Hockey, Men's Sports

Denver Rides Matt Davis’ Heroics to Earn Program’s 6th Frozen Four Berth in 9 Years

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So much for all the hand-wringing and bellyaching about blown leads and inconsistent hockey over the last four months. None of that matters now, thanks to the #3-seed Denver Pioneers’ 3-1 victory over the top overall seed Boston College Eagles in the Manchester Regional final. The win gives the Pioneers their second-straight Frozen Four berth, a chance to win their second-straight national title, which would be the program’s third in four years, and their 6th Frozen Four in 9 years, dating back to 2016. Oh, and all they had to do to achieve all of that was to beat the only other team that can rival their success since 2000 – Boston College. Not bad for a Sunday night in late March.

While the program’s success is front and center these days, tonight, the spotlight was squarely on the shoulders of goaltender Matt Davis, just like it was a little under a year ago in St. Paul. Building on his national title shutout of these very same Eagles last April, he continued to give the talented BC skaters nightmares, stopping everything sent his way. BC’s early strategy of playing physical hockey and getting to the front of Davis’ crease nearly paid off multiple times through the first 35 minutes of the game, but Davis, ever his cerebral self, kept the vulcanized rubber disk out of his net and continued to stymie the Eagles.

Even after an early first-period collision that saw Cale Ashcroft shove Gabe Perreault into Davis and knock the net off its moorings, DU’s netminder would not be rattled. On BC’s first power play, about 14 minutes in, Davis perhaps best showed his strength to stay above the BC fray when the Eagles flocked to a loose puck around the crease, sent a few shots at Davis in the span of just a few seconds, but he kept the puck out and stayed living rent-free in every BC fan’s mind.

That sequence from Davis proved important as just a few minutes later, Jack Devine found Eric Pohlkamp on the rush where the sophomore transfer defenseman shot the puck off the post and into the back of the net behind Mike Richter Award finalist Jacob Fowler to give Denver the 1-0 lead after the first period. Fowler wasn’t tested much through the opening period and the Eagles dictated the pace and flow. Similar to the regional semifinal against Providence, the Pioneers just kept their legs moving until they could find them, and when they did, they punched back and took the lead.

Just three minutes into the second, freshman forward James Reeder doubled DU’s lead with a seeing-eye wrister that somehow eluded Fowler and the Pioneers took full control of the game. If BC dictated the game in the first, the second period was all Denver. In fact, Zeev Buium nearly scored an early dagger after Reeder’s goal, but it was correctly called off for being offside. So the score would remain 2-0. But Matt Davis was still in Denver’s crease and even the first Teddy Stiga breakaway – during a Perreault penalty for slashing – could not push Davis off of his game. The Eagles, though, would not go away, and a second Stiga breakaway, this time after a Jack Devine turnover high in the BC zone, was too much for Davis to maintain the shutout as Team USA’s hero in the World Juniors Gold Medal game waited out the DU netminder before backhanding the puck through his five-hole to close the gap to 2-1 with under a minute left in the 2nd.

Davis, as he tends to do, did not let Stiga’s goal change anything and put on a show Patrick Roy would have been proud of in the third period as the Pioneers were outshot 15-2 and the only puck that found the back of the net was Buium’s empty netter with four seconds left.

Tonight’s Regional Final victory was vintage Denver and vintage Matt Davis (if you can call a one-year-old NCAA Tournament peformance “vintage”). The Pioneers scored just enough at the other end to ride their all-world goaltender to the promised land. All while guaranteeing that Boston College fans will flinch every time you mention the words “Denver” and “Matt Davis.” To add to the lore, the Pioneers improved to 5-1 against the Eagles all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Denver’s victory, while historic for the program, also carried an air of larger significance – in each of the seven previous NCAA Tournament rematches between the prior year’s national finalists, the team that lost the prior year’s national title won the rematch. With Denver’s victory, the defending champion moved to 1-7 in those matchups.

Now, the Pioneers’ attention turns from ending Boston College’s season in disappointment yet again to exacting revenge on Western Michigan in the Broncos’ first-ever Frozen Four trip for last weekend’s Frozen Faceoff championship debacle that saw Denver cough up a 3-0 third-period lead en route to a 4-3 double overtime loss.

The DU-WMU national semifinal will be the early game – 3 pm MT – on Thursday, April 10 while the other game – Boston University vs. Penn State – will be the late game at 6:15 pm MT.

The Denver Pioneers are the greatest college hockey program of all time. That title is undisputed. Now, it’s time to put some distance between them and the field.

Highlights

Top photo of Matt Davis courtesy of Denver Athletics

19 thoughts on “Denver Rides Matt Davis’ Heroics to Earn Program’s 6th Frozen Four Berth in 9 Years”

  4. It’s really amazing to be a Pios fan. Such great hockey, so much fun. Thank you to Coach Carle, the staff and awesome team for another exciting season. Getting 11 will be incredible!

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  5. can you imagine if we invested as much into our men’s basketball program as we do hockey?? We actually made an NCAA tournament and the exposure in basketball is 10 times what it is for hockey.
    This will never happen under Berlo!

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  6. Congratulations Pios! We just booked our flights to St. Louis! Any idea yet which section at the Enterprise Center will be our section?

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  8. I am so tired of listening to “butchie” and his sidekick. Their East Coast bias is always on full display. How are all of those first round draft picks working out for BC, boyz?

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    1. The East Coast bias comes directly out of ESPN (HQ–Bristol, CT). Say what you want about Butchie, he’s head and shoulders above that biased greaseball Barry Melrose we had to endure all those years. Meanwhile, the best announcer in college hockey, Dave Starman, remains outside the ESPN fold…

      Reply

  9. Carle coaches to peak at the right time
    ( remember that when so many of you bitch and moan in early January as has happened last two years)

    One and done hockey is exciting and not always best team wins, but coach has a knack for preparing the team for such games and adjusting in game

    Go pios!

    Reply

  13. Hey Scumberger (BC #14) 5 years of college hockey and 3 goals. You will be remembered for trying to take out Buium’s knee as your contribution to the sport.

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  14. I was fortunate to be in Manchester last weekend, and it was a joy to see our Pioneers emerge with the regional crown.

    The key to beating BC was Carle’s adjustments (and a steady dose of Matt Davis living rent free deep inside the brains of BC’s top line). BC came out determined to be physical from the drop of the puck, which is not how BC normally plays. The Pios absorbed the Eagles’ physicality, but figured out how get pucks up ice with the Eagles chasing, leading to the goals they needed to win the game.

    Yes, BC out shot the Pios badly in the third, but most of the shots could be seen by Davis, and the Pioneers held off the Eagles to punch their ticket to St. Louis.

    How lucky are we that Denver is 17-3 in its last 20 NCAA tourney games? That’s an amazing stat, and it comes down to having the right players playing their best hockey at the right time of year, with the right coaches adjusting Denver to the different styles of play presented by opponents.

    By the way, I won’t miss Manchester if I never have to go back there again. Kind of a dismal old textile mill town with a barely functional ice surface and very poor concession availability. City did very little (if anything) at least that I could see to promote the regional – no street banners, no events outside of the games. Springfield was much better last year in terms of setting.

    All in all, about 100 DU fans showed up. Vastly outnumbered, the Pios did what they do, and sent the BC (and PC) fans home with their respective seasons over.

    Now, it’s onto St. Louis.

    Reply
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