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.
Magnus Chrona made 24 saves for Denver. McKay stopped 15 shots.
"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.
Minnesota State started quickly in the second period, getting three shots on Chrona in the first 1:13. Denver didn't get its first shot on goal of the period until 4:30 had expired.
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.
The Mavericks pulled McKay for an extra attacker with 3:40 left and Denver scored twice into the empty net to set the final score.
"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.''
