The No. 8 Denver Pioneers (19-10-5, 11-10-3-3) are set to open the NCHC playoffs with a best-of-three series against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (18-15-2, 12-11-1-0). The winner of the series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on March 22-23 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
 
DENVER: SNAPSHOT
• Denver finished fourth in the NCHC, securing home-ice advantage in the NCHC quarterfinals for the fifth straight year
• The Pioneers are winless in their last three games, going 0-2-1 to close the regular season
• Liam Finlay leads Denver with 32 points (13-19-32), averaging .94 points per game compared to .37 in 2017-18 and .50 in 2016-17
• Since the start of 2019, the Pioneers are operating at 9.2% on the power play, 59th in the NCAA, and 77.6% on the penalty kill, 43rd in the NCAA. Prior to the New Year, the Pioneers were operating at 19.7% on the power play, T-10th in the NCAA, and 84.6% on the penalty kill, 18th in the NCAA
 
DENVER: LAST SERIES
CC 2, DU 1 | CC 1, DU 0 (March 8-9 - Denver/Colorado Springs, Colo.)
• The Tigers took the Gold Pan for the first time in five years, finishing 2-1-1 in the season series
• Denver went 0/5 on the power play and 4/5 on the penalty kill
• Filip Larsson made 22 saves on Friday and Devin Cooley made 21 saves on Saturday
 
NORTH DAKOTA: SNAPSHOT
• The Fighting Hawks take a three-game winning streak into the postseason after defeating Colorado College and sweeping Omaha
• Jordan Kawaguchi leads North Dakota with 26 points on 10 goals and 16 assists, while Adam Scheel has a 2.07 GAA and .910 SV%
• North Dakota is the top faceoff team in the NCAA, winning 57% of their draws
• The Fighting Hawks are 13-2-1 when leading after the first period and 12-1-1 when leading after the second period
 
NORTH DAKOTA: LAST SERIES
UND 2, DU 1 | UND 5, UNO 4 (OT)
• The Fighting Hawks swept their fourth series of the season
• Nick Jones led North Dakota with two goals and one assist
• The Fighting Hawks went 1/8 on the power play and 6/8 on the penalty kill
 
DENVER/NORTH DAKOTA: UP NEXT
NCHC Quarterfinals (March 22-23 - St. Paul, Minn.)
• Denver and North Dakota look to advance to the Frozen Faceoff from March 22-23 at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. for the sixth straight year
 
DENVER VS. NORTH DAKOTA
• Denver went 2-1-1 against North Dakota in the regular season and is 125-146-15 in the all-time series
• 2009-10 marks the last season the Pioneers defeated the Fighting Hawks in a season series (including postseason) as well as the last season the Pioneers recorded three or more wins against the Fighting Hawks
• Eight of the last 11 games in the series have been decided by one or fewer goals with Denver going 4-3-4 in that stretch
• Denver is 13-14-1 all-time against North Dakota in the conference playoffs, going 12-13-0 in the WCHA and 1-1-1 in the NCHC. The Pioneers are 17-17-1 in all-time postseason play against the Fighting Hawks with a 4-3-0 mark against their rival in the NCAA tournament
 
EXTENDING THE STREAK
• Denver is one win shy of its 18th consecutive 20-win season. The last time the Pioneers missed the 20-game threshold was 2000-01 when the team finished 19-15-4 under George Gwozdecky
• The Pioneers' streak of 17-straight 20-win seasons is the longest active streak in the NCAA. Boston College holds the next longest active streak (9). The NCAA record for consecutive 20-win seasons is held by Michigan, which had 25 from 1987-2012
• Denver has the second-most wins in the NCAA since the beginning of their streak with a 444-215-77 record, trailing only North Dakota (451-232-72)
 
PIONEERS IN THE NCHC PLAYOFFS
• The Pioneers have advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for five straight years, dating to when the conference began play in 2013-14
• Denver has had home-ice advantage for the NCHC quarterfinals in each of the last five seasons
• The Pioneers are 10-2 all-time in the NCHC quarterfinal series and 16-5-1 all-time in the NCHC playoffs. They are the only two-time winners of the Frozen Faceoff
 
NCAA LEADERS
• Devin Cooley has a .933 SV%, 3rd in the NCAA, a 1.89 GAA, 6th in the NCAA and four shutouts, T-8th in the NCAA
• Jarid Lukosevicius is T-1st in the NCAA with six game-winning goals
 
ACADEMIC HONORS
• Denver had 14 student-athletes named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference team and nine student-athletes named NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, second-most in the conference
• To be eligible for the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team, a student-athlete must compile a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher while having completed at least one academic year at his institution. Student-athletes who have accrued a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher are honored as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, in addition to Academic All-Conference. Qualified freshmen will be added to the lists at the conclusion of the school year
 
LUKO LEADS THE WAY
• Denver is 9-0-2 when Jarid Lukosevicius scores and 10-9-3 when he doesn't
• Lukosevicius has the all-time school record and is the NCAA active leader in career game-winning goals with 19. The all-time career leader is Austin Ortega (Omaha '14-'17 - 23)
 
FRESH FACES
• Denver's freshmen class is 4th in NCAA scoring with 96 points (32-64-96)
• The Pioneers' freshmen class accounts for 37% of the of the team's total points and 34% of the team's total goals
• Emilio Pettersen is T-6th among NCAA freshman with 26 points
• Cole Guttman is T-9th among NCAA freshmen with 11 goals
• Slava Demin is 5th among NCAA freshmen with a +20 plus/minus rating
 
WORKING OVERTIME
• The Pioneers have played 10 overtime games this season, T-5th-most in the NCAA. Denver is 4-1-5 in the extra period, T-1st in the NCAA in overtime wins
 
MILLER HOCKEY COMPLEX
• The new home of Denver hockey is named after University of Denver's Board of Trustees member John A. Miller, his wife, Sandy, and their family
• The 4,464 square foot space houses the Pioneers' lockers, lounge, sauna, kitchen, training room and equipment room
• More than 150 donors contributed to the $2.5 million renovation
 
YOUNG PIONEERS
• At 29, David Carle is the youngest coach in Division I college hockey
• The Pioneers have the fourth-youngest team in college hockey with an average age of 20 years/8 months
• The Pioneers have 19 freshmen and sophomores, the most since the 2007-08 season when Tyler Bozak was a freshman
 
EXPERIENCED STAFF
• Assistant Coach Tavis MacMillan served as head coach of Alaska-Fairbanks from 2004-07
• Assistant Coach Dallas Ferguson served as head coach of Alaska-Fairbanks from 2008-17
• Volunteer Assistant Coach Steven Reinprecht played 663 NHL games over 11 NHL seasons, winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001
• Team Manager Ben Scrivens played 144 NHL games over five NHL seasons in addition to representing Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics
 
DU-CC GOLD PAN GIVING CHALLENGE: 
Get in on the action of our ongoing rivalry with the Gold Pan Giving Challenge - our annual challenge to get more alumni donors than CC. Make your gift anytime from March 1-17 and help us beat CC! Click here to join the challenge!

PIONEER MOVEMENT:
Interested in making a donation to the hockey program? Click Here. Your contribution will make a direct impact on the success of YOUR Pioneers. Thank you for your unwavering support of our student-athletes and their quest for excellence. 

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