Frozen Four final set

Denver got to the national title game the hard way: a 4-3 win over Michigan that lasted 92 minutes and 35 seconds, with defenseman Kent Anderson ending it in double overtime after freshman goalie Johnny Hicks stopped 49 shots. Wisconsin got there by knocking off North Dakota in the other semifinal, setting up a championship game on Saturday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN in Las Vegas. (ncaa.com 1) (ncaa.com 2) This final is college hockey royalty against college hockey royalty. Denver is chasing its third national championship in five seasons under coach David Carle, while Wisconsin is back in the title game after a run that started with a lower seed and kept rolling. (thehockeynews.com) (ncaa.com) Denver’s path looked like a demolition and then a survival test. The Pioneers beat Cornell 5-0 in the regional round, then outlasted top-seeded Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinal when Anderson scored only his second goal of the season. (ncaa.com 1) (ncaa.com 2) The player who changed Denver’s season is Hicks, and his story is strange even by college hockey standards. The Hockey News reported that Hicks was originally headed to Tennessee State, then took over Denver’s net midway through the season and entered the final with a 15-0-1 record and no regulation losses. (thehockeynews.com) Wisconsin’s route was more upset-heavy from the start. The Badgers beat Dartmouth 5-1, then edged Michigan State 4-3 in the regional final, then took down North Dakota in Las Vegas to reach the last game of the season. (ncaa.com) That bracket run matters because Wisconsin was not one of the tournament’s top favorites when the field was announced. The Hockey News described the Badgers as a team that “barely squeaked into the tournament field,” which makes three straight wins over tournament opposition look less like a routine march and more like a heater at exactly the right time. (thehockeynews.com) The matchup is also a contrast in mileage. Wisconsin reached the final through a regulation semifinal, while Denver had to play an extra 32 minutes and 35 seconds beyond a standard 60-minute game against Michigan two nights earlier. (ncaa.com) Denver still brings the deeper recent championship résumé. NCAA records list the Pioneers among the sport’s most decorated programs, and this specific group is trying to add another banner after already keeping itself alive through one of the longest nights of the season. (ncaa.com) So the final comes down to a simple tension. Wisconsin arrives with the cleaner legs and the underdog surge, while Denver arrives with the scar tissue of a double-overtime escape and a goalie who has turned into the hottest player left in the tournament. (thehockeynews.com) (ncaa.com)