ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Denver Pioneers are no strangers to lighting up a scoreboard.
The nation’s most potent offense didn’t have too many issues putting up goals night in and night out all season, but in the first half, defense had been something of a liability to offset a chunk of all that scoring.
That has changed through most of the second half, and after coming into St. Paul and leaving with another NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship, DU is headed into the national tournament looking like a serious threat for their 10th national title.
McKade Webster finished a great weekend with the game-tying and game-winning goals, and late insurance goals from Miko Matikka and Rieger Lorenz as well as an improved defensive effort helped 3rd ranked Denver defeat 11th ranked Nebraska Omaha 4-1 in a surprisingly one-sided matchup on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Pioneers coach David Carle. “Heck of an accomplishment. They showed a lot of growth.”
The Pioneers won their third NCHC playoff championship with the victory, and they complemented their offense with a very good effort defensively, clogging lanes and getting down low and not letting Omaha generate very many decent scoring chances after the Mavericks had their way offensively with the regular-season champion Fighting Hawks on Friday.
“I thought we limited their chances,” Carle said. “I thought we got better defensively as the weekend went on. It doesn’t hinder offense; we still scored at a really high rate here in the second half, but we’ve done a better job defensively keeping shot counts down and just keeping the puck out of the net.”
Omaha, who advanced to the Frozen Faceoff for the first time in 10 seasons since the NCHC began play, will still be in the national tournament despite the loss. Coach Mike Gabinet didn’t see too many hanging heads from his players in the locker room after what was an otherwise memorable trip with many of their fans making the trip up north with them.
“Just a tremendous accomplishment to be where we are today,” Gabinet said. “Not the result we wanted, but I’m really proud of the group.
“We made sure we thanked [our fans] for coming out all this way to support us and they’ve been there all season long – to have that type of support from our community is pretty special and I think that’s what makes Omaha special as well.”
Brock Bremer, a senior from Forest Lake, located 27 miles northeast of St. Paul, led the way offensively for Omaha with a first-period goal, but that was the lone grade-A chance the Mavericks got; they simply had no answer for Denver’s suddenly stingy defense.
“I think they did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone and making us put pucks behind them,” said Omaha forward Jack Randl. “They did a pretty good job of slowing us down as well.”
Bremer got the game’s scoring started as he knocked in a rebound of a Kirby Proctor shot, recording his second goal of the weekend to make it 1-0 Mavericks after 20 minutes.
McKade Webster's 2nd goal of the game is tonight's @Safeway Goal of the Game. #GoPios pic.twitter.com/7W92GZjJkO
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) March 24, 2024
Denver’s offense went to work in the second period as Webster recorded his second and third goals of the tournament 3:21 apart as the Pioneers grabbed a 2-1 second intermission lead.
“I’m not really too sure,” Webster said when asked about his success in the tournament. “Just keeping the game simple. Just playoff hockey.”
Meanwhile, DU’s persistent and disruptive defense just wouldn’t allow UNO to get anything set up; the Mavericks couldn’t get a forecheck going for much of the second and third periods. While the Pioneers did allow four goals Friday, they came from a desperate St. Cloud State Huskies team fighting to keep their season alive.
On Saturday, they allowed just one to an Omaha offense that scored six times against North Dakota the night before and that had been on a great roll coming into St. Paul. The Pioneers head into the NCAA tournament not only with another NCHC tournament championship in their possession (and the first under Carle), but also playing their most complete hockey of the season at the right time.
With the game winding down, Matikka scored on a delayed penalty late in regulation before Lorenz capped the weekend’s scoring with an empty netter with a minute to go.
While this was an important accomplishment for Denver’s season, Carle is already looking to the next step – and not just because the Twin Cities is about to be hit by snow, as he acknowledged.
“Already looking at brackets,” he said.
Matchups for the 2024 NCAA tournament will be announced at 5:30 p.m. CDT on Sunday. Denver will be a No. 1 seed and Omaha will be a No. 3 seed.
NCHC Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team
Forward: Miko Matikka (Denver)
Forward: McKade Webster (Denver) – Most Outstanding Player
Forward: Zach Urdahl (Omaha)
Defenseman: Zeev Buium (Denver)
Defenseman: Griffin Ludtke (Omaha)
Goaltender: Simon Latkoczy (Omaha)
