Denver Hockey pulls off upset over Boston College, heads back to Frozen Four

The Denver Pioneers are heading back to the Frozen Four for the sixth time in 10 years after a 3-1 victory over the top-seed Boston College Eagles. Defense was the story for the Pios, headlined by a star performance from goaltender Matt Davis.

Denver has now won its last three matchups against Boston College, including last year’s national championship, and six of the last seven. Boston College was the No. 1 team in the entire bracket and headlined the Northeast Region with the second-best defense in the country and the ninth-best offense.

“Yeah really proud of our team, I thought obviously it was a really good hockey game, both ways. Give Boston College a lot of credit, a lot of respect for them it’s really hard to end a team’s season twice in a row and we were able to accomplish that,” Denver head coach David Carle said after the win.

Denver jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period thanks to goals by Erick Pohlkamp and James Reeder. The Pios thought they had made it a 3-0 game around the midway point of the period after Zeev Buium found the back of the net, but the Eagles challenged the goal and it was overturned for offsides. With just under a minute left in the period, Boston College got on the board and cut the deficit to 2-1, ending Davis’ unfathomable streak against BC.

Davis had a 106:32 shutout streak against the Eagles dating back three games to Oct. 21, 2023. The 23-year-old has been one of the best goalies in the nation this season with a .923 save percentage. In two playoff games, Davis has posted a .970 save percentage. Carle knows that his goaltender has the mental strength to step up his game when the lights are the brightest.

“He’s a proven winner now and I thought he had an excellent season this year. Probably came into the tournament I think above .920, so it’s not like his numbers are slight, he was either first or tied for first in wins. So, he’s got a great resume through the regular season this year, got to play the full year healthy this year, most of the first half, but he does have kind of this killer instinct to turn it on in the most important time of the year,” Carle said.

Davis spoke after the game about the most important trait of being a good goaltender.

“I would say goaltending in general is 95% mental. If you could have all the physical attributes but you can’t put it together mentally, you’re not going to do any good. I mean I’ve been working on that a lot,” Davis said.

The third period was a tense, defensive slugfest, but the score stayed even through the first 19 minutes of the period. Boston College had pulled their keeper in a last ditch effort to send the game to overtime, but Denver’s defense held strong, and Buium found the puck on the tape of his stick with just seconds to go.

He launched it across the ice and in between the pipes, sending the Pios to the Frozen Four.

Sercurity goal secured ✅ @zeevbuium28 #NCAAHockey x 🎥 ESPN2 / @DU_Hockey pic.twitter.com/eox6YE3teI

— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 31, 2025

Following the goal, Buium made sure to take a couple extra strides during his celebration as he skated past the Eagles bench and saluted goodbye towards the opposing players.

Along with Denver’s outstanding defensive performance, the team only conceded one penalty all game, and killed the power play opportunity that followed. After conceding five penalties in the opening round against Providence, Carle made sure his team was more disciplined on Sunday.

Next up for the Pios is a date with Western Michigan in the Frozen Four. Western Michigan leads the season series 2-1, highlighted by a dramatic double overtime victory back on March 22 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game. Puck drop from St. Louis will be at 3 p.m. on April 10, and will be broadcast on ESPN2.