Kiszla: DU Pioneers take 3-2 victory in Frozen Four against Michigan team with 13 NHL draft picks – The Denver Post

BOSTON – He’s a big shot, not a big mouth. So don’t even think about asking Carter Savoie, a hockey sniper that delivers killer goals with a giggle, to thump his chest and brag about the biggest score of his young life.

Nearly 15 tense minutes into overtime, with a berth in the national championship game on the line, Savoie calmly collected the rebound of his own shot and delivered the chicken-dinner winner in a huge 3-2 victory here Thursday against a juggernaut Michigan squad nobody except the Pioneers thought could be beaten at this Frozen Four.

It was a moment worthy of mountains of goosebumps for every other DU player on the ice.

But it was little more than not too shabby, if you ask Savoie, who speaks softly and carries a big stick. After being smothered in a group hug by his teammates, the 20-year-old DU sophomore was nudged and implored to rank this goal among his all-time favorites.

“It jumped to the top,” Savoie admitted.

And then he giggled.

“That’s what (Savoie) does,” said DU assistant captain Ryan Barrow, “he scores big goals.”

Savoie is a hockey sniper that shoots and scores with the smile of a Cheshire cat. Nobody would blame him for a little humble brag about the most important of his team-leading 23 goals. But he’s a throwback sports hero, more about the team than his Instagram.

“He’s very well-liked by his teammates, gets along with everybody, always has a smile on his face,” said Pioneers coach David Carle. “He’s a little bit quieter around the guys. He kind of lays back, in the weeds a little bit. When (teammates) are all kind of razzing each other, he just kind of sits back and giggles at everyone else.”

Facing the only college hockey program in America that can boast more championships than the eight national titles saluted in the rafters of Magness Arena, the Wolverines from the big, bad Big Ten were portrayed as a maize-and-blue beast loaded with more future NHL stars than have ever been seen on college ice.

But the Pioneers, who won for the 30th time this season, were no underdogs. They were the better team and took the ice without a hint of fear.

“When we talk about what we want to do what at Denver,” Carle said, “it’s about winning championships and having opportunities to hang banners.”

DU was strong-checking and penalty-free on defense, fastidious and precise with passes and undaunted by the challenge, even when the Wolverines pushed goalie Magnus Chrona to the limit with wave after wave of dangerous scoring chances early in overtime.

“Magnus was unbelievable in overtime,” Ryan Barrow said.

The Pioneers skated circles around Michigan for much of the game but were forced to overtime tied 2-2 despite outshooting the Wolverines 26-13 through regulation time, in large measure because DU failed to convert any of the only three power-play opportunities given during an uncommonly clean-skating contest.

When freshman defenseman Shai Buium was unable to tip the puck into a wide-open net on the power play midway through the third period, it felt as if the hockey gods might spite the Pioneers for failure to capitalize on what irate Michigan partisans in the TD Garden decried as a friendly whistle for Denver.

If not for Chrona, whose kick save at 9 minutes, 22 seconds of overtime turned away a sizzling shot by Michigan forward Brendan Brisson, a 2020 first-round choice of the Las Vegas Knights and one of 13 NHL draft picks on the Wolverines roster, the Pioneers would’ve been sent back to Colorado, leaving forward Bobby Brink to find out Friday if he will be named as the Hobey Baker winner.

But you know what all the old-time hockey guys say: Your best players have to be your best players, eh? At 14:53 of the extra frame, Brink sent a sweet pass through a defender’s legs from the corner, putting his mate on DU’s top scoring line to fire twice at point-blank range and ultimately beat Michigan goalie Erik Portillo with Savoie’s eighth shot of the game.

“No words to describe it. Best feeling ever,” said Savoie, the last guy on the DU bus that would tell anyone he’s kind of a big deal.

Then Savoie got back on the bus and returned to the team hotel.

For what it’s worth, Savoie rested his humble head on a pillow in the same hotel where the Pioneers stayed in 2004 when they won a national championship in Beantown.

Maybe that’s nothing more than a fun piece of trivia. Or maybe it’s an omen. Take your pick.

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