LAS VEGAS — Kent Anderson’s goal at 12:35 of the second overtime lifted Denver to a 4-3 win over Michigan in the second Frozen Four semifinal Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Pioneers will face Wisconsin in Saturdays NCAA title game, looking for their 11th national title.
The game was the 48th longest in men’s Division I history, and the third-longest Frozen Four game.
On the game-winner, Anderson took a feed from Kristian Epperson and beat Michigan goalie Jack Ivankovic low, glove side for his second goal of the season.
“(Epperson) protected the puck well, and found me in a good spot,” said Anderson, a senior defenseman and captain. “Let ‘er rip, and it went in.”
“I’m really proud of him, how he’s led this team,” said Denver coach David Carle. “He’s grown a lot as an individual and as a leader this year and through his career. It was a great play obviously to get it off his stick. He works that shot a lot in goalie skates. We do a drill that’s very similar to that almost on a weekly basis.”
It was Denver’s 26th shot on goal in the game; Michigan had 52. Denver goalie Johnny Hicks, a freshman, made 49 saves to remain undefeated in his career at 15-0-1.
“(Hicks was) obviously was our best player tonight,” said Carle. “Very unfazed by the moment.”
The Pioneers forced overtime on a goal by Clarke Caswell with 2:46 remaining in regulation. Caswell deflected a goal line feed from Garrett Brown to tie the game.
Denver opened the scoring at 9:49 of the first. Kyle Chyzowski was able to get a stick on a Michigan clearing attempt. The loose puck was picked up by Brendan McMorrow, who made a quick pass to line mate Kieran Cebrian. Cebrian found Chyzowski, who beat Michigan goalie Jack Ivankovic to make it 1-0 Pioneers.
Michigan answered with two goals in a 59-second span near the end of the period.
Kienan Draper partially won a draw in the Denver zone, and Josh Eernisse picked up the loose puck and fired it past a partially screened Johnny Hicks to tie the score at 1-1.
Less than a minute later, Michigan took the lead on a goal by TJ Hughes, his 22nd of the season. Adam Valentini’s shot was high and bounced off the back glass right in front of Hicks. Hughes was in a perfect position to make it 2-1.
Denver tied it 2:30 into the second period, just a few seconds after its power play expired. Cale Ashcroft’s shot from the high slot through a crowd tucked just inside the crossbar on Ivankovic’s stick side.
Michigan took its second lead of the game at 11:02 of the third. Garret Schifsky’s shot from the high slot beat a partially screened Hicks glove side.
It was Michigan’s first power play of the game and the only man-up goal of the two semifinals. The other three teams were an aggregate 0-12. Wisconsin and North Dakota were a combined 0-7 on the power play in the first semifinal, a 2-1 win for the Badgers.
Michigan was 1-2 in the game; Denver was 0-5.
“The power play wasn’t good enough certainly tonight,” said Carle. “We’ll look at evening to try to be better for Saturday. Certainly, it was a factor in the game being how it was, the lack of momentum and opportunities we created for ourselves on the power play.”
Michigan dominated for long stretches of the game, including outshooting the Pioneers 21-8 in overtime.
“We outshot them 43 to 16 in the last four periods,” said Michigan coach Brandon Naurato. “In hockey and in life, sometimes you do it the right way and you just don’t get the bounces.”
Denver senior Reiger Lorenz said that despite being outplayed for long stretches, his team was well-prepared for a double-overtime marathon.
“We work our tails off all spring and summer to prepare for moments like this,” he said. “A tremendous job getting our bodies in the best shape. We’re pretty battle tested. I think there’s a pretty deep belief in this group right now. It reminds me of the ’24 (national champion) group.”