PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It wasn’t the defensive battle many expected, and it wasn’t the result preferred by most of the New England fans in the seats, but Denver’s first NCAA tournament win since 2011, 5-2 over Boston College on Saturday, couldn’t have been sweeter for the Pioneers.
Junior captain Grant Arnold scored his first two goals of the season and joined sophomores Trevor Moore and Will Butcher and senior Joey LaLeggia in the goal column. Freshman goaltender Tanner Jaillet made 22 saves for his 15th win of the season.
[scg_html_e2015]”There’s a reason there are so many NCHC teams in the national tournament this year,” said LaLeggia, “and that’s because it’s such a strong league. Coming in here, BC was going to have some more fans than us … but playing in the NCHC, we have a lot of experience playing in hostile environments, and that was something that really prepared us for this tournament.”
“They had a few opportunities. They’re really good. They’re really talented. You’re not going to shut down that D corps all night long,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said. “But for the most part, our forwards … did a great job of making sure the puck got out of their hands quickly.”
Junior Michael Matheson and sophomore Ryan Fitzgerald lit the lamp for Boston College, which has run into trouble in its last two Providence regionals: The Eagles fell in the first round of the 2013 tournament at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center as well, that time to Union. Sophomore goalie Thatcher Demko stopped 23 shots in defeat.
“Their freshman goaltender did a nice job. Some of their players are really outstanding,” BC coach Jerry York said. “LaLeggia was outstanding. I thought [Daniel Doremus] played very well; that line was hard to contain.”
In a contest heavy with defensive talent, it was only fitting that blueliners traded the game’s opening goals. LaLeggia’s power-play wrist shot broke the draw in the early going, but despite an 11-1 lead in shots at one point, Denver failed to put any more distance between itself and the Eagles.
BC fought back and generated most of the period’s final shots, including Matheson’s powerful 17th-minute slap shot that beat Jaillet and knotted the score.
As the fans stood in advance of the final horn, the Pioneers’ Moore and Ty Loney played their own game of buzzer-beater. The tandem swooped in on Demko in a two-on-one, and Loney fed Moore with barely two feet to spare before hitting the goal line to Demko’s right.
Moore slammed on the brakes and whipped a low-angle wrister at the sliding goaltender. The puck hit Demko as Demko’s skate hit the right post; the puck rolled into the dislodged net with 6.9 seconds on the clock and prompted an official review. The goal stood; DU’s lead was reinstated.
The second period featured none of the scoring and half the chances of the first. The Eagles and Pioneers each committed to playing strong net-front defense, limiting shot opportunities from high-percentage angles and forcing the puck to the corners.
The sides registered seven shots apiece in the period, with Denver leading 21-13 in the category through 40 minutes.
“It was still a 2-1 game after two periods,” York said, “and certainly no one likes to give up a goal with seven seconds left in a period, but it didn’t faze us. We weren’t falling apart because we gave up a goal with seven seconds left. We had a couple good chances to get it to 2-2.”
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G00006wycHPEIQ3s” g_name=”20150328-Denver-BC-East-Eisenberg” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22AEUD2614E33QbHpOKxpZSeoeGCv4KWmHQZh6nEkThAmMHqbg–” ]Butcher buried his fourth goal of the year eight minutes into the final stanza, flying down the left wing and whipping a sizzling wrist shot by Demko’s blocker.
The goal sparked Denver’s latent aggression, and Arnold was the beneficiary of the Pioneers’ renewed confidence just 59 seconds later. Linemate Larkin Jacobson found the right wing completely alone between the BC hashmarks; Arnold took a look and fired the puck glove-high for DU’s fourth of the day.
“It was an awesome time to score the first one, that’s for sure,” Arnold smiled. “It was a great feeling to get a goal like that.”
Fitzgerald kept Boston College alive with a 15th-minute power-play goal, cutting Denver’s lead to two, but the pucks simply wouldn’t bounce the Eagles’ way as perhaps they had in years past.
Arnold added his second of the game — and season — by finding the empty net with a minute to play.
Denver advanced to its sixth NCAA tournament quarterfinal, drawing the winner of Saturday night’s Providence-Miami game.
