Apr 13, 2024, 09:54 PM ET
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz scored second-period goals, Matt Davis had 35 saves and Denver beat No. 1 overall seed Boston College 2-0 Saturday night to win the 10th national championship in program history.
No. 3 seed Denver (32-9-3), which finished the season on a nine-game win streak, moved past Michigan (nine) for most titles of all time. Boston College is tied with Boston University (five) for fourth, behind Wisconsin (six).
Davis had 23 third-period saves in his third shutout of the season. The junior made his 26th consecutive start, the longest streak of his career, and stopped 68 of the 69 shots he faced at the Frozen Four. Davis had 33 saves in the Pioneers’ 2-1 double-overtime win over Boston University in the semifinals.
After Denver won a faceoff in its defensive zone and quickly pushed it up the left side, Lorenz passed to Wright for a shot that ricocheted off the near post then bounced off Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler’s back above the bar before slipping inside the far post to open the scoring with 10:18 left in the second period.
Lorenz made it 2-0 about six minutes later. Zeev Buium drew a pair of defenders but slipped a pass between them to Lorenz, who fired a wrist shot into the net. Lorenz (16 goals, 14 assists) became the 10th Denver player with at least 30 points this season.
The Pioneers outscored their opponents 82-39 in the second period this season.
“It’s a really hard tournament to win because of the single-elimination nature of it,” Denver coach David Carle said. “You’re always trying to get better week to week, month to month, and trying to keep the big picture in mind and not get too high, get too low with a regular-season game here or there, even though it feels that way sometimes.
“You try to keep an even keel with it, learn, learn throughout the process.”
Boston College (34-6-1), which set the program’s single-season record for wins, had its 15-game win streak snapped and was shut out for the first time since a 1-0 loss at Merrimack on March 11, 2023. The Eagles went into the game having outscored their five opponents in the NCAA tournament 29-8.
“It’s obviously a very emotional time for our whole group,” Eagles forward Ryan Leonard said. “I felt like we were the best team today, and we got beat by a goalie.”
Denver beat Boston College 4-3 in the only regular-season matchup between the teams back in October.
The Pioneers have won at least 30 games in three consecutive seasons.
“It’s a total team effort to do what we do at Denver. And [I’m] just really proud of the whole program,” Carle said. “I think the run we’re on is a reflection of the people that we have.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
