LOVELAND, Colo. – The University of Denver hockey team begins the national tournament on Thursday night as the Pioneers take on the UMass Lowell River Hawks at the Budweiser Events Center. Game time is at 7 p.m. MT and it will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
 
Denver is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA West Regional and is also the host of the event. UMass Lowell is the fourth seed in Loveland and is making its first appearance in the national tournament since 2017. Tickets are still available.
 
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pioneers will be playing their first games in the NCAA Championships since reaching the Frozen Four in 2019. DU has now made the national tournament in each of the last 13 full seasons.
 
The Pioneers will be playing an NCAA national tournament game in Colorado for the first time in 18 years, as DU last played a regional in its home state in 2004. That year, Denver defeated Miami 3-2 and North Dakota 1-0 in the West Regionals in Colorado Springs to advance to its first Frozen Four since 1986, and the Pios went on to win their sixth national title and first since 1969.
 
DU is 8-2 all-time in national tournament games in Colorado, going 4-0 in Colorado Springs and 4-2 in Denver.
 
Denver is coming off a 2-0 loss to Minnesota Duluth last Friday in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. UMD Blake Biondi scored in the first period and goaltender Ryan Fanti stopped all 30 shots he faced, as DU was shutout for the first time this season. Kobe Roth tallied into an empty net with 20 seconds remaining. Goaltender Magnus Chrona made 29-of-30 saves in the game to give the Pioneers a chance.
 
UMass Lowell finished tied for second in the Hockey East Conference with a 15-8-1 record in league play and has a 21-10-3 overall mark on the campaign. The River Hawks lost 3-1 in the Hockey East semifinals to UMass, which went on to win the conference title. Prior to the defeat, Lowell had won four games in a row, including defeating Merrimack 7-2 in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. 
 
The winner of Thursday's matchup will take on the winner of No. 2-seed Minnesota Duluth and No. 3 seed Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon (game time TBD). UMD and MTU face off in their regional semifinal on Thursday at 1 p.m. MT at the Budweiser Events Center.
 
CONNECTIONS WITH UMASS LOWELL: Shai Buium was on the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL with Gabe Blanchard during the 2020-21 season … Isac Jonsson played on the USHL's Tri-City Storm with Carter Mazur last season … Zach Kaiser played on the AJHL's Sherwood Park Crusaders at the end of the 2018-19 campaign with DU's Mike Benning and Carter Savoie … Jack Works was a teammate of Blake Wells on the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers in 2017-18.
 
HISTORY: The Pioneers are 9-2-0 all-time against the River Hawks, including winning each of the last six meetings dating back to 1988.  The teams last met on Dec. 29, 2018, with DU earning a 4-1 victory in Lowell.  The first-ever meeting between the schools was on Dec. 28-29, 1984, with the squads splitting the series in Massachusetts. Denver is 6-0-0 all-time on home ice in the series, including winning both meetings in the Denver Cup in 2001 and 2006.
 
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: Andre Lee and Carl Berglund are tied for first on the team in scoring with 28 points each. Lee is first on the squad with 16 goals, while Berglund leads with 19 assists. Goaltender Owen Savory spent most of the time in the crease, sporting a 20-6-2 mark, 1.89 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and five shutouts on the year.
 
SNAP SHOTS

• Denver is making its 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the sixth-most among all D-I programs.
• DU has the fourth-best record since the holiday break among national tournament squads, going 16-4-1 (.786).
• Ryan Barrow has played in 164 career games, tied for second all-time in program history.  He can take sole possession of the spot on Thursday.
• Cole Guttman is one point away from 120 in his career and will become the 56th Pio to reach the mark ... Brett Stapley is four away from 100 career points.
• Seniors Ryan Barrow (fifth year) and Cole Guttman are the only players on the DU roster that played UMass Lowell in the teams' last meeting in 2018 … Guttman had 1g/2a in that contest.
• The Pioneers have won each of their last five games in the regional semifinals.

