Kent Anderson scored his second goal of the season at the most critical moment, lifting Denver to a 4-3 double-overtime victory over top-seeded Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The senior defenseman and captain fired a shot from the high slot past Michigan goaltender Jack Ivankovic with 7:25 left in the second overtime, sending the Pioneers to the national championship game for the third time in five seasons.
“It means everything to play in this national championship game,” Anderson said. “It’s the goal at the beginning of the year. It’s what we work for. It’s what we play for at Denver.”
Denver (28-11-3) extended its winning streak to 12 games and will face Wisconsin in Saturday’s final at 2:30 p.m. The Badgers beat North Dakota 2-1 in the first semifinal. A victory would give the Pioneers a record 11th NCAA title and their third since 2022.
The Wolverines (31-8-1) outshot Denver 52-26 and held a territorial edge for much of the game, but Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks made a career-high 49 saves to keep his team alive. Hicks, who improved to 15-0-1, stopped all 21 shots he faced in overtime, including a point-blank left-pad save on Michigan’s Garrett Schifsky in the first extra period.
“He was our best player tonight,” Denver coach David Carle said.
Michigan took a 3-2 lead at 11:02 of the third period on Jayden Perron’s power-play goal, his 18th of the season. But Denver’s Clarke Caswell redirected a pass from defenseman Garrett Brown past Ivankovic with 2:46 left in regulation to force overtime.
Denver’s Kyle Chyzowski opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Michigan responded with goals from Josh Eernisse and T.J. Hughes to take a 2-1 lead. Cale Ashcroft tied it for the Pioneers with a long wrist shot at 2:30 of the second period.
Ivankovic, a second-round pick by Nashville in 2025, finished with 22 saves.
“It was a big moment,” Carle said of Anderson’s winner. “Really proud of him and how he’s led this team. He’s grown a lot as an individual and a leader this year and through his career. It was a great play, obviously, to get it off his stick. He works that shot a lot in goalie skates and we do a drill that’s very similar to that, almost on a weekly basis. Really proud of him that he was able to come through for us on a huge goal. Kind of an unsung guy.”
