Denver Wins Ninth NCAA Hockey Title

Through the first 40 minutes of this year's NCAA Division I men's ice hockey title game, the University of Denver couldn't buy a goal. In the final 20 minutes, it couldn't stop scoring them.

The Pioneers overcame a one-goal deficit through two periods of play with five unanswered third-period scores in a 5-1 victory over Minnesota State before 17,850 on-lookers at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday night. DU (31-9-1 overall) has now won two national hockey titles in the last six years, and also moved into a first-place tie all-time with its ninth NCAA title overall.

For MnSU (38-6-0), the loss snapped an 18-game winning string that dated back to Jan. 14 against Northern Michigan. It was also the first time since Oct. 16, 2021 at Michigan that the Mavericks, who were playing in their first-ever NCAA Division I championship contest, had lost a game after leading after two periods.

Sam Morton's power-play goal 14 minutes into the game stood up through the first two stanzas, as MnSU limited DU to just eight shots on net in that span. The floodgates then opened for DU just under five minutes into the final frame, when Ryan Barrow poked home a rebound to put the Pioneers on the board.

Mike Benning's slapshot from the right circle just under three minutes later stood up as the game-winning goal, just seconds after a DU power play expired, before Massimo Rizzo finished off a 2-on-1 rush six minutes later to make it a 3-1 contest. Brett Stapley and Cameron Wright then added empty-net goals in the final three minutes to ice matters for DU.

Magnus Chrona finished with 27 saves for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's Pioneers, who last won an NCAA hockey title in 2017 in Chicago. At the other end of the ice, 2022 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Dryden McKay made 15 stops for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association champion Mavericks. Benning was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. 

DU, which had previously won NCAA Frozen Fours in Boston in 1960 and 2004, is now tied with Michigan for the most NCAA hockey championships overall with nine each. The Pioneers defeated the Wolverines in a semifinal game on Thursday to advance to this year's national championship game. Saturday also marked the fifth national title for the NCHC since the conference was formed in 2013.