Denver looked its old self for one full period on Saturday night. Fortunately for the Pioneers, that period was the third one.

A scoring spree lifted DU, which trailed 1-0 for roughly 32 minutes, to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota State and its NCAA record-tying ninth national championship. It also was the third title the Pioneers have won in Boston, joining ones in 1960 (against Michigan Tech) and 2004 (against Maine).

Junior Magnus Chrona continued a tradition of DU goalies rising to the moment at the Frozen Four and turned in one of the best games – if not the best game – of his Pioneers career, stopping 27 shots and making a handful of potential game-saving saves.

Aside from a stretch late in the second period, the Pioneers were unable to sustain anything in the offensive zone, and they battled some issues cleanly sending and receiving passes throughout the first 40 minutes. After that, it was if a switch flipped.

“We just said stick with it,” Denver coach David Carle said of the second intermission. “We didn’t get here by shying away from challenges and facing our share of adversity. It took everybody.”

THE PIONEERS WIN IT!@DU_Hockey wins its first men's national championship since 2017 🏆👏 pic.twitter.com/4uorw5WDYS

— ESPN (@espn) April 10, 2022

DU returns to form in the third

The Pioneers (31-9-1) turned the tide with a three-goals-in 8 minutes and 48 seconds outburst in the third period.

Graduate student Ryan Barrow tied the score at 1, and in the process drew the Mavericks (38-6) out of their shell, when he slammed in a rebound of defenseman Mike Benning‘s shot just 4:46 into the third. That was Barrow’s eighth goal of the season.

Jack Devine‘s attempted pass to Brett Stapley in the slot barely missed the mark, hit off the wall to Dryden McKay‘s left. Benning had just come on the ice and fired a laser right on the Mavericks goaltender. Barrow was on the right door step and put in the short rebound.

Benning got what proved to be the game-winner less than 3 minutes later, at 7:33 and just 7 seven seconds after a power play had expired, when he hammered a pass from Shai Buium from the left dot past McKay on the short side. That was Benning’s 15th goal.

Benning had taken the penalty that led to the Mavericks’ first goal.

“I thought I owed to the guys after taking the penalty,” he said. “I’ve been battling with these guys all year, and there’s not a group of guys I’d rather do it with.”

At that juncture, the Mavericks had no choice but to take more chances, and that played right into the Pioneers’ hands. Only 5:01 after Benning’s goal, Justin Lee fed the puck to Carter Mazur in the neutral zone, and he worked a beautiful, patient, 2-on-1 with fellow freshman Massimo Rizzo that caught McKay moving. 3-1 and Rizzo’s 12th goal.

That left Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings, the winner of the national coach of the year award, little option but to pull McKay, the Hobey Baker Award winner, with more than 4 minutes left. Stapley and grad transfer Cameron Wright added empty-net goals to finish the deluge. Stapley’s goal was his 18th, while Wright’s was his 23rd, tying him with Carter Savoie for the team lead.

It marked only the second time this season that Minnesota State had lost by more than one goal. The other, a 4-2 defeat at Northern Michigan in January – which incidentally was the Mavericks’ last loss before Saturday, a string of 18 games – included a late empty-net goal.

Economy offense

Also notable was that Denver was held to a season-low 20 shots on goal. Its previous low of 22 came at North Dakota on Nov. 6, which also was the last time DU’s winning percentage hit .500. The Pioneers went 27-5-1 since then.

It was an average game for Minnesota State from that standpoint, as the Mavericks gave up an average of 19 shots this season.

It’s also another testament to the speed, skill and discipline Denver played with in the third period to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against a determined, physical and skilled team.

“You come to Denver to win national championships,” Barrow said. “I came the year after they won it. You hear all the stories about winning the national championships and you picture winning one yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I watched the 2017 pump-up video of them winning the ‘natty.’ It will be pretty sweet to watch my own now.”

A rough start

Minnesota State put Denver on its heels, and a multitude of errors – both forced by the Mavericks’ aggressive play and unforced – had MSU in charge for the bulk of the first two periods, when it built a shots on goal edge of 18-8.

Denver was having done to it what it usually does to others.

With 6:01 remaining in the first, Sam Morton, who is from Lafayette, Colo., and played for both the Colorado Thunderbirds and Rocky Mountain RoughRiders growing up, gave the Mavericks their lead.

Minnesota State won a face-off to Chrona’s right. Defenseman Brandon Furry‘s shot from the left dot bounced to Lucas Sowder, who was stationed between the circles. His beautiful left to right pass found Morton in the right circle, and his shot beat Chrona.

The Mavericks then caused traffic jams time after time, often having all five skaters occupy the neutral zone as DU tried to any sort of entry, often unsuccessfully, into the MSU zone.

Denver takes down another top goalie

At each step of the NCAA journey, the high-scoring Pioneers faced a goaltender who potentially would slam the door, and each time DU had an answer.

In the first round, they solved UMass Lowell’s Owen Savory three times. In the regional final, they got the first two goals against Minnesota Duluth’s Ryan Fanti that Fanti had allowed in four games. In Thursday’s seminal, they hung three on Michigan’s Erik Portillo. And Saturday, they put five on Hobey Baker Award winner Dryden McKay, who will leave NCAA hockey with the most career shutouts and a season-record 38 wins among his statistical achievements.

Put another way, McKay (1.31), Fanti (1.83), Savory (1.93) and Portillo (2.14) were numbers 2, 5, 8 and 13 in goals-against average. They also were numbers 7 through 9 in save percentage.

While the DU offense did hit its 4-goal-plus average, it did enough to win a banner against as impressive of a group of masked men as it could.

And speaking of the masked men, DU’s Chrona served notice that he had in fact found another gear or two. Consider that the 6-foot-5 Swede allowed a total of six goals in four NCAA games.

As Carle said on the ice after the game, “Magnus was here to back us up. He allowed us to get our legs.”

Notes: The Pioneers’ first title since 2017 broke a tie with North Dakota for second all-time. DU now is tied with Michigan, which it defeated 3-2 in overtime Thursday, for the top spot. … Carle, 32, became the youngest coach to win an NCAA title since Jeff Jackson, who was 38 when Lake Superior State won in 1994. … Barrow played in his program-record 168th game for Denver. … Denver will hold a National Championship Celebration in Magness Arena on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

©First Line Editorial 2022