The Crimson and Gold punched its ticket to the Frozen Four for the second straight year on Sunday and now looks to win back-to-back national championships for the first time since the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
This season’s NCAA regional tournament was one for the record books. With upsets and all, sixteen teams faced a difficult path to the Frozen Four, which will take place in St. Louis, Mo.
For Denver, there was no exception as they played the Providence College Friars in their first game last Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire.
A dominant performance by the Crimson and Gold started early with a Connor Caponi goal. A mistake by Providence goaltender Felix Svedback gave the puck right to Caponi, who shot the puck into a wide-open cage.
Sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium stood out in their opening regional game with a three-point night, including a highlight real goal that was his second of the night.
A dominant game saw a 5-1 win by the Crimson and Gold, and two of the top line players, senior forward Carter King and junior forward Aidan Thompson, both contributed on the score sheet.
The other semi-final game of the Manchester regional was between the No. 1 team in the country, the Boston College Eagles, and the Bentley Falcons.
The Bentley Falcons won the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) playoffs and won their final regular season matches to get their spot in the NCAA tournament.
For Bentley, this was their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in program history, and they gave Boston College a run for their money.
The Eagles etched out a 3-1 win over Bentley with the game being a 1-1 tie for the majority of the duration. That was until James Hagen, a projected top-ten pick in the upcoming 2025 NHL draft, scored on a wrap-around goal with a minute and a half left in the third period.
The BC Hobey Baker finalist, Ryan Leonard, scored an empty-net goal, and his nation-leading 30th goal of the season secured their spot in the regional championship against Denver. It would be a rematch of last season’s national championship game, and the winner of this game would go to the Frozen Four.
Entering the game, the defending champions were 0-7 in championship rematches in the next tournament. But Denver had the Eagles’ number, with a 4-1 record against BC.
The Crimson and Gold stayed hot against the Eagles and got on the board late in the first period at the 18:19 mark. Sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp got a great pass from senior forward Jack Devine and Pohlkamp wired it post and in to give Denver the 1-0 lead.
Early in the middle period at 2:09, a shot from the top of the circle by freshman forward James Reeder got through a sea of bodies and beat the Mike Richter Goaltender of the Year award finalist Jacob Fowler to extend the Denver lead at 2-0.
In the final minute of the second period at 19:07, the 2025 World Juniors golden goal scorer and Boston College’s Teddy Stiga got a breakaway and slid the puck through the five-hole of senior goaltender Matt Davis to cut the Denver deficit to 2-1.
The third period was one with unease for the Crimson and Gold. Davis was in his classic postseason form, making save after save to keep Denver’s lead.
Denver was content with the 2-1 lead and played a tight defensive game, draining the remaining 20 minutes on the clock to get themselves to St. Louis.
With four seconds remaining on the clock, Buium solidified Denver’s Frozen Four spot and scored an empty-net goal to give Denver the 3-1 win.
Denver will take on the Western Michigan Broncos in their Frozen Four semi-final game on April 10, a rematch of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship where the Broncos beat Denver in double OT, 4-3.
