ST. PAUL, Minn. — Two second period goals from Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz and 35 saves from Matt Davis helped the Denver Pioneers pull off a 2-0 upset win over the No. 1 overall seed Boston College Eagles on Saturday night.
Boston College (34-6-1) came in as the heavy favorites, outscoring its five opponents 29-8 throughout the NCAA Tournament and setting the program's single-season record for wins en route to the finals. The Pioneers snapped the Eagles 15-game win streak snapped and suffered their shut out for the first time since a 1-0 loss at Merrimack on March 11, 2023.
The win marked the 10th national championship for Denver (32-9-3), moving them ahead of Michigan for the most title all-time.
Denver got control of the puck after a faceoff in its defensive zone and immediately pushed it up the left side. Lorenz passed puck off to Wright for a shot from the bottom of the left circle, that ricocheted off the near post, bounced off the back of Boston College's goaltender Jacob Fowler and fell inside the far post to give the Pioneers the early lead with 10:18 left in the second period.
Lorenz doubled Denver's lead six minutes later. Zeev Buium drew a crowd of defenders but made a backhand pass to Lorenz, who flipped a wrister past Fowler into the back of the net.
Davis, making his 26th consecutive start of the season, turned aside 23 shots in the third period to earn his third shoutout of the season. He stopped 68 of 69 shots he faced at the Frozen Four.
The Pioneers killed off a Boston College power play in the early moments of the third period, as Davis made one of the most memorable plays of the night. Eagles forward Ryan Leonard looked as if he had wide-open attempt as Gabe Perreault fed him a criss-cross pass in front of the net, but Davis made a diving save with his glove hand to end the threat.
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