Minnesota State Mankato sees NCAA hockey title dream disappear after late surge by Denver

BOSTON – A little more than 15 minutes from winning its first Division I men's hockey national championship, Minnesota State Mankato instead saw its dreams end in stunning and gut-wrenching fashion.

Ryan Barrow scored the tying goal at 4:46 of the third period and Mike Benning put Denver ahead for good at 7:33, leading the Pioneers to a 5-1 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game in front of 17,850 at TD Garden.

"We got off to a good start, even a good 40 minutes, but once we gave up the first goal, we started leaking oil a little bit,'' said Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings, whose team gave up five third-period goals after allowing only eight shots on goal in the first two periods. "We couldn't stop the bleeding.''

Barrow beat Hobey Baker Award-winning goalie Dryden McKay on a rebound, and Benning, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, blasted a slapshot from the point past McKay just after a Pioneers power play had expired. Massimo Rizzo scored with 6:26 left, and Brett Stapley and Cameron Wright scored empty-net goals in the final 2:32.

Minnesota State was dominant territorially for two periods, outshooting Denver 18-8 through 40 minutes, but led only 1-0. The Mavericks couldn't add to Sam Morton's power-play goal 6:01 into the first period, and the Pioneers, the nation's top-scoring team at 4.3 goals per game, pounced when the opportunity came.

"Obviously, we try to defend hard and didn't want to let up a goal, but you usually need more than one to win a hockey game,'' Morton said.

The Mavericks saw their season end with a 38-6 record while Denver finished 31-9-1.

"I gave up a bad rebound on the first one, and they capitalized,'' McKay said. "Then we took a penalty shortly after. … Their guy makes a good shot [shortly after] a power play, and all of the sudden it's 2-1. It would have been nice to make a few more saves for the guys.''

Minnesota State got the game's first power play at 12:23 of the first when Benning was called for tripping. The Mavericks cashed in at 14:02 when Morton hammered home a rebound of a Lucas Sowder shot that Chrona couldn't control.

Denver went on the power play at 15:28 when Mavericks center Nathan Smith was called for roughing. Josh Groll had a shorthanded breakaway during the power play but couldn't slide the puck past Chrona.

Energized by the kill, Minnesota State came with heavy pressure as Chrona needed to make point-blank saves on Reggie Lutz and Brendan Furry in succession.

The Mavericks finished the first period with an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal and a 14-6 edge in faceoffs one – this coming against a Pioneers team that has eight players with 30 or more points.

Midway through the game, the Mavericks were outshooting Denver 14-4. The Pioneers' best chance in the second came at 12:17 when Wright fired wide toward an open net after taking a cross-ice pass.

Chrona kept it a 1-0 game with a save on Jake Livingstone 2:42 into the third. That was big, because the Pioneers tied it 1-1 at 4:46 when Barrow scored on a rebound of a Jack Devine shot.

The Pioneers got their third power play at 5:26 of the third when Morton was called for tripping. The Mavericks killed the penalty, but Benning's slapshot 7 seconds later beat McKay for a 2-1 lead.

"That's a spot that we hadn't been in in a while,'' Hastings said, "and we didn't manage it well. They smelled some blood in the water.''

At 11:27, Denver appeared to go up 3-1, but Cole Guttman's shot that beat McKay was ruled no goal because Bobby Brink ran into McKay in the crease. Rizzo's goal on a two-on-one made it 3-1.

"We hadn't lost game since around Christmas,'' said Mavericks forward Cade Borchardt, whose team took an 18-game winning streak into the final. "Obviously, nothing's going to make us happy right now. I'm proud of everyone, proud of the seniors. It stings.''