by Heather Rule/Special to CHN
ST. PAUL, Minn. Denver broke the pattern.
In the second semifinal of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on Friday night, the 3-seeded St. Cloud State Huskies scored the first goal, and Denver answered to tie it up 1-1. That back-and-forth continued through the first period (2-2 tie) and second period (4-4 tie) before Denver freshman Zeev Buium finally gave the No. 2 seed Pioneers the lead — and 5-4 win — at 6:21 of overtime with a backhand move to the net.
The win sends Denver to the Frozen Faceoff championship game against No. 5 seed Omaha on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Denver came into the game leading the country in offense, averaging 4.89 goals per game. It hit that mark almost exactly in the overtime victory Friday. Denver coach David Carle was pleased to see his team’s resilience to come back four times in the game. While the Pioneers have been in a lot of high-scoring games this season, they haven’t been in a situation like Friday night where they kept getting down a goal.
“I think it was a great challenge for us as we learn how to win these types of games,” Carle said. “We’ve talked a lot about our youth and how we want to grow and be a different team now than we were at the start.
“I don’t know if we win that game in October or November.”
Carle added that his team has shown a lot of growth, maturity, confidence and belief in themselves, which helped them to execute instead of being deterred from being down a goal four straight times against the Huskies.
“That’s not an easy thing to overcome,” Carle said.
Buium’s move electrified the crowd, and is not one many other defenseman can make. The league’s Rookie of the Year — and World Junior gold medalist for Team USA, which was led by the two head coaches in this game — will be at least a mid-first-round pick in June’s NHL Draft.
The offense was also a welcome sight for the Pioneers on this stage in this tournament. Carle noted that it’s the first time Denver has scored a goal on the Friday of the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul since March 2018, the year they won it. Minnesota Duluth shut out Denver in the semifinals at the X in 2019 by a 3-0 score and in 2022 by a 2-0 score. Last season, Colorado College shut out Denver 1-0.
Even late Friday night after the overtime…
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