LOVELAND – The NCAA’s highest-scoring hockey team is up against the country’s hottest goaltender.
When the Denver Pioneers play for a Frozen Four berth in Saturday’s West Regional title game at the Budweiser Events Center, they must find a way to solve Minnesota-Duluth goalie Ryan Fanti in order to move on.
The Bulldogs junior hasn’t allowed a goal in his past three games. He takes a shutout streak of 207 minutes, 17 seconds into Duluth’s sixth game against DU this season. The NCHC rivals met in last week’s semifinals of the conference championship and Fanti had a 30-shot shutout for the Bulldogs’ third win in the series.
Fanti went on to blank Western Michigan 3-0 in the NCHC tournament championship and again by the same score against Michigan Tech in Thursday’s West Regional semifinals.
“We owe them,” DU fifth-year graduate transfer Cameron Wright said. “We are going to come out fast and we’re going to get traffic in front of the goalie and we’re going to bat a couple in. We’re going to find a way to score on this guy and beat them, for sure.”
Wright was one of the standouts in the Pioneers’ 3-2 victory over Massachusetts-Lowell in the regional semifinals Thursday evening. His mid-air tap-in goal with 2:57 remaining was the difference in a rugged contest against the physical and defensive-oriented River Hawks.
“It’s a good lesson for us to learn,” Wright said. “(The River Hawks) kind of play the same way as Duluth, heavy and defensively structured, so it’s a good lesson and it’ll help us on Saturday.”
Denver (27-9-1) won two of its first three games against Minnesota-Duluth (21-15-4) this season and the Bulldogs have won the last two. The Pioneers, who lead the country in scoring at 4.3 goals per game, haven’t scored a goal on Fanti since the second game on Dec. 11 in Duluth. The Bulldogs only average 2.6 goals but allow just 2.2.
“We’ve played them five times this year. They got three on us. We got two on them,” DU coach David Carle said. “There’s no secrets. The experience of playing them last weekend is very beneficial for us. I think the experience of playing Lowell was very, very beneficial for us. Our team is getting pushed in different ways. And we found a way to win a really hard hockey game (Thursday), which I think gives our group a lot of confidence.”
Fanti, the NCHC goaltender of the year and Mike Richter Award semifinalist, credits team defense for his extraordinary success.
“There’s a couple chances here and there and I have to make a save or two, but for the most part, there’s lots of outside shots,” he said of blanking Michigan Tech. “I was seeing shots from the point. They were doing a good job clearing it in front of me.”
Saturday’s regional championship begins at 2 p.m. and be aired on ESPNU.
