SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The highest scoring team in the nation didn’t need much of it to get back to the Frozen Four.
Denver, a team known for often posting victories by wide margins, posted its second-straight 2-1 victory in the NCAA tournament on Saturday. Two late-period goals were all the Pioneers needed for a thrilling win over Cornell in the NCAA regional final before a crowd of 4,407 at the MassMutual Center.
“We’ll play whatever we need to play,” said Denver coach David Carle, whose team went into the afternoon averaging 4.78 goals per game. “You look at our team, we’re comfortable playing any type of game now. We have a lot of confidence regardless of the style of play. Just really proud of our team for being able to execute in these types of hockey games.”
Denver goalie Matt Davis made 24 saves, none bigger than when he stopped Cornell’s Ryan Walsh with his right pad on a point-blank opportunity with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game.
“I thought the guys did a heck of a job there just shutting them down,” said Davis, the tournament MVP who deflects praise as well as he does pucks. “(Cornell’s) a hard, heavy team, and they look to create chaos at the net front. The guys were awesome in front of me there.”
NCHC champion Denver (30-9-3) will now head to the Frozen Four for the 19th time in program history, and first since 2022, when it won its ninth NCAA championship with a 5-1 win over Minnesota State in the final. ECAC Hockey champion Cornell, looking for its first trip to the Frozen Four since 2003, saw its season end at 22-7-6.
Four seconds left in the period? a PERFECT time for a Harris power play goal
🎥@ESPNU // @ESPNPlus #GoPios pic.twitter.com/6ofSFeDqNp
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) March 30, 2024
Sam Harris provided the game-winner for Denver late in the second period when he redirected a power-play shot by Shai Buium between the pads of Big Red goalie Ian Shane (16 saves) with just 4.8 seconds remaining to break a 1-1 tie. Shane initially appeared to make the save with his pads, but the puck trickled through and no one from Cornell was there to scoop it to safety before it slowly inched over the goal line.
It was Harris’ first goal of the tournament and 14th on the season.
The third period was devoid of scoring, but not excitement. Cornell’s Jonathan Castagna missed on an open-net chance with about 3:15 to go in the period. With Davis out of position, Castagna was unable to get enough of his stick on the puck in the fraction of a second he had to react.
Later in the frame, seconds after Shane was pulled for an extra skater, Walsh was called for a slashing penalty, putting the Pioneers on the power play. After the Big Red successfully killed the penalty, Shane returned to the bench, but Cornell was unable to find the equalizer.
“We fought all the way to the very end,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “(Davis) made an unbelievable save. (He) did a tremendous job. Couldn’t be more proud of our hockey team.”
Cornell sophomore forward Nick DeSantis opened the scoring when he capitalized on a loose puck in front of Denver’s net at 6:44 of the first to put the Big Red up 1-0.
Miko Matikka provided the last-minute magic for the Pioneers in the first period, when his wrister from high in the slot got past Shane at 18:28, knotting the game at 1-1.
The Pioneers will face either Boston University or Minnesota in the Frozen Four on April 11 in Saint Paul, Minn.
