OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 3 University of Denver hockey team continues its season-long road trip this weekend as it travels to eastern Nebraska to take on the Omaha Mavericks on Friday and Saturday at Baxter Arena. Both games begin at 6 p.m. MT and will be streamed live and on-demand on NCHC.tv.
Denver is coming off a weekend split at the No. 6 Western Michigan Broncos to begin its road trek. DU used three power-play goals on Friday to win 4-1 and nearly erased a four-goal deficit on Saturday in a 6-4 loss. NCAA-leading scorer
Bobby Brink had five points (3g/2a) over the weekend, while goaltenders
Magnus Chrona and
Matt Davis both saw action.
The Mavericks are 19-13-0 on the season and own a 9-11-0 mark in NCHC play. Omaha is coming off a weekend sweep at home against then-No. 8 St. Cloud State, winning 5-2 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday. Taylor Ward leads the team in scoring with 16 goals and 33 points, while Brandon Scanlin is the Mavs' top assist-getter with 24 helpers this season. Isaiah Saville has led the Mavs in net for much of the campaign, sporting a 14-12-0 record, 2.53 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and four shutouts.
Despite splitting the last two weekends, DU is still 18-3-1 in its last 22 games. The Pioneers are currently in second place in the NCHC standings with 44 points (15-5-0), one point behind leader North Dakota, which hosts No. 6 Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday in Grand Forks.
The Pioneers just wrapped up a stretch where it played top-10 opponents in three straight weekends and went 4-2-0 in those games against St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan. After the outings in Omaha, the team plays at Colorado College on March 4 before wrapping up the regular season at home against the CC Tigers the following night.
Denver was the first team in the NCHC to secure home-ice advantage for the NCHC Quarterfinals with its win on Friday. The best-of-three series will be held at Magness Arena on March 11-13, and tickets for those games are on sale now.
DU is 35-11-5 all-time against Omaha and sports a 13-8-3 mark on the road in the series. The Pioneers have won each of the last three matchups—including in the NCHC Quarterfinals last season—and are 20-2-3 in the last 25 meetings since the start of the 2015-16 season. If NCHC overtime and shootout wins are included, DU sports a 23-2-0 mark in that stretch.
CONNECTIONS: Volunteer Assistant Coach
Ryan Massa graduated from Nebraska Omaha and spent four years as a goaltender for the Mavericks (2011-2015), helping the program to its first Frozen Four in 2015 … Head Athletic Trainer
Aaron Leu earned his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Creighton University in Omaha in 1995 and picked up his master's degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1996 … Omaha's
Kevin Conley played 28 games for DU during the 2016-17 season ... Forward
Carter Mazur (Tri-City Storm) and
Justin Lee (Lincoln Stars) played junior hockey in the state of Nebraska …
Lane Krenzen's brother, Nolan, plays for Omaha … Ty Mueller played two seasons with the AJHL's Sherwood Park Crusaders with
Carter Savoie and
Mike Benning (2018-2020) …
Justin Lee played with Kaden Bohlsen briefly with the Fargo Force in 2018-19 and was teammates with Brock Bremer in Lincoln during the same USHL season … Victor Mancini played on Green Bay with
Matt Davis last season …
Cole Guttman and Chayse Primeau were teammates on Dubuque (USHL) in 2017-18 … Omaha's Jonny Tychonick and DU's
Carter King and
Matt Davis are all from Calgary, Alberta … Mavs grad student Brannon McManus (Newport Beach) and the Pios'
Cole Guttman (Los Angeles) and
Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills) are from Southern California … Omaha's senior Tyler Weiss is a draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche.
NCHC HONORS: Junior forward
Bobby Brink was named the NCHC Forward of the Week on Monday after recording five points (3g/2a) in the two games against the Broncos. He had the eventual game-winning goal and added two assists in Denver's win on Friday night before potting two markers for his first multi-goal game of the season on Saturday. It was his first career NCHC Forward of the Week honor after being named Rookie of the Week twice in 2019-20.
TO THE BRINK: Bobby Brink is the national leader in points (49) and assists (36), averaging 1.6 points per game. He entered the week with seven more points than second-place Brian Halonen of Michigan Tech (42) and has done it in one fewer game played. He is on a career-long 14-game point streak (7g/21a), with him also producing assists in each of the first 13 games. It is the longest point streak by a Pioneer since Danton Heinen had an 18-game run from Jan. 22-March 27, 2017 (14g/20a).
THE WRIGHT STUFF: Senior
Cameron Wright is expected to appear in his 175th career NCAA game this weekend, becoming just the 27th player in D-I college hockey history reach that many games played. Wright is a transfer player on the Pioneers after spending the previous four seasons at Bowling Green State University. Wright leads DU with 18 goals this season, the most in a campaign by a Pioneer since
Jarid Lukosevicius had 19 in 2018-19. His 18 tallies rank tied for seventh in the country and are the most in the nation by a player that transferred last summer.
UP FOR THE HOBEY: DU senior
Cole Guttman, junior
Bobby Brink and sophomore
Carter Savoie are among an initial 77 players nationally to be nominated for this year's 2022
Hobey Baker Award, which is given annually to college hockey's top player. The list will be cut down to 10 on March 17 and the three "Hobey Hat Trick" finalists will attend the award ceremony on Friday, April 8 during Frozen Four festivities in Boston.
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver remains at No. 3 in the country in both the DCU/USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine men's college polls. DU is also third in the Pairwise rankings that help decide the National Tournament field.
TICKETS: Single-game tickets for the 2021-22 campaign are on sale now and can be purchased here.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: Masks are required at all indoor athletic events. For the latest University of Denver updates on the coronavirus, click here.
DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!
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