T-Mobile Arena erupted, helmets flew across the ice as University of Denver (DU) defeated Wisconsin 2-1 to win their record extending 11th national championship and Head Coach David Carle’s third.
“It’s a total team effort and that’s what I love about our institution,” said Carle. “I think a place like Denver should really be celebrated.”
Both teams went into the game with spectacular form. Denver had not lost 16 games, while the Wisconsin Badger’s confidence was high, having upset Michigan State and North Dakota in the previous two rounds of the tournament.
Denver had a power play early after a tripping penalty in the first two minutes of the game. Having failed to convert on a power play in the semifinal against Michigan, they were hungry to make a statement with an early goal.
But their power play woes continued. A man down, Wisconsin found themselves with a breakaway. A big save from freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks kept the game even at 0-0.
The Crimson and Gold had a huge opportunity to open the scoring at 9:26 into the game with junior forward Sam Harris breaking free in front of the goal. His wide open shot was rejected by Wisconsin goaltender Daniel Hauser.
With 6:24 left in the first period, the Badgers struck the first blow. Vasily Zelenov got the puck in a dangerous area and found the space to shoot. He beat Hicks off the post to make the score 1-0.
As both teams struggled to break the stalemate of the second period, sophomore forward Jake Fisher took a puck to the face with just over six minutes left before the break, but was able to come back after going to the locker room.
An uneventful second period concluded. Wisconsin took 21 shots to Denver’s five.
“You want to project to the group that it’s not a 911 situation. It’s a one shot game,” said Carle.
Hicks made another important hand-save to keep Denver within one with 14:01 minutes to play when Wisconsin broke away again, this time after Denver lost the puck due to a collision between two of their own players.
Hicks made 29 saves in the game and won the tournament’s most outstanding player award.
“Hicks is unbelievable. Obviously he’s undefeated, we couldn’t have done any of this without him,” said senior defenseman and captain Kent Anderson.
With 12:29 left in the game, Denver finally found their spark with a goal from senior attacker Rieger Lorenz. A shot from junior defenseman Garrett Brown was saved by Hauser and loose in front of goal before Lorenz picked it up and slipped it in to tie the game at 1-1.
As the game neared the end, junior defenseman Boston Buckberger fired a long range slapshot towards goal. Freshman forward Kyle Chyzowski got his stick on it to deflect the puck into the back of the net and give Denver the 2-1 lead with 5:52 to play.
“We believe in each other and there was never a doubt that someone was going to go out there and make the play,” said Anderson.
Minutes later, Wisconsin’s Blake Montgomery received a two minute penalty for holding, putting Denver a man up for two of the final four minutes of the national championship.
This advantage gave the Crimson and Gold a huge chance to seal the game, but three consecutive shots were saved by Hauser to keep the game within reach.
With two minutes to play, the Badgers pulled their goalie for one last push to send the game to overtime.
But to no avail, Denver’s defense held to secure its 11th national championship, cementing David Carle and this season in program history.
“That’s everything that this program is all about,” said senior forward Samu Salimen. “I’m sure it’s not going to be the last one in this dynasty.”
