ST. PAUL, Minn. — In Saturday’s 2-0 national championship win for Denver, most outstanding player Matt Davis made 35 saves. Many of them were great.
One was spectacular.
On the power play, Boston College freshman Gabe Perreault found an open Ryan Leonard on the left side and fed the puck across the crease.
“I just saw the puck go back door again,” Davis said. “I was like, uh-oh, and I dove over and made the save.”
Davis kept what seemed a sure goal out of a gaping net, preserving a two-goal lead for the Pioneers in a third period that saw Boston College pepper the net with 23 shots.
Davis caught the replay of the goal on the big center-ice video board as he caught his breath.
“I just saw it on the jumbotron,” Davis said. “I just thought, sweet. Like, as long as it’s not in the back of the net, that’s sweet.”
“MATT DAVIS IS OUT OF HIS MIND!!!!”
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— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) April 13, 2024
The shutout win capped an NCAA tournament in which Davis allowed only three goals.
Denver coach David Carle’s one-word description of Davis in the tournament: “Superhuman.”
Despite heroic numbers in the stretch, the season has had some peaks and valleys for Davis.
He saw limited action in the past two seasons behind Magnus Chrona in the lineup. With Chrona graduating, the starting job fell to Davis.
“I hadn’t played for a while,” said Davis. “So I had to get back into some certain details and habits.”
There were some games that didn’t go his way, the worst of which was getting pulled early in the second period at home against Western Michigan on Feb. 3 after giving up five goals on 17 shots.
So Davis had to focus, especially on being calm.
“I had to go through a couple of hiccups to learn that throughout the year,” said Davis. “It was just kind of trusting in the process that me and (goalie coach) Ryan Massa set out and my sports psychologist Stephen Gonzalez.
“And we made it so that I would just focus on my breath. Kind of pump my own tires in net when I would talk to myself. It sounds kind of weird, but I am a goalie, so …”
“It’s incredible what he did,” said Carle. “There’s many moments in all these games that he could have cracked and he didn’t.”
“I’m so happy for him,” said Denver captain McKade Webster. “And I don’t want to say I called it, but I said he’ll win a national championship one day here.
“So, like, we all knew this in the back room, how good he was, and he would carry us to a national championship.”
The 23 saves by Davis in the third period tied an NCAA championship game record set by former Pioneers goalie Peter Mannino in the third period of Denver’s 2005 win over North Dakota, 4-1.
Carle succinctly summed up the importance of Davis to Denver’s 10th national championship.
“Without him we’re not sitting here,” Carle said.
