It took a long 12 months to get here — not to mention a couple of long flights.
But the University of Denver hockey team exorcised some demons Saturday inside MassMutual Center, taking down third-seeded Cornell and goaltender Ian Shane with a 2-1 victory in the NCAA Tournament’s Northeast Regional final.
The win catapulted the Pioneers (30-9-3) to the Frozen Four, and exacted a measure of revenge in the process.
Last March, it was Shane and the Big Red who sent top-seeded DU home with a 2-0 loss in the regional semifinals in Manchester, N.H. But thanks to late-period goals from freshmen Sam Harris and Miko Matikka, as well as another gem from junior Matt Davis in net, the Pios are headed to St. Paul, Minn., for the program’s 19th Frozen Four on April 11-13.
“This was as hard of a battle as we’ve had to get to the Frozen Four,” DU coach David Carle said on the ESPN broadcast.
Indeed, this trip to the national semifinals was well-earned.
It began with a flight across two time zones to compete in a regional that featured three East Coast teams playing in their own backyard — despite DU being the top seed. The Pioneers’ will was tested even further with a 2-1 double-overtime win over UMass in Thursday’s regional semifinal.
Then, playing on two days’ rest after that marathon, DU hit the ice and ground out another one-goal victory.
A year after getting eliminated following another long trip east to New Hampshire as that regional’s top seed, the Pioneers didn’t let any of that adversity sink their quest to win the program’s 10th national title.
“It seems to happen to us a little bit more than everyone else,” Carle said of the tough regional draw. “… Will we ever let it be an excuse for us? Not a chance. We’ll play anybody, anywhere, anytime.
“We had the most adversity with our travel, the shortest turnaround and our guys never once talked about it, never once (complained) about it. We came up here ready to battle and we did that.”
Harris, whose screen aided Tristan Broz’s game-winning goal Thursday, struck again in front of the crease Saturday to produce the Pios’ game-winner.
Coming with just four seconds left in the second period and DU on a power play, the freshman forward tipped junior defenseman Shai Buium’s wrist shot from the right circle and the puck trickled past Shane for a 2-1 advantage.
DU then hung on for dear life in the third period, as the Big Red (22-7-6) outshot the Pios 9-3 over the final 20 minutes. But Davis (24 saves) stood tall once again two days after posting a career-high 46 saves, capped by an incredible sliding denial of a Cornell one-timer with less than 20 seconds to go.
“Puck went back door and I slid across and made the save, and I’m super happy that I was able to do that and help out the guys,” Davis said.
Added Carle, “A heck of a save obviously at the end. That wasn’t the only one. That’s the easy one to draw attention to, but he got a lot of big saves for us, covered a lot of pucks, got a lot of whistles for us. … He did an excellent job.”
The tired legs some might’ve expected from DU after Thursday’s double-OT win didn’t materialize early on, as the Pioneers dominated the puck in the opening five minutes. But that changed once the Cornell forecheck found its footing in the DU zone.
The first long build-up produced the Big Red’s lone goal 6:44 into the game, with a series of shots leading to the puck squirting out to sophomore forward Nick DeSantis for a one-timer that zipped through traffic and past Davis for a 1-0 Cornell lead.
The Big Red drew a power play nearly five minutes later, but the DU penalty kill shut them down and even produced a one-on-one breakaway that Shane denied with his pads. Not long after that DU finally solved Shane with 1:32 left in the period, as Matikka got a loose puck from senior forward McKade Webster and fired off a wrister for his 20th goal of the season to even the score at 1-all.
The tally from the freshman forward was the Pios’ first against Shane, who entered Saturday as the NCAA leader in goals-against average (1.68), in nearly four periods of NCAA Tournament play.
“To score 20 as a freshman, it’s a really hard thing to do,” Carle said of Matikka. “… Huge goal for him tonight.”
DU’s four-goal weekend marked just the second time all season that the top-ranked Pioneers offense (4.78 goals/game) scored four goals or less over a two-game set. The first came in a pair of losses to North Dakota on the road Jan. 26-27.
This time, however, the Pioneers had the defense to stay level with Cornell until Harris’ game-winner.
“(Improving defensively) was a focal point for us at the midway point of the season,” Webster said. “That’s something that we really needed to work on, and I think now everyone has just bought in, everyone is sacrificing everything they have and doing whatever it takes for team success right now.”
DU hadn’t played a single 2-1 game all season prior to this weekend. Now, the Pios have won two back-to-back. Add two more of those, and they will be national champs.
“Everyone wants to talk about the offensive side of our team and our players, but I think they showed this weekend that we can win playing great defense as well,” Carle said. “That’s a great sign that you can win games in different ways.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
