NCAA Tournament Takes Day 3: Denver, Minnesota State head to Frozen Four with narrow wins

A brief recap of today’s NCAA tournament games:

No. 4 Denver Pioneers 2, No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 1 (Loveland regional final)

They say to beat the best goalies, you have to take away their eyes.

Denver scored just twice against Ryan Fanti, who came into the game riding a three-game shutout streak, but both times, he had no chance of seeing it. And that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 game that booked the Pioneers’ fourth trip to the Frozen Four since 2016.

On the game-winner in particular, it’s hard to blame Fanti (32 saves). It came on a shot that was wide and high off the glass behind him, hit him in the back, bounced off the far post, then his leg, before Carter Savoie tapped it that final inch or two over the goal line — with only 6:16 to play.

Carter Savoie (#LetsGoOilers) nud