SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of Denver hockey team punched its ticket to the 2024 NCAA Frozen Four and the program's fifth trip to the national semifinals in the last eight national tournaments.
 
Two freshmen scored for No. 1-seed Denver on Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 victory against the No. 3-seed Cornell Big Red in the Northeast Regional Final at MassMutual Center.
 
"It was an absolute war again. Really proud of our team," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "Heck of an effort by our team. So proud of them and can't wait to get back to another Frozen Four."
 
DU (30-9-3, 15-7-2 NCHC), which defeated Massachusetts by the same score in double overtime on Thursday, advances to its 19th Frozen Four in the program's 75-season history and its seventh trip in the past 20 years. The Pioneers will face Boston University in the national semifinals on Thursday, April 11 after the Terriers defeated Minnesota in their Regional Final on the other side of the bracket.
 
Forward Miko Matikka and Sam Harris scored for DU, which had four freshmen record the team's six points in the game. Fellow rookies Boston Buckberger and Zeev Buium and senior captain McKade Webster and junior Shai Buium all had assists.
 
Goaltender Matt Davis made 24 saves to extend his personal winning streak to seven games. He stopped the final 20 shots of the contest, with his best coming with 10 seconds remaining as he stretched his right pad to deny Ryan Washe during a scramble around the crease.
 
"A heck of a save at the end," Carle said. "It wasn't the only one, but it's an easy one to draw attention to. He got a lot of big saves for us, covered a lot of pucks and got us a lot of whistles. He did an excellent job, really proud of him."
 
Cornell (21-12-2, 15-6-1 ECAC) opened the scoring at 6:44 of the opening period as Nick DeSantis tallied on a loose puck before Matikka evened the game at 1-1 on a wrist shot with 92 seconds left before the first intermission.
 
Denver received another late-period goal in the second frame as Harris redirected Shai Buium's shot through goaltender Ian Shane and the puck slid through the crease and into the goal line.
 
Shane finished with 16 saves as Cornell outshot Denver 25-18.
 
The Pioneers went 1-for-2 on the power play and had a man advantage with 2:35 remaining regulation to help burn crucial time. Cornell went 0-for-1 on the power play.
 
Denver and Cornell were meeting for the second consecutive NCAA Tournament, as the Big Red picked up a 2-0 victory over the Pioneers last season in the Northeast Regional Semifinals in Manchester, New Hampshire.
 
This year's NCAA Frozen Four is being held in St. Paul, Minnesota, at Xcel Energy Center—the same site that DU won the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship last Saturday against Omaha.
 
 
TICKETS: Information on DU's ticket allotment for the 2024 Frozen Four will be released via e-mail in the near future.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Goaltender Matt Davis was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament and was joined on the Regional All-Tournament Team by forwards Tristan Broz and Miko Matikka and defenseman Boston Buckberger.
• Denver has now reached the Frozen Four in five of its last seven NCAA Tournament appearances (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023; not in 2018 or 2022; 2020 cancelled due to COVID).
• Freshmen combined for three of DU's four goals and six of the 12 points over the two games at the Regional.
• Boston Buckberger had an assist for his third point of the NCAA Regionals and is on a three-game point streak (1g/3a).
• Zeev Buium recorded an assist and now has 49 points on the season.
• Sam Harris scored his second career game-winning goal.
• Miko Matikka recorded his 20th goal of the season.
• Goaltender Matt Davis' career-long seven-game winning streak is his longest since Magnus Chrona also went on a seven-game run last season from Jan. 27-Feb. 15, 2023.
• Denver was perfect on the penalty kill for the 22nd game this season and third game in a row. DU has killed off each of their penalties in five of the last six games and eight of the past 11 contests.
• DU improved to 8-6-0 all-time against Cornell and 3-3 in the national tournament. Denver was playing the same team in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since also doing it against Ohio State in 2018 and 2019.
• The Pioneers played their first 2-1 games of the season in each NCAA Regional contest.
• DU extended its season-long winning streak to seven games, its longest since also going on a seven-game run from Nov. 26-Dec. 17, 2022. It's last winning streak of eight or more games was a nine-game winning streak from Jan. 15-Feb. 11, 2022.
• Denver tied a season low with two penalty minutes and the teams combined for six total penalty minutes in the game, the lowest of the season in a Pioneer game.
• Freshman defenseman Cale Ashcroft made his NCAA Tournament debut, replacing forward Alex Weiermair in the lineup.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
6:44 CU (0-1) – Nick DeSantis scored in the low slot after the puck came loose in a scramble.
18:28 DU (1-1) – Miko Matikka buried a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
 
2nd Period
19:56 DU (2-1) – PPG, Sam Harris chipped Shai Buium's shot from the right circle through Cornell goaltender Ian Shane and the puck slowly slid across the ice and into the goal.
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
 
QUOTABLES
Junior Goaltender Matt Davis
On the final minutes of the game: "I thought the guys did a heck of a job there shutting them down. They're a hard heavy team and they look to create chaos in the net-front. The guys were awesome in front of me there."
 
On his last-second save: "[They] popped it backdoor and I slid across and made the save. Super happy I was able to do that and help the guys there."
 
Senior Forward McKade Webster
On Cornell's defense: "I think they're a great hockey team over there. Kudos to them and credit to their coach and every player on that team. They didn't make life easy for us, that's for sure. It was a heck of a battle. I'm happy with the guys right now. Really proud of how we fought and the persevered throughout the 60 minutes of that game. We did everything we can to win and super proud and credit to those guys."
 
On Denver's improved defense: "Obviously it was a focal point for us at the midway point of the season. That's something we really needed to work on. I think now, I think everybody has bought in and sacrificing everything they have and doing whatever it takes for the team success right now. Everyone is doing what it takes."
 
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On Cornell: "Congratulations to Cornell on a great season. There are not many more well-respected coaches than Mike Schafer in the game. The way they play year-in and year-out, the consistency they have. The type of person he is too. He's a great man; he takes time for younger coaches, has always given me a lot of great time and wanted to share his thoughts on the game and different things. A lot of respect for him and how they operate."
 
On playing a tough defensive team like Cornell: "You try and prepare them mentally the best you can. UMass was obviously a similar style, I think that helped. We knew this would be an absolute battle; this region for us. When looking at it, we felt if we could get past the first game, it would prepare us for the second game regardless of who we would play. We knew Maine was a tough-checking team as well. We've seen Cornell; playing them a year ago helps, having that experience. I know it's another low-scoring game, but we just felt like we were more prepared this go-around to take on that challenge. I thought the experience of last year and UMass helped. I think we've been able to build into these style of games the last six-eight weeks. The teams we play in our league defend hard, everyone tries to shove us down. We bought into a bit firmer brand of hockey. We've decided that's what we've needed to do in order to have success and give ourselves a chance. We gave ourselves a chance and we found our way on the right side of both games this weekend."
 
On playing low-score games: "We'll play whatever [way] we need to play. I think you look at our team, we're comfortable playing any type of game now. We have a lot of confidence regardless the style of play. Just really proud of our team for executing in these types of hockey games."