Eagles take on the Pioneers for the National Championship
This is the big one. After an incredibly successful regular season, a Hockey East Tournament championship, and three straight wins in the NCAA Tournament, the Boston College men’s hockey team will play for their first national championship since 2012 when they take on Denver in the finals on Saturday night.
Who: #3 Denver Pioneers (31-9-3) vs #1 Boston College Eagles (34-5-1)
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
When: Saturday April 13th, 2024 at 6:00pm ET (5:00pm CT)
How to Watch: Saturday’s championship game will be broadcasted and streamed on ESPN2
How to Follow: Follow the game on X (Twitter) by checking in with our live coverage at @bcinterruption
TEAM RECAP:
Denver has been a powerhouse in college hockey for much of head coach David Carle’s tenure and will be looking for their second championship in three seasons on Saturday night. The Pioneers entered the NCAA tournament bosting the top scoring offense in the nation but have been doing things a bit differently over their last three games, knocking off all three of UMass, Cornell, and of course, Boston University by the same 2-1 scoreline, with both games against BC’s Hockey East rivals having been decided in overtime.
While Denver’s top offensive players don’t quite have some of the jaw dropping points totals that BC’s leaders do, the Pioneers make up for it with an impressive amount of depth, with 14 different players averaging at least half a point per game on the season (for comparison’s sake, BC has eight players above that number). Junior Jack Devine leads Denver in scoring for the season with 27 goals and 56 points while his linemate Tristian Broz has 16 goals including two overtime winners in this tournament. The Pioneers also got a big boost in Thursday’s semifinal game when Massimo Rizzo (44 points in 29 games) returned to the lineup after being out with an injury since February.
On the blue line, the big name to watch is Zeev Buium. Buium is second on the team in scoring with 49 points and is projected to go in the first round of this year’s NHL draft, potentially as high as in the top 10. And while Denver’s offense rightly gets a lot of the praise, their team defense has been very strong recently. They have allowed more than two goals just once in their past seven games and are coming off a showing against BU where they more or less shut down projected first overall pick Macklin Celebrini, something that has not happened much at all this season.
In net for the Pioneers will be junior Matt Davis, who has stopped 103 of the 106 shots that he has seen in this tournament so far. Davis’s best showing of the entire season might have come in the opening game of the tournament, when he stopped 46 of the 47 shots he saw in a double overtime win against UMass.
How Does Boston College Match Up?
These two teams played way back on October 21 this season, with Denver knocking off the Eagles 4-3 thanks to a power play goal late in the third period. Much like with the semifinal game against Michigan, BC is going up against a team that can absolutely match them in terms of scoring, so Jacob Fowler and the defense will need to be on their game. Denver’s defense is also rock solid and has been even better than that recently, so the Eagles will once again be looking to their big name players to convert on the scoring chances that they are able to create.
BC had a much easier time getting through the neutral zone with speed and puck possession against Michigan after struggling to do so in their first two games of the tournament, so a lot of this could come down to if they’re able to do the same against Denver or if the Pioneers manage to slow them down. Will Smith and Gabe Perreault had a big game on Thursday after struggling to do much during the regional rounds, which can only be a great sign for the Eagles. With how well Denver is playing right now, we should be in store for a fantastic title game, and hopefully one that ends with BC brining home their sixth championship trophy
Betting Odds
- The over/under for the game is 5.5 goals
- Boston College (-320) is favored over Michigan (+230) on the moneyline