Denver, CO
Championship-caliber defense not enough for Wisconsin to secure NCAA hockey title
LAS VEGAS – Wisconsin had Denver under its thumb, but somehow the Pioneers slipped away.
Denver scored twice in the final 12 ½ minutes to score a 2-1 victory over the Badgers at T-Mobile Arena. The win gave the Pioneers their third national championship in five seasons and their 11th overall, and it came on a night when they were held to a season-low 15 shots on goal.
How did the Pioneers escape with a championship that easily could have been the Badgers’? To get an answer from the UW players, they would need more than the 15 minutes they got in the locker room to regroup before postgame interviews.
The pain they felt, however, needed no explanation.
“I think I’m still a little shocked right now,” senior captain Ben Dexheimer said. “I’m definitely going to settle in in the next few days, but I couldn’t be prouder of this team from the ups and downs throughout the year. I just love every one of those guys in that room.”
Rieger Lorenz and Kyle Chyzowski scored during a 7-minute stretch in the third period for Denver, which closed the season with a 29-11-3 record and a 17-game unbeaten streak.
The Badgers (24-13-2) were also pretty good at the end of the season, winning nine of 12 games to reach their first NCAA final since 2010. UW’s first championship since 2006 proved elusive, but the program defeated three top-10 teams to get to the title game.
It was a heck of a run, just not the greatest finish.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Badgers defense held up its end of the bargain
The improvement Wisconsin made defensively as the season went on was critical to its run to the title game. The Badgers had some defensive gems in the postseason, but this may be have been their best effort.
They held Denver to two shots in the first period, tying the fewest ever in a championship game, and then allowed just three in the second. The Pioneers’ 15 shots? That was also the fewest ever in a Frozen Four game.
Both Denver goals were hard earned.
On Lorenz’s goal, UW’s Daniel Hauser made the initial save. It was the rebound that got him. And Chyzowski’s game-winner came on an extended possession that, from the UW perspective, felt longer because Hauser lost his stick halfway through it.
“I’d probably say it’s the hardest team we’ve played against all year, just how they were on it,” Denver coach David Carle said. “Their forecheck made it real challenging to be able to break pucks out. We saw it against North Dakota, as well. It was an excellent team on their end.”
A 2-0 lead may have done the trick for UW
For the fourth time in the tournament, the Badgers scored first. Freshman Vasily Zelenov took an outlet pass from Weston Knox through the neutral zone and fired his only shot of the game from just outside the left circle.
The challenge was getting a second goal.
“We needed to in my opinion, get it to two, and we just couldn’t do that,” Badgers coach Mike Hastings said.
Similar to what Hauser has done for UW at times this season, Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks, the most outstanding player of the Frozen Four, kept his team in games. He finished the season 16-0-1.
“We were throwing everything we had at the net, but we just couldn’t find a way to get one through,” sophomore Gavin Morrissey said.
Denver’s defenders sacrificed their bodies in win
Wisconsin finished with 30 shots. Denver tallied 31 blocks, 10 better than its previous season best.
It is rare to see a team have more blocks than its opponents has shots in a game. Given UW’s struggle to get a second goal, Maybe if one of those got through …
“Obviously we only had one, so if I had to ask for something, it’d be one to get by them,” Hastings said. “Their commitment level, just like our commitment level, is at an all-time high when we get to this moment.”