrett Brown was called for a 5-minute major for elbowing, giving the Friars life. Thirty seconds later, Austin May scored a quick powerplay goal for the Friars, 4-1, to put a shiver down the spines of Denver fans who saw a 3-0 lead disappear against Western Michigan last weekend. The Friars pulled Phillip SvedebÀck for a two-man advantage but Connor Caponi ended the suspense with an extra man, unassisted goal, 5-1. The five-minute major ended with a single, harmless blemish and Denver coasted to the 5-1 victory.

Denver finished the game with 11 minutes in the box to 6 for Providence. Davis turned away 31 shots while Denver made the most of their 20 scoring opportunities for the game. Ultimately, it was a show of speed, power and experience by the defending champs.  Denver was led by Zeev Buium, who seemed determined to pick up the slack from the absence of injured mainstay Boston Buckberger. The extra timeouts with the NCAA national TV game allowed Buium to play extra minutes, stay rested and display his extraordinary skills to a national TV audience.

Next up is a Primetime Sunday evening rematch of last year’s national title game between the Pioneers and the Eagles for a Frozen Four berth. The puck drops on ESPN2 at 5 pm MT.

Highlights

OH NO WE GOT A GOAL @ccaponi22 🫣 Denver on the board! #NCAAHockey x 🎥 ESPN+ / @DU_Hockey pic.twitter.com/hbcMLVbE18

Top photo courtesy Providence Athletics

9 thoughts on “Buium Leads DU Over Providence 5-1, Stage Set for Title Rematch”

  1. So proud of this team. Now, lets go show BC how championship teams play.
    Sorry WMich is in the same bracket though 😖

    Reply

    1. BS that the BC snoozefest was on real ESPN and then DU was on minus. NCHC is 2-0. Wonder if we’d have more NCHC teams in the Tournament if we had a rep on the selection committee? Hockey East has a rep and gets 6 teams out of an 11 team conference. A joke. Hockey East got 5 of the 10 at large bids, NCHC got 1. Then both NCHC teams get put on the same side of the bracket so the Committee doesn’t get embarrassed by an all NCHC final. Oh well, you gotta win four, now three, however they stack the deck against you. We get no respect, just Trophies.

      Reply

      1. The field is set by the pair wise plus conference tourney champs. There’s no selection committee for who is in, just discretion on region placement. The NCHC was down this year outside of DU and WM based on non-conference play.

  3. Fantastic win!! Big 10 got four teams in tourney. Only Penn St. won! BC crowd will be loud tomorrow. Should be fun to watch. Go Pioneers!

    Reply

  4. The B10 hasn’t had a D-1 NCAA Men’s Hockey Champ since 2007.
    With only Penn State left, this year also looks doubtful.
    Let’s hope the streak continues.

    Reply

    1. the little 10 has NEVER had a hockey champion

      they have schools that were in WCHA or CCHA that did

      Reply

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