#4 Denver faces #6 Minnesota Duluth in the Frozen Faceoff Final. Can the Bulldogs break Denver's dominance and streak?
Saturday night at 7 PM, prepare yourself for a battle between two of the nation’s best.
#4 Denver will play host to #6 Minnesota Duluth, the last game before the NCAA tournament, a guarantee for both teams considering their remarkable seasons.
Minnesota Duluth comes into this one the statistical underdog, even after beating the NCHC regular season champion in North Dakota 5-1 on their own home ice. The Bulldogs collected those goals from five unique scorers, including the NCHC player of the year in Max Plante.
Max Plante led the entire NCHC with 23 goals, while his brother Zam had 20, tied for the second most. This fiery offense will seek its first win against Denver in 313 days, having lost both meetings to them this year as visitors.
The 2024 National Champion, Denver, stands in the way, and you have to have a good feeling about either of these teams in the NCAA tournament. NCHC members have combined for seven of the last nine national championships. Between these two teams? Five of the last eight. Denver has won the National Championship in 2017, 2022, and 2024, while Minnesota Duluth had a back-to-back run in 2018 and 2019.
And to bulk up Denver even more, they just knocked off defending National Champion Western Michigan in the semifinal. Their quarterfinals were a breeze against Miami.
Denver will try to win a fourth straight over Minnesota Duluth, after the previous two meetings were one-goal games. The most recent one was a 1-0 overtime win, a testament to how gritty these two defenses can be.
Denver has been unbeaten in their last 12 games at a record of 11-0-1, the lone tie against Colorado College back on February 6th.
PREDICTION:
Denver’s past dominance of Minnesota Duluth and the streak they're riding seems hard to beat. A Minnesota Duluth or North Dakota seems to be the only team that would crack the streak. But not on Saturday, 6 PM MT, as Denver will carry on with another triumphant performance from Johnny Hicks, Denver 4, Minnesota Duluth 1.