The thighs are the window to his soul. If DU has a leg up in the NCAA’s Manchester Regional this weekend, that leg is Matty Davis’ right femur, a walking reminder of the stakes.
“The first one I got was in 2022,” the Pioneers’ senior goaltender told me Tuesday, rolling back the right leg of his warm-up shorts. “Then I just added another.”
You see Davis’ right thigh? The one that turned Denver into Ten-ver? The one that stoned 35 Boston College shots in last April’s national title game? Beneath all that padding, all those layers, is a work of art.
No, seriously. A glorious north-south tattoo of the Pioneers’ ’22 NCAA championship trophy takes up a third of his upper leg.
The third to its right is filled by another glorious replica in dark ink, this one of DU’s 2024 NCAA title trophy.
Meanwhile, the patch of skin to the ’22 trophy’s left looks almost barren. Kinda lonely.
Which, of course, was by design.
“So,” I said, “you basically left just enough room to tattoo a third NCAA trophy.”
Davis rolled his shorts leg down again and grinned.
“Just enough room,” he replied, “yeah.”
The thigh doesn’t lie. Which is bad news if you’re BC, Providence or Bentley this weekend, because the best netminder in Denver last spring is back standing on his head again.
The affable, 6-foot-1 Calgary native stopped 46 shots in last Saturday’s 4-3, double-OT loss to Western Michigan in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game. He stoned 93.1% of Arizona State’s shots on goal in a 4-2 DU win the day before that.
“I think (his head) is in a great spot,” Pios captain Carter King said of Davis, who’ll lead DU’s national title defense starting Friday in Manchester, N.H., against Providence (21-10-5).
“You’ve got to have a bit of a short memory here, and you’ve got to come in with confidence and belief. And if anyone should have belief and confidence going into the NCAA Tournament, it’s Matt Davis.
“It’s very personal. I mean, he’s the guy that has backstopped things and can stand on top of his head … being able to play in front of a goalie like that and just the big-time saves he makes, it’s special.”
The 29-11-1 Pios are going to have to snatch national title No. 11 the hard way, starting with a regional in the same building where they went one-and-done against Cornell in 2023.
“We’ve been in Manchester, so there’s a sense of comfort there,” Davis said of SHNU Arena. “I mean, it didn’t go well (in ’23), but we’ve also redeemed a couple arenas in my time here. So I’m excited to do that. And sometimes, you’ve just got to go through the heartbreak to succeed in the future.”
“Eleven-ver” doesn’t roll off the tongue as deliciously as “Ten-ver” did. And Davis didn’t always enjoy turning up to work with a giant target on his back after taking the sport by storm at this time a year ago.
“We get everyone’s best, and that’s just kind of what you get used to at this program,” the netminder reflected. “Especially when you’re coming off a national title. Everyone wants a piece of you. You get every goalie’s best, every team’s best — everyone plays hard. If anything, this year, we’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, but that’s gonna happen. And I’d rather go through that and go into this tournament as battle-tested as possible.”
Davis posted personal bests in games (37), wins (27) and goals against average (2.12) this season, keeping a cool, level head despite his growing celebrity.
One fan even came up to Davis and showed him a tattoo he’d gotten of the DU goalie — only the tattoo featured Davis as a baby, wearing Pios gear, lifting the NCAA championship trophy.
“It was funny,” the netminder recalled.
“Hang on,” I wondered. “So did that baby have a moustache, too?”
Another grin.
“He did, actually.”
For Davis, the real magic comes when he closes his eyes. The Canuck says he’s found his March mojo in the past through meditation and breathing exercises.
“I’ll visualize just winning games and making saves,” Davis said. “And it’s never big saves. It’s just kind of routine, good, controlled saves.
“You kind of just visualize every aspect of the trip. Like, you’re visualizing eating your meals, you’re visualizing getting off of the flight, you’re visualizing just laying in bed at night. You just want to be comfortable when you get there. And it helps you (so that) nothing’s different. You feel like you’ve been there before.
“Throughout the whole year, I’ve basically imagined just lifting the (championship) trophy in St. Louis. I did that last year, and then, it’s like — you just kind of manifest it. Yeah. So it certainly helps. And then you just go out there and dance.”
But dancing as a 3 seed? Ouch.
“Do you feel like you’re a 3 seed?” Davis was asked.
“No, no,” he countered. “I’d say in (our) room, we feel like we’re the best team in the country and ready to rumble.”
Rumble away. Thighs on the prize, dude. Thighs on the prize.
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