Denver Rallies Past Wisconsin, Reminds College Hockey Who Still Runs This Thing

Denver spent most of Saturday night getting outplayed, outshot and pushed around for long stretches by Wisconsin.

Then the Pioneers did what programs with this kind of pedigree keep doing in April. They stayed calm, got elite goaltending, found their opening late, and walked away with another trophy.

Denver beat Wisconsin 2-1 in Las Vegas on Saturday night to win the NCAA men’s hockey championship, giving the Pioneers their third national title in five years and the 11th in program history. That extended Denver’s all-time record for men’s hockey championships and denied Wisconsin what would have been its seventh title and first since 2006.

The biggest reason Denver survived long enough to steal the game was freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks, who has turned into the kind of postseason problem opponents do not solve easily. Hicks made 29 saves in the championship game after stopping a personal-best 49 shots in Denver’s semifinal win over Michigan two nights earlier. He entered the title game leading the nation with a 1.20 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage, then backed it up again with another composed, season-defining performance. He has not lost in regulation since taking over as the starter, going 16-0-1, and he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after also earning that honor in Denver’s conference and regional tournaments.

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That was the foundation of the whole night, because for a long time Wisconsin looked like the better team and the more likely champion. The Badgers got on the board first when Vasily Zelenov blasted one in from the left circle off the rush with 6:24 remaining in the first period. That 1-0 lead held deep into the third, and the flow of the game heavily favored Wisconsin through the first 40 minutes. Denver did not record a shot on goal for the first 8½ minutes of the game and finished the opening period with only two shots. By the end of the second period, the Badgers had built a 21-5 edge in shots on goal.

That kind of imbalance usually ends title games. It did not end this one because Denver kept doing just enough to remain attached. The Pioneers blocked 31 shots, did not give Wisconsin many clean looks despite the volume, and trusted Hicks to carry the most stressful minutes until the offense finally woke up. Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings later made it plain where the game slipped. “We needed, in my opinion, to get it to two,” Hastings said. “We just couldn’t do that.”

Denver finally broke through at 7:31 of the third period. Kristian Epperson moved the puck to defenseman Garrett Brown at the left point, Brown’s shot created a rebound chance, and Rieger Lorenz finished it into the open net around Daniel Hauser to tie the game. Then, with 5:52 left, Denver grabbed the lead for good when Boston Buckberger fired a one-timer from the right point and Kyle Chyzowski got a stick on it for the decisive deflection.

That was enough because Hicks and Denver’s defense took care of the rest.

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After the game, Hicks fought back tears and said, “I’m so happy that we could get it done with this group. We’ve gone through so much adversity, and I’m just so proud of this group.” Denver captain Kent Anderson was even more direct about who held everything together: “Johnny Hicks is unbelievable. He’s undefeated. We couldn’t have done any of this without him. Tonight, our group stuck with it, they believed in each other. Hickey was there for us every step of the way. He kept us in it. Just waited for us to score. Eventually, we did.”

The win also said something larger about the current state of college hockey. The Big Ten has piled up championships across the broader college sports landscape this academic year, but in men’s hockey the National Collegiate Hockey Conference continues to own the sport’s top line. Denver’s win gave the NCHC eight of the past 10 national titles, and coach David Carle used the moment to make the case that smaller, hockey-committed schools can still thrive in a changing college landscape. “I think we’re the proof of concept that it’s still possible,” Carle said. “You don’t have to be big in hockey to be good. You have to invest, and you have to care and have the right people to do great things. In college athletics, I think a place like Denver should really be celebrated.”

That is the real takeaway from Saturday night. Wisconsin controlled long stretches and looked like the stronger side for much of the game. Denver did not care. The Pioneers blocked shots, trusted their freshman star in net, found their goals late, and added another banner to the program’s ridiculous collection. In a sport that keeps changing around them, Denver still looks very familiar in the only place that matters: at the top.

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