MANCHESTER, N.H. — One year after winning the NCAA championship by the skin of its teeth, Denver’s road to a possible second-straight title got off to a drama-free start.
The Pioneers made quick work of Providence on Friday, cruising to a 5-1 win to open the Manchester Regional.
“Some of those ‘drama’ games are a little more fun,” said Denver senior forward Carter King (goal, two assists). “I was really proud of the effort tonight. You can call it easy from the score, but it’s never easy playing in tournament games. (We) played the whole 60 and I think that showed up on the scoreboard.”
NCHC’s Denver — which won last year’s NCAA tournament with three one-goal victories — will face overall No. 1 seed and Hockey East regular-season champ Boston College (26-7-2) on Sunday at 7 p.m. with each team looking for its second straight trip to the Frozen Four. BC was a 3-1 winner over Atlantic Hockey champ Bentley (23-14-2) in Friday’s first regional semifinal.
Denver (30-11-1) wasted no time getting on the board when Connor Caponi pounded the puck into an open net following an unforced error on a clear attempt by Providence goalie Philip Svedebäck (15 saves). The Pioneers led 1-0 just 2:25 into the game and that’s where it stood after the first period.
“You’re never going to complain when you get to go up 1-0 on a goal like that in this event,” Denver coach David Carle said. “Personally I didn’t love our first seven or eight minutes of the game but we sort of managed the puck better beyond that.”
Goals by Zeev Buium (assisted by Aidan Thompson and King) and Sam Harris (assisted by Buium and King) staked the Pioneers to a 3-0 lead after two. Thompson, with Buium and Samu Salminen assisting, snuffed out any hope of a Providence comeback with a goal at 3:53 of the third to make it 4-0.
“They played a much more mature, simple game than we did tonight,” Providence coach Nate Leaman said. “Their experience really showed. Hopefully we can take that lesson and grow with it. We had some good opportunities throughout the game (but) I thought they managed the game and managed the puck really well.”
Denver goalie Matt Davis had 29 saves.
Providence finally broke its scoring drought at 11:39 of the final frame on a goal by Austen May (assisted by Logan Will).
“They were above us a good amount of the night,” Providence defenseman Connor Kelley said. “We couldn’t really figure out how to get it through the neutral zone. We didn’t play fast enough. We really just couldn’t get anything going until it was a little too late.”
Sunday’s regional final will be an NCAA final rematch — Denver beat BC 2-0 in last year’s national title game in St. Paul, Minn.
“We know they’re a really good hockey team,” Buium said. “We’ll play anyone, anywhere, so we’re excited for Sunday and the opportunity to do it again.”
