Cut Above: Denver's neutral-zone play, and Matt Davis, shut down Boston College

Pioneers win NCAA record 10th national championship

Photo: NCAA

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Denver sits alone at the top of the college hockey mountain.

The Pioneers beat Boston College 2-0 on Saturday night at the XCel Energy Center. They were the first team to shut out the high-powered BC offense all season and won their NCAA record 10th national championship.

“What an effort by our team,” said Denver coach David Carle. “They executed unbelievably well. Everybody laid it all on the line, and we're national champions. I’m so proud of them. They'll walk together forever.”

BC is one of the best transition teams in the country, but it had trouble generating odd-man opportunities against the Pioneers. Will Smith broke free on a breakaway early in the first period, which was the Eagles’ best chance of attacking the zone with numbers.

“Denver did a good job of getting above, especially in the neutral zone,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “We’re usually pretty good at breaking pucks out and having speed through the neutral zone, but they had three and four guys a lot of times above our guys right away. I just didn't think we generated as much speed, and that's more of a credit to [Denver].”

“When we got into the offensive zone, until the third period, they did a good job keeping us to the outside and keeping our shots to not as much of a threat as we want them to be,” said BC forward Jack Malone. “ I commend [Matt Davis]. He did a tremendous job for them; they have a great team. They know how to win.”

Denver’s ability to shut down the Eagles through the middle of the rink won them the game. The Eagles faced similar challenges in this tournament against Quinnipiac and Michigan Tech but found ways to crack their opponents. In the national title game, Denver never cracked—not once.

“We felt our offensive zone was the most important zone to slow them down because of how they break pucks out, how they transition out of their D zone, how they pull pucks out and really try to spread you out,” Carle said.

“In the third, they actually started to put more pucks behind us and generate possession that way rather than trying to go through us off the rush, and that led to a lot of what they were able to create.

“They're a team that keeps you on your heels. If you play on your heels, you're playing with fire. You have to find a way to skate forward and angle and stay on your toes to disrupt them and make them uncomfortable. I thought we did that well in the first two periods and the third period was Matt Davis' show.”

Denver and BC were scoreless after the first period. Still, the opening 20 minutes weren’t without some theatrics, including big saves by Denver goalie Matt Davis and BC goalie Jacob Fowler.

Mike Posma boarded Denver’s McKade Webster at the 4:31 mark of the second period, which put the Pioneers on the power play, but the Eagles killed it off with minimal threats.

BC’s had a flurry of chances with 10:43 left in the second period, but Davis stopped the first chance with his chest and then got his right pad on a follow-up from Cutter Gauthier.

Seconds later, Denver took the lead.

After the ensuing draw, the Pioneers won possession and raced down the ice. Jared Wright accepted Rieger Lorenze’s pass and tried tucking the puck under the bar. Fowler got a piece of it with his mask, but the puck fluttered back to the ice and danced over the line to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead with 10:18 left in the second period.

“I just remember coming up the ice with the puck and kicked it out to Rieger,” Wright said. “I tried picking the guy's stick. Rieger did an awesome job getting it out to me and I threw it blind to the net. I was lucky enough that it rolled in, and it was a big goal.”

Three minutes after giving Denver the lead, Wright had a chance to double it on a breakaway, but Fowler turned him away. Aidan Thompson had a Grade A chance from the left circle a few minutes later, but Fowler took a perfect angle to make a difficult save look easy.

Denver kept pushing and doubled its lead to 2-0 with 4:44 left in the second period. This time, Lorenz accepted the feed (from Zeev Buium) and fired a shot that beat Fowler over his shoulder.

“Zeev's been doing it all year,” Lorenz said. “He climbed up the ice, beat a couple of guys, and I was lucky to find open ice and put it in.”

Denver went on the penalty kill early in the third period, and as old adages go, their goaltender was their best penalty killer. Midway through the power play, Ryan Leonard had an open net, but Davis robbed him, diving across his crease and keeping the puck out with his right arm.

“I just saw the puck go back door again,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘uh-oh,’ and I dove over and made the save.”

“Superhuman,” added Carle. “This whole run, he gave up three goals. It's incredible what he did. A lot of big-time saves in those games. ... There's many moments in all these games that he could have cracked and he didn't. Without him, we're not sitting here.”

After the power play, BC found ways to extend in-zone possession but couldn’t solve Davis.

Devine was called for a trip with eight minutes left, giving the Eagles their second power play of the period. Davis made another save on Leonard—from the left circle this time—and another side-to-side save on Lukas Gustafsson to help the Pioneers kill the penalty and retain their two-goal lead with six minutes left.

The Eagles continued to apply pressure after the final media timeout with 4:11 left, but Davis continued to play the hero for Denver. He made a point-blank stop on Oskar Jellvik after a sliding save on Cutter Gauthier.

Davis made 23 saves in the third period.

Fowler headed to the BC bench with 2:40 left and BC still trailing 2-0. Davis, meanwhile, made another point-blank stop on Gabe Perreault during the 6-on-5.

Lorenz beat Cutter Gauthier down the ice to negate an icing with about 30 seconds left, which helped Denver clinch the victory.

“It starts with our prep,” Lorenz said. “We have the best coach in college hockey. He helped us in the pre-scouts and helped me and our team so much and through all of our careers, we're incredibly blessed to have him, and we couldn't do it without him.”