Davis, Denver Prepare For (Another) National Title Defense
by Avash Kalra/Senior Writer (@AvashKalra)
Matt Davis, after winning last year’s national championship. (photo: Matt Dewkett)
DENVER The last time the college hockey world saw Denver goaltender Matt Davis, he was raising the national championship banner in St. Paul, Minn., fresh off a spectacular 35-save performance in the Pioneers’ title game triumph over Boston College.
And while it seems like the summer has gone by quickly — with the men’s college hockey season set to start this weekend — Davis was busy. The undrafted senior spent time with the Colorado Avalanche at their development camp earlier in the summer. He traveled to the Summer Olympic Games in France, where he watched his cousin, NBA star Dillon Brooks, a member of the Canadian national team. Davis stayed in Belgium and made the short trip to Lille to see his cousin, now a small forward for the Houston Rockets, play on the world’s biggest sports stage.
Then he came back to Denver. And this weekend, he’ll start for the Pioneers in Anchorage, Alaska, as the clear No. 1 starter for David Carle’s group that set an NCAA record last season with its 10th national title in program history.
The page is turning quickly.
“You just want to get to those last four games, but there’s a full journey that has to happen, personally and as a team in order for you to succeed in those games,” said Davis. “We’re excited to start that journey again and go for No. 11. But we’re focused on leaving the past in the past and really just focusing on this group and avoiding stories of last year’s team or the [national championship] team in 2022. We’ve had a tough training camp here, trying to burn that out of our skull and focus on this year. It’s been really good.”
Carle intentionally put his team through a “challenging” — as he put it — preseason camp, noting that “hard things bring people together” but also that he learned from his team’s experience as a defending champion two years ago.
“We’re trying to set the groundwork that this is a new team,” said Carle, a native of Anchorage and the returning coach as well for Team USA at the World Juniors. “We need to create our new identity. We had our ring dinner celebrated before training camp to put…
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