Forced to head back to the Northeast Regional for the third straight year to open the NCAA Tournament, the University of Denver hockey team received an early gift from the Providence Friars.
The Pioneers didn’t even need it.
DU capitalized on what amounted to an own goal by Providence goaltender Philip Svedebäck in the first period, then defenseman Zeev Buium took over after that as the Pios blasted the Friars 5-1 on Friday in Manchester, N.H.
Buium scored once and assisted on two other highlight-reel goals between the second and third periods to blow open the first-round matchup inside SNHU Arena. Senior goaltender Matt Davis made it hold up with a 30-save masterpiece for his fifth straight NCAA tourney victory.
The win sends the Pios (30-11-1) to a regional final showdown with No. 1 overall seed Boston College (27-7-2) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday — the same Eagles program that Davis shut out in last year’s national championship.
“We passed the first test, and we have us a big one coming up on Sunday night,” DU coach David Carle told the ESPN broadcast.
The last time the Pioneers played in SNHU Arena, they saw their 2022-23 season come to an end in a 2-0 upset loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Now, the defending national champions are one win away from advancing from the Northeast Regional for the second straight season.
“It’s so hard to end teams’ seasons, and I don’t think it was a 5-1 hockey game,” Carle told ESPN. “Matty was excellent. Our ability to limit their second and third chances at our net front was really good. So yeah, I’m really proud of our guys for digging in.”
Davis made three saves in the opening minute of Friday’s game, then a massive error from Svedebäck in the third minute put Providence on its heels right away.
The senior goaltender skated behind his own net to play a DU dump-in to a teammate but instead shoveled it directly to a rushing Connor Caponi in front of the goal. The DU grad student tapped in the gimme for a 1-0 lead.
Buium then put his Hobey Baker finalist talents on display in the second period. It started with an incredible individual effort as Buium weaved through traffic and ripped off a wrister for his 12th goal of the season just 3:17 in. A little less than three minutes later, Buium served up a cross-zone pass to Sam Harris on the left side of the crease that the sophomore forward redirected for a power play tally and 3-0 lead.
The Pioneers killed three penalties in that period to take the three-goal advantage into the final frame.
A clinical tic-tac-toe goal just 3:53 into the third period erased whatever doubt remained as DU avoided the same three-goal collapse that sunk them in a 4-3 overtime loss to Western Michigan in last week’s Frozen Faceoff championship.
Samu Salminen backhanded a pass to an on-rushing Buium below the blue line, who then fed Aidan Thompson at the bottom of the right circle for a one-timer and his 20th goal of the season.
A five-minute major penalty briefly made things interesting with just under 12 minutes to go, with Austen May’s goal breaking a seven-period streak of shutout goaltending from Davis in NCAA Tournament play with 8:21 to go.
But Caponi got another tap-in goal on an empty net with 4:47 left, and Carter King added another empty-netter to spur the celebration.
Davis has now given up just four goals in his last five NCAA Tournament games — all wins. That includes a 2-0 shutout of Boston College in last year’s title game. Now the Eagles will get their shot at revenge, with a spot in the Frozen Four in St. Louis on the line Sunday.
“They have game-breakers at every position,” Carle said of Boston College. “We obviously know them well, having played them last year twice. We have the utmost respect for them and what they can do and how dangerous they are, so we’re going to need to play our best to have an opportunity to get to St. Louis. ”
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