Hockey, Men's Sports

Denver Earns Double-Overtime Victory Over Minnesota Duluth to Win Record 4th Frozen Faceoff Championship

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Denver left the last Frozen Faceoff held in St. Paul last year with broken hearts after Western Michigan’s Alex Bump scored just two seconds into the second overtime to give the Broncos the second of their eventual three championships. The #2-seeded Pioneers, back in the conference’s final game for the third-straight season and hosting the #3-seeded Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in the first-ever Frozen Faceoff championship held on campus, were determined to prevent history from repeating itself. They came dangerously close to doing just that after they blew an early 3-0 lead, but Kristian Epperson’s goal less than two minutes into the second overtime to give the Pioneers the 4-3 victory avenged last year’s heartbreak and prevented a second-straight double-overtime loss.

DU head coach David Carle could not have scripted a better opening 15 minutes if he tried. Rieger Lorenz, Clarke Caswell, and Boston Buckberger all scored over the opening 13 minutes, setting the tone and giving the Pioneers a commanding 3-0 lead. Caswell’s goal was the product of a fortuitous bounce, but the Pioneers dominated most of the opening period, and the scoreboard reflected it. Max Plante, though, made sure the Bulldogs would not go into the locker room empty-handed as he tapped home UMD’s first goal of the night with barely a minute left in the opening period. It was a sign of things to come.

If Denver owned the first period, Duluth carried the play in the second. The Bulldogs outshot the Pioneers 16-4, assisted no doubt by two DU penalties, and the #2 power play unit in the country scored on both of their opportunities to tie the game with under two to play in the middle frame. While the officials allowed themselves to become entirely too big a part of the story of tonight’s game, both second-period penalties called against the Pioneers were correct, and the Bulldogs took full advantage.

The officiating issues had less to do with what was called against the Pioneers and more to do with what was not called against the Bulldogs. In other words, Ryan Hersey and Nathan Wieler failed to call a consistent hockey game. Hockey fans frequently jump to the “Ref, you suck” chant far too easily, but tonight, Denver fans showed remarkable restraint, waiting until the third period to break it out after a missed trip at the UMD blue line that ended a promising DU rush.

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs and Pioneers delivered an electric third period and overtime with both goalies – Adam Gajan for UMD and Frozen Faceoff most outstanding player Johnny Hicks for DU – matching each other save for save. Neither goalie ever found himself out of position, and they made even the ten-bell saves look easy.

Hicks, who made a career-high 41 saves, was under siege for most of the first overtime as he turned away all 14 Bulldog shots. Epperson rewarded him for the effort 1:54 into the second overtime, as he lifted a Clarke Caswell pass from across the low slot over Gajan’s right pad to send the Pioneers streaming onto the ice from the bench to create a mob in front of the DU student section.

The championship, which finally erases the bad taste from DU’s mouth from last year’s double-overtime letdown, is the Pioneers’ second in three years and fourth overall (2014, 2018, 2024, 2026), which is the most among all NCHC teams. And for any fans of sports symmetry out there, it’s appropriate that the program that won the first-ever Frozen Faceoff at the Xcel Energy Center in 2014 also won the first-ever Frozen Faceoff held exclusively on campus sites.

For Magness Arena’s part, the atmosphere was electric; it was unlike anything anyone had seen in the building’s 27 years. There have been incredible games with amazing atmospheres, no doubt – 2016 DU vs. UND immediately comes to mind – but all of those games pale in comparison to what the DU faithful witnessed last weekend against Western Michigan and tonight against Minnesota Duluth. If there was any lingering doubt that moving the conference tournament to campus sites was a good idea, it should all be gone now. Magness Arena delivered on its biggest stage to date and provided fantastic empirical evidence that moving the NCAA Tournament regionals to campus sites needs to be next on the sport’s docket.

With tonight’s victory, the NCHC champions can turn their attention to the next item on the checklist – hosting the NCAA Tournament Loveland regional at Blue FCU Arena next weekend. There was no doubt about DU’s or UMD’s NCAA Tournament fate coming into tonight’s game. Both teams were safely in and ended up ranked #5 and #8, respectively, in the final NPI. If the committee sticks with “strict bracket integrity,” Denver will play #12 Wisconsin, while #4 Western Michigan will play #13 Minnesota State in the other Loveland regional semifinal matchup. But who knows? The committee may throw us all a curveball and save a potential DU-WMU rematch for the Frozen Four again.

No matter what comes of tomorrow’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show – 1pm MT on ESPNU – the Pioneers will sleep well as champions tonight.

Highlights

Top photo credit Michael Ciaglo/Clarkson Creative Photography via DU Athletics

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