This is the first of four previews for teams playing in the 2023 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Paul, Minn. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Denver Pioneers
Season record: 30-9-3
How they got to St. Paul: Won the Springfield Regional, beating Massachusetts 2-1 and Cornell 2-1
Top players: F Jack Devine (27-29-56), D Zeev Buium (11-38-49), F Massimo Rizzo (10-34-44), F Tristan Broz (15-24-39), D Shai Buium (7-28-35).
Top goalie: Matt Davis (21-5-3, 2.48 goals-against average, .911 save percentage).
Why they’ll win the national championship: This Denver team didn’t have much trouble scoring all season up until the Springfield Regional, and there, the Pioneers showed that they can win tight, low-scoring games, too. That should come in handy in the Frozen Four, regardless of whether Denver plays one game there or two.
Why they won’t the national championship: While there’s no local draw to this year’s Frozen Four, the understandable dream matchup for many people is that the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the country, Boston University and Boston College, meet in the final. Denver, like any team would, will have its hands full with BU alone. Any team that wins two games in three days here will have very much earned the title.
Style points matter for little at this point in the season, and if you’re still playing from late March into April, no opponent will care if you boast the highest-scoring offense in the nation.
So for Denver to reach its program’s 18th Frozen Four after winning a pair of tight games at the Springfield Regional, where goal-scoring came at an especially high premium, it shows just how multi-dimensional this third-ranked Pioneers team is.
Denver’s only two 2-1 games this season are all the Pioneers have known of this NCAA tournament to date. After beating bottom-seeded Massachusetts in double overtime on March 28 in what was effectively a home game for the Minutemen, DU won by the same score two days later against Cornell.
“It gives us confidence to play in tight, low-scoring hockey games,” Denver coach David Carle said of how the Pioneers made it to this year’s Frozen Four, which begins Thursday in St. Paul, Minn. “We have a lot of respect for (UMass coach Greg Carvel) and (Cornell coach Mike Schafer) for how they do things and how difficult they made it on us, and I thought our guys found a way to adapt to that style of play, and playing in that tight-checking, low-scoring style.
“You need to be able to win games in different ways to win this tournament, and it was great for our guys to be able to get through those games and come out on the right side. That low-scoring, and obviously the double overtime game against UMass, those are games that can go either way. You need a guy to step up to make a play, and you need a lot of guys to step up and make plays defensively, and we had that level of commitment throughout our lineup, which gave us the opportunity to advance and move on.”
Denver had also found ways around adversity during the regular season. Injuries to several key players didn’t stop the Pioneers from securing a No. 1 regional seed. Those setbacks had started almost right away, as goaltender Matt Davis picked up an injury five games into the season and missed the rest of the first half.
“That increased the urgency of our team’s desire and ability to play defense, and he came back and has played every game in the second half,” Carle said, “But then getting into the second half, Kieran Cebrian goes down, our best faceoff guy, for a few weeks, then we lose Carter King, we lose Massimo Rizzo. The injuries that we’ve had in the middle of the rink, in the back end, has been a challenge but has been great for the growth of the group.
“Different people had to step up throughout the year, and I think it gave us a lot of confidence that there’s a lot of people in the room that can contribute to helping us win hockey games.”
Denver has done plenty of that, hitting the 30-win mark in the Springfield Regional final. There are still two more wins on offer, though, and again, Denver’s 4.71 goals per game this season won’t leave anyone quaking in their boots later this week.
“I’m just looking forward to the challenge,” Carle said. “I’m really proud of our team getting through the regional that we had. It’s been a lot of growing this year with a young team. I know there are a lot of other young teams at the Frozen Four this year, as well, but (with) 11 freshmen, I think our leadership group has done a great job of bringing the group along, and we’re looking forward to playing in another Frozen Four.”
