DENVER – The No. 1 Denver Pioneers hockey team picked up a weekend sweep of the Arizona State Sun Devils with a 5-2 victory on Saturday night at Magness Arena.
 
Sophomore defenseman Sean Behrens had three points (1g/2a) and freshman forward Jared Wright contributed two tallies for his second multi-goal game of the season. Sophomore Massimo Rizzo and senior Casey Dornbach also scored for the Pioneers (12-4-0, 6-2-0), who improve to 6-2-0 against non-conference opponents this season.
 
"I just liked our intensity to start the game," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach David Carle. "A lot of what we talked about (pregame) was they were probably having a similar meeting this morning that we had last Saturday. You saw they weren't happy with their effort and how they played yesterday, and we just wanted to make sure that we got to our game quickly and established how we wanted to play. I thought we did that in the first period, and it obviously carried over as well into the second."
 
Denver goaltender Matt Davis made his first start since the second game of the season on Oct. 8 against Maine and stopped 18 shots in the victory. Davis improved his all-time record to 5-1-0.
 
The Pioneers led 4-0 after 40 minutes of play as each of their four goals coming in the final 3:03 of the first two periods, breaking open tightly-played stanzas to that point. Wright scored at 16:57 and Dornbach tallied at 17:45 of the first period, and Rizzo found twine at 18:18 and Wright netted his second of the night at 19:07 of the second frame.
 
Behrens registered his first goal of the season 6:56 into the third period, as the puck went off his skate during a scramble in front of the net.
 
DU outshot ASU (8-9-0) 43-20 in the game and 99-40 in the two games over the weekend.
 
Netminder TJ Semptimphelter started for the Sun Devils and made 26-of-30 saves while playing the first 40 minutes. Ben Kraws guarded the pipes in the third for ASU and stopped 12-of-13 shots.
 
Ryan O'Reilly and Teddy Lagerback scored both of Arizona State's goals in the third period.
 
The Pioneers have now won three games in a row for the third time this season and are 10-2-0 in their last 12 contests. DU picked up its fifth weekend sweep and third at home of the campaign as well.
 
UP NEXT: Denver returns to conference play as it faces the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs next Friday and Saturday on the road. Those contest mark the only away outings that DU will play in its present 12-game segment.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU has now won six straight games over ASU and improved to 8-1-1 all-time in the series. The Pioneers are also now 6-0-0 against the Sun Devils at home.
• Aidan Thompson (1g/3a) and Mike Benning (3g/2a) are on three-game point streaks while Massimo Rizzo is on a career-long three-game goal streak (3g/0a).
• Denver has won 17 consecutive non-conference games at Magness Arena dating back to Oct. 18, 2019.
• Jared Wright picked up his first multi-goal game since Nov. 12 at North Dakota.
• Sean Behrens' three points tied his career high for the third time. It was his first three-point outing since Feb. 4, 2022 vs. St. Cloud State (0g/3a).
• The Pioneers went 3-1-0 on their four-game homestand and are now 8-2-0 at Magness Arena this season.
• In honor of Hockey Alumni Weekend, 2004 and 2005 national champion Adrian Veideman dropped the puck pregame in a ceremonial faceoff.

 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On staying composed in the game: "It's a team that we played a couple of times last year. They feel like a league rival at this point with how much we've played them over the last four-five years, so yeah emotional composure is always important."
 
On goaltender Matt Davis: "I liked his game a lot. He was able to earn an opportunity. He practiced really well this week and has been doing good in practice for a while. So happy for him that he was able to get into the game and show well."
 
Forward Massimo Rizzo
On the amount of shots on goal over the weekend: "I think our puck movement was good. Everyone was gelling well together."
On depth scoring: "Freshmen are doing great. They've got a couple of games in them now, so depth of scoring is going to be big for us in the long run. So, it is good to see those guys chipping in."
 
Defenseman Sean Behrens
On this weekend being a confidence booster: "It's nice. Whenever you can sweep a team, especially at home, it's nice. To have the puck start going in the net is a big confidence booster for me. Throughout the start of the year it has been tough putting the puck in the back of the net and scoring goals, so it's nice to see that first one."
 
On the team finally cracking ASU goalie TJ Semptimphelter: "He played really well last night, credit to him. He kept that game close. We made it hard on him tonight, took his eyes away, and it led to more success for us in the offense."
 
 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
16:57 DU (1-0) – Jared Wright scored in the low slot after taking a centering pass from Shai Buium.
17:45 DU (2-0) – Casey Dornbach took the puck from Sean Behrens and his shot from the right circle got through TJ Semptimphelter and trickled through the crease and across the goal line.
 
2nd Period
18:18 DU (3-0) – Massimo Rizzo got the puck after Sean Behrens ringed a pass around the boards and tallied on a wrist shot from the right circle.
19:07 DU (4-0) – Jared Wright streaked up the ice and beat the goalie five-hole.
 
3rd Period
7:02 ASU (4-1) – Ryan O'Reilly deflected a shot from Jack Judson into the net.
13:05 DU (5-1) – The puck went off Sean Behrens' skate and in after Carter King's initial shot rebounded off the goaltender.
15:35 ASU (6-1) – Teddy Lagerback threw the puck off the Matt Davis' leg and into the cage from below the goal line.
 
 
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