It can be a very unenviable task, being the guy who takes over for the guy.
That’s the hand Denver junior goaltender Matt Davis was dealt entering this season, holding the most prior experience among the Pioneers’ three goalies who were looking to take over for the since-graduated Magnus Chrona.
The Swede now plying his trade in the San Jose Sharks farm system had made Denver’s starting job his throughout the past four seasons, but Davis was ready to take over. His game appearances last season nearly doubled to 15 from his freshman year, and after backstopping the second-ranked Pioneers to a 3-1 start, being DU’s new No. 1 netminder seems to suit a Calgary native with the No. 35 on his sweater.
“There’s still a growth curve and a learning curve, and that’s coming along good, I think,” Davis said. “To start the season off with a sweep at Alaska was sweet, and we had a bit of a tough one Friday against Providence, but we weren’t going to go undefeated through the year, and to cap it off so far with a win at Boston College was awesome, so we feel good.”
Davis’s stat line early this season might not leap off of the page, with his .882 save percentage and 2.82 goals-against average. Two 4-3 road games last week against No. 10 Providence and third-ranked Boston College contributed to that, but Saturday’s win at BC was big for him on many levels.
It hadn’t been his first start at Conte Forum. Davis’s third collegiate start, and the first one to come on the road, happened two years ago in a 5-1 loss to the Eagles. Saturday’s game was always going to be different, putting together two of the youngest teams in the country in front of a Conte crowd whose BC-record high student section presence made it clear that the Pioneers weren’t terribly liked there.
“They definitely had a lot more hype around their (team) this year, and that brought a lot more excitement for their students,” Davis said of the first men’s hockey top-three game at Conte Forum since 2011. “It was a sold-out night on Saturday, and the atmosphere was incredible. It was a whole lot of fun to play in front of that.”
And certainly relieving to win, on a night when Carter King’s decider with 2:02 left came shortly after BC’s third goal found the net thanks to a flukey deflection. Will Smith’s (not that one) second goal of the night came on a hard, clean shot from the left faceoff circle that hit a selling-out Zeev Buium and floated home.
The game’s final minute was hectic, especially when a long shot hit Davis and fluttered onto the top of the net before falling back behind it. Boston College couldn’t make its 6-on-5 advantage count coming out of a timeout with 1:10 to go.
“When you’re up by one, you always have to expect all that,” Davis said. “You just have to kind of take a deep breath and consider your process throughout the entire game.
“It’s focusing on being in the right position and doing whatever you’ve been focusing on that game. You can’t get too high, can’t get too low, and that’s one area where it’s hard not to get too high or too low, but you have to keep with it.”
Fittingly, this week marks Denver’s homecoming festivities as Augustana visits on Friday for DU’s home opener before Air Force makes the short trip Saturday.
Davis is eager to see what this weekend and the rest of the season has in store.
“It’s been great,” Davis said of his growth as a player in his time with the Pioneers. “My first two years at Denver have been big for me in terms of developing certain habits in my game, and really honing on areas that I’ve had to improve upon so that I’d be ready when Magnus left. I feel the utmost confidence in myself and the group going forward, and I’m excited to continue on.”
