The University of Denver hockey team secured their first Frozen Four appearance since the 2018-19 season with wins over UMass Lowell and Minnesota Duluth to win the Loveland regional. There are four players remaining who were on the Frozen Four team that year, which ended up falling to a Cale Makar-led UMass team in overtime.
While they won’t have to play Cale Makar, arguably the best defenseman in all of college hockey, they will have stiff competition if they want to win their first championship since the 2016-17 season. But first, let’s recap how DU got here and why they have a real chance of winning the whole thing.
After a disappointing season last year, DU hockey reestablished itself as a premier team, going 29-9-1. They are powered by the nation’s best offense, which averages 4.28 goals per game. The engine of that offense is the NCHC Player of the Year and Hobey Baker finalist, junior forward Bobby Brink (Minnetonka, Minn.), who has scored an NCAA-leading 56 points in 39 games this season. Brink has put up these gaudy numbers thanks to his excellent playmaking ability and superb on-ice intelligence that allows him to always be at the right place at the right time.
Brink is supported by a deep and talented cast that includes three other players who averaged over a point per game: senior forward Cole Guttman (Los Angeles, Calif.), sophomore forward Carter Savoie (St. Albert, Alberta) and senior forward Brett Stapley (Campbell River, B.C.). The talented freshman class also made significant contributions to the team, with many of them playing crucial roles in their first year. Forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) took home NCHC Freshman of the Year honors, with forward Massimo Rizzo (Burnaby, B.C.), and defensemen Sean Behrens (Barrington, Ill.) and Shai Buium (San Diego, Calif.) joining Mazur on the NCHC all-freshman team. DU set the record for most players from a single team on the all-freshman team, taking up four of the six spots.
DU will face plenty of talent when they meet a Michigan team loaded with NHL prospects. Four of the first five picks in the 2021 NHL Draft are on the Wolverines. They are the third highest-scoring team in the country. The other three teams in the Frozen Four make up the remainder of the highest-scoring teams in the nation. Their leading scorer is sophomore forward Matty Beniers who was the second overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and the first-ever draft selection of the Seattle Kraken. They also have studs on the blueline with first overall pick sophomore Owen Power and freshman top-five pick Luke Hughes. However, they are not unbeatable. They have had stretches of inconsistency throughout the season, looking dominant one game, and lackluster the next. That is par for the course for an inexperienced team and something Denver needs to capitalize on if they want to move on.
If DU gets past Michigan, they will meet the winner of an all Minnesota clash between the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State. Minnesota and Minnesota State have the other two Hobey Baker finalists in junior forward Ben Meyers of the Gophers and senior goaltender Dryden McKay of the Mavericks. Both teams have a good mix of talent and experience and will figure to give DU a tough game should the Crimson and Gold make it to the championship.
DU’s semifinal game is on Thursday, April 7th at 3 p.m. MST, and if they win, they will play in the championship game on Saturday, April 9th at 6 p.m. MST. Both games will be televised on ESPN2.