 
LAST GAME NOTABLES

• The Pioneers played their first afternoon and neutral-site game of the season at the Frozen Faceoff.
• Denver had its five-game winning streak come to an end. The Pios are now 22-8-1 all-time in the NCHC postseason and is 3-2-0 in games at Xcel Energy Center.
• DU was shutout for the first time since Feb. 12, 2021 vs. North Dakota.
• Denver dropped to 2-3-0 on the year to Minnesota Duluth and is now 4-5-0 all-time vs. the Bulldogs in neutral-site contests

 
NCAA REGIONALS IN COLORADO: DU is hosting the NCAA West Regionals at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland—home of the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles—for the second straight year after also doing so in 2021.  Denver was also selected to host the 2026 NCAA West Regionals, which will also be held in Loveland. Last year marked the first time that NCAA hockey tournament games were played in Colorado since 2008 when the Frozen Four was held at the then-called Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.
 
NATIONAL TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Denver is in the NCAA Tournament for the 31st time in program history and has reached the Big Dance in each of its last 13 full seasons dating back to 2008.
 
The Pioneers last made the national tournament in 2019 when it played in the Frozen Four in Buffalo, N.Y., and fell 4-3 in double-overtime to UMass in the national semifinals.  DU has reached the Frozen Four in three of its last four tries, including winning the championship in 2017.
 
Denver is…

• 36-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
• 7-2 in their last nine national tournament games dating back to 2017
• 10-4 in their last 14 national tournament games dating back to 2015

 
EXPERIENCE WITH THE NATTYS: Only five players on Denver's roster have experience in the national tournament, with Ryan Barrow having the most with five games.
 
5 – Ryan Barrow
3 – Cole Guttman
3 – Kyle Mayhew
3 – Brett Stapley
1 – Cameron Wright
 

• Cole Guttman recorded a then-career-high three points in his last tournament game in the Frozen Four on April 11, 2019 vs. UMass.
• Cameron Wright made his lone appearance at nationals as a sophomore with Bowling Green on March 30, 2019, falling 2-1 in overtime to Minnesota Duluth.

 
NCAA TOURNAMENT MISCELLANEOUS

• DU's eight championships are tied for the second-most in NCAA history, with only Michigan having one more (9).
• The Pioneers went 7-6-0 against other NCAA Tournament teams during the 2021-22 season, with them all of them being NCHC conference opponents.
• DU has the fourth-best record since the holiday break among tourney squads, going 16-4-1 (.786).
• Cameron Wright has the most career goals (71) and power-play goals (29) and second-most points (131) by active players in this year's tournament. His 181 career games are third-most in the category with only North Dakota's Connor Ford (184) and St. Cloud State's Seamus Donohue (182) having more.
• The Pios lead all tournament teams with eight, 10+ goal scorers and four, 40+ point players. They also have the only two, 20-goal scorers in the country in Carter Savoie and Cameron Wright.
• DU has the most freshmen (9-tied) and fewest seniors (5-tied) among tournament squads. The team has the top-scoring freshman class among the 16 teams (133 points)
• David Carle is making his third appearance in the national tournament as a head coach.
• Bobby Brink and Cole Guttman are tied for the highest scoring pair of teammates at the tournament (98 points, with Minnesota State's Nathan Smith and Julian Naprvnik).
• Brink, Guttman and Carter Savoie (140 points) are the highest-scoring trio in the tournament.

 
AWARD WINNERS: The Pioneers won four individual awards at the NCHC Awards Celebration in St. Paul on March 17, highlighted by Bobby Brink being named both the conference's Player and Forward of the Year.
 
Brink is the fourth Denver player to earn NCHC Player of the Year honors, as Henrik Borgstrom last won the award in 2018.  Will Butcher also earned the honor in 2017 as well as Joey LaLeggia in 2015.
 
Borgstrom was also named Forward of the Year in 2018, while Danton Heinen took the accolade in 2016 and Trevor Moore in 2015.
 
Carter Mazur became the third Pioneer to be named the NCHC Rookie of the Year, as Borgstrom picked up the award in 2017 and Danton Heinen in 2015.
 
Goaltender Magnus Chrona was named the winner of the Three Stars Award, the first DU player to pick up the honor. The award is calculated based on how many times the player was recognized in the end-of-game three stars ceremony in conference games.
 
TICKETS: NCAA Regional tickets are available for the Loveland Regional by clicking here.

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