After not winning a game when scoring fewer than three goals all season, Denver did it four games in a row en route to its record 10th NCAA men’s hockey national championship.
The Pioneers shut down Boston College, the No. 1 overall seed, 2-0 in the title game Saturday night at St. Paul, Minnesota.
Goalie Matt Davis had 34 saves in handing the Eagles their first shutout of the season. Davis finished the tournament with 138 saves on 141 shots (.979 save percentage) and a 0.85 goals-against average.
Jared Wright got the Pioneers on the board at 9:42 of the second period and Denver made it 2-0 just more than five minutes later when Rieger Lorenz converted a beautiful feed from freshman defenseman Zeev Buium.
Denver won its second national title in three years and its 10th overall, the most of all time. The Frozen Four teams — Denver, BC, Boston University and Michigan — have won a combined 29 national titles, with Denver’s 10 the most all time. Michigan has won nine titles, with Hockey East rivals BC and BU winning five each. BC’s last title came in 2012, BU’s in 2009 and Michigan’s in 1998.
Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.
But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.
Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.
Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).
Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.
New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.
Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.
Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.
He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.
Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.
DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.
LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.
Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.
He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.
In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.