It took two overtimes between two storied programs with a long postseason history to declare a winner Saturday night in the National College Hockey Conference's Frozen Faceoff between the No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team and the No. 4 University of Denver. When the ice finally settled in Magness Arena in Denver, Colo., it was the Pioneers that snuck off with the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title.
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The Bulldogs brilliant comeback effort fell just short when Denver scored 1:54 into the the second overtime to win their fourth postseason NCHC trophy.
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"Great battle again against them, unfortunately, it didn't go our way," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin, whose program is now 3-2 in title tilts. "Really proud of our team. Didn't have the best start, obviously, a couple mistakes ended up in our net. But our guys stayed with the game like they've been doing the last couple months and got it tied up. I thought after the first period, we were a pretty good hockey team and it was a heavyweight battle after that."
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The Pioneers' offense started fast and furiously, putting UMD into a 3-0 deficit by the 13:02 mark on goals from Rieger Lorenz, Clarke Caswell and Boston Buckberger. Outshot 12-7 in the period, UMD finally broke through when Max Plante banged in rebound from his brother Zam at 18:40 of the frame to make it a 3-1 game into the first intermission.
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A team that's special teams had ignited them time and time again over the regular season, the Bulldogs stormed back in the second behind two power play goals by Grayden Siepmann and Hunter Anderson. The first was a splice between DU goaltender Johnny Hicks and his right post from the point by Siepmann 4:19 into the second period, with the assists to Scout Truman and Anderson.
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The second of the period and 3-3 equalizer for the game came off a power play rush late in the frame at 18:05, a cross ice pass that Anderson one-timed to silence the Magness crowd and put the explanation point on period that UMD heavily outshot the Pioneers 16-4 in.
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By the time the third period started, the Bulldogs had regained the shots on goal lead 23-16, and all that was left for the visiting team was to complete the comeback. But unfortunately for UMD, that comeback stalled.
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The Bulldogs have been no stranger to overtime games as of late – four of their last five skates have needed extra time. UMD dominated the first overtime, and despite a DU power play at the 15:00 minute mark that the Bulldogs held the Pioneers without a shot and outshot them 14-7.
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But against the grain, just 1:54 into the second overtime, Kristian Epperson found himself alone on the backstep for the game-winner for DU.
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UMD goaltender Adam Gajan made 29 saves in the game for the Bulldogs, who went 2-of-4 on its power play and held the Pioneers scoreless in two attempts. Despite a 44-33 shots on goal advantage for UMD, DU's Johnny Hicks made 41 saves to keep the Bulldogs off the board.
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UMD will shift its focus to the NCAA Tournament, and will find out Sunday where they will go and who they will play in the NCAA Regionals.
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"We'd play with anybody, we've proven that through our conference," said Max Plante. "We have the best conferences in college hockey and I thought for two, into overtime, I thought we controlled play for about four periods today, so I think we got to hold our heads up high and start off the tourney good."
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Both Max and Zam were named to the NCHC Frozen Four All-Tournament Team – Max had two goals and two assists for four points in four games, while Zam had four goals – complete with two game-winners – and two assists for a whopping six points over the tournament.
The 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship selection show airs on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at 2 p.m. CT on
ESPNU.
