ST. PAUL, Minn. — Boston College hadn’t been shut out this season. Coming into Saturday’s national championship game against Denver, the lowest output in a game for the Eagles was one goal, and BC won that game — 1-0 vs. New Hampshire on March 3.
But Denver was able to bottle up the potent Eagles offense for two periods, and Pioneers goalie Matt Davis did the rest en route to a 2-0 win.
The turning point was midway though the second period, shortly after a Denver power play, when the Pioneers held Boston College without a shot for a 5:13 stretch that saw Denver out-attempt the Eagles 14-0 and score both of their goals.
“I thought (early in) the second period we did a nice job, had a great penalty kill, and then it seemed like they took momentum,” BC coach Greg Brown said.
“We should have taken momentum after a good penalty kill. But the next few minutes, five, seven minutes or so, they seemed to just have better legs right in that stretch.”
“They did a good job slowing us down, especially in the neutral zone,” BC forward Jack Malone said. “When we got into the offensive zone, I felt until the third period they did a good job keeping us to the outside and keeping our shots (to be) not as much of a threat we want them to be.”
“They were a little quicker on pucks, and they were able to capitalize on a couple, and then we made a great push in the third,” said Brown. “(In the third) we had a lot of chances. Their goalie played great. They got some blocks. We hit a post or two.”
In the third, Boston College’s offense opened up, putting 23 shots on net, but Denver goalie Matt Davis was a wall. His 23 stops in the third tied a Frozen Four record for most saves in a period, also held by a Denver goalie: Peter Mannino made 23 in the third period of the national championship against North Dakota in 2005 (a 4-1 Denver win).
“I commend their goalie,” said Malone. “He did a tremendous job for them, and they have a great team. They know how to win, and I think that they just used their experience to their advantage.
“If we could go back and try to change the way we started, we would, but that’s not how it works.”
Denver coach David Carle stressed his team’s defensive play though the first two periods.
“(Slowing down BC) was everything,” said Carle. “We feel our offensive zone was the most important zone to slow them down with 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.
“They make it really, really challenging, and I thought in the third they actually started to put more pucks behind us, generate possession that way rather than trying to go through us off the rush. I thought we did that well the first two periods and the third period was Matt Davis’ show.”
