After winning 2-0 on Friday, the No. 8 Denver Pioneers men's hockey team (20-10-5, 11-10-3-3) looks to become the first NCHC team to advance to its six straight Frozen Faceoff with a win against the No. 19 North Dakota Fighting Hawks in Game 2 of the best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal series on Saturday at Magness Arena.
 
DENVER: SNAPSHOT
• Denver finished fourth in the NCHC, securing home-ice advantage in the NCHC quarterfinals for the fifth straight year
• The Pioneers broke a three-game winless streak and solidified their 18th straight 20-win season with Friday's 2-0 win against North Dakota
• Denver is one win away from advancing to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the sixth straight year. Only North Dakota and Denver have made the tournament each year
• Liam Finlay leads Denver with 32 points (13-19-32), averaging .91 points per game compared to .37 in 2017-18 and .50 in 2016-17
• Since the start of 2019, the Pioneers are operating at 9.0% on the power play, 59th in the NCAA, and 78.3% on the penalty kill, 44th in the NCAA. Prior to the New Year, the Pioneers were operating at 21.3% on the power play, 16th in the NCAA, and 84.1% on the penalty kill, 17th in the NCAA
 
DENVER: LAST GAME
DU 2, UND 0 (March 15, 2019 - Denver, Colo.)
• Tyson McLellan and Griffin Mendel scored for Denver, while Filip Larsson made 32 saves in his second career shutout and the team's sixth of the season
• The Pioneers are unbeaten in their last four games against North Dakota (3-0-1)
• Denver went 0/2 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill. The Fighting Hawks outshot the Pioneers, 32-17
 
NORTH DAKOTA: SNAPSHOT
• The Fighting Hawks had a three-game winning streak snapped in Game 1 of the NCHC quarterfinal
• Jordan Kawaguchi leads North Dakota with 26 points on 10 goals and 16 assists, while current starting goalie Peter Thome has a 3.75 GAA and .838 SV%
• North Dakota is the 3rd-best faceoff team in the NCAA, winning 56% of 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 GAME
DU 2, UND 0 (March 15, 2019 - Denver, Colo.)
• Despite outshooting Denver 32-17, North Dakota was shutout for the third time this season. Gabe Bast led the Fighting Hawks with six shots
• The Fighting Hawks went 0/2 on the power play and 2/2 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 Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. for the sixth straight year
 
NCHC AWARD WINNERS
• Filip Larsson was named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team
• Ian Mitchell was named to the NCHC 2nd Team All-Conference
• Filip Larsson is a nominee for NCHC Goalie of the Year and Jarid Lukosevicius is a nominee for NCHC Forward of the Year. The winners for the individual awards will be announced at the NCHC Awards Celebration on Thursday, March 21
 
DENVER VS. NORTH DAKOTA
• Denver went 2-1-1 against North Dakota in the regular season and is 126-146-15 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
• Nine of the last 12 games in the series have been decided by one or fewer goals with Denver going 5-3-4 in that stretch
• Denver is 14-14-1 all-time against North Dakota in the conference playoffs, going 12-13-0 in the WCHA and 2-1-1 in the NCHC. The Pioneers are 18-17-1 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
• On March 15, Denver became only the third team in NCAA history to compile 18 consecutive 20 win seasons. 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 18 straight 20-win seasons is the longest active streak in the NCAA. 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 445-216-76 record, trailing only North Dakota (451-233-72)
 
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. They have never played a Game 3 when winning the first game (3-0)
• The Pioneers are 11-2 all-time in the NCHC quarterfinal series and 17-5-1 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%, T-3rd in the NCAA, a 1.89 GAA, 6th in the NCAA, and four shutouts, T-8th in the NCAA
• Jarid Lukosevicius is T-2nd 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 11-9-3 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-8th 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 GIVING CHALLENGE:
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