BOSTON – The University of Denver hockey team will vie for its 12th trip to the NCAA Championship Game on Thursday at 3 p.m. MT, as the Pioneers face the Michigan Wolverines in the Frozen Four national semifinals at TD Garden.
 
Denver is in the Frozen Four for the fourth time in the last seven seasons and will be playing Michigan for the first time in 20 years (the national tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
 
The Pioneers won the Loveland Regional as the No. 1 seed, picking up a 3-2 win against UMass Lowell on March 24 before defeating Minnesota Duluth 2-1 on March 26 to secure the program's 18th trip to college hockey's final four.
 
In the regional final versus UMD, Carter Savoie scored the game-winner goal with 6:16 remaining in the third period, and the Pioneers held off the Bulldogs in the closing minutes. Cole Guttman, who had an assist on the game-winner, also scored for Denver with 2:36 before the first intermission to tie the contest, as Darian Gotz opened the scoring for UMD with a shot from the point at 5:19 of the frame.  Bobby Brink and Sean Behrens also had assists for DU, and goaltender Magnus Chrona stopped 24 saves, including all 23 he faced in the final two periods.
 
The Wolverines are the No. 1 overall seed in the national tournament with a 31-9-1 record on the season. Michigan is the Big Ten Tournament champions and beat American International 5-3 on March 25 and Quinnipiac on March 27 in the Allentown Regional.
 
DU and UM are meeting for the first time since the NCAA quarterfinals on March 23, 2002, where the Wolverines won 5-3 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The only other meeting in the past 41 years between the squads was in the NCAA first round on March 26, 1999 when Michigan also won by a 5-3 score.
 
The Pioneers lead the all-time series 46-36-1 and owned a 44-29-1 record in conference play when the teams were foes in the old WCHA from 1951-1981.
 
Denver has won eight national championships in program history, tied for the second-most in college hockey (North Dakota). Only Michigan was won more with nine in its trophy case. DU has won the NCAA title twice in Boston, doing so in 1960 and 2004, with the latter occurring in the same venue as Thursday's matchup.
 
SNAP SHOTS

• The Pioneers are in the Frozen Four for the 18th time and own an 11-6 record in the national semifinals.
• DU has killed off 19 straight penalties, tied for the longest streak of the season for the team. The Pios have killed off 19-of-20 penalties in the postseason.
• Denver leads the country in scoring, averaging 4.28 goals per game and has scored four or more goals in 29 contests this year.  DU is also among the nation's leaders in both shots for and shots against per game
• Bobby Brink is DU's first Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist since 2018 and is looking to become the program's third winner. The award will be announced on Friday.
• Carter Savoie is tied for fourth in the country in goals (22) and tied for sixth with 0.59 goals per game.
• Magnus Chrona is one win away from 50 in his career and owns a .757 winning percentage, fifth-best in the nation.
• Brett Stapley is three points away from 100 in his career.

 
MICHIGAN CONNECTIONS: Brett Edwards' brother, Ethan Edwards, is a freshman defenseman on Michigan … Ethan is from St. Albert, Alberta, the same hometown as DU's Mike Benning and Carter Savoie … Carter Mazur is from Jackson, Mich., and was drafted in the third round by the Detroit Red Wings … Defensemen Shai Buium and Antti Tuomisto are also Red Wings draft picks … Mazur and Mark Estapa were teammates for two seasons with the USHL's Tri-City Storm (2019-2021) … Brett Stapley and Jimmy Lambert played three seasons together with the BCHL's Vernon Vipers (2015-2018) … Denver freshmen Sean Behrens and Jack Devine and Michigan freshmen Dylan Duke and Luke Hughes, sophomores Matty Beniers, Thomas Bordeleau and Jacob Truscott, junior Johnny Beecher and fifth-year Michael Pastujov are all products of the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich. … UM's Brendan Brisson (Manhattan Beach) and DU's Cole Guttman (Los Angeles) and Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills) are all from Southern California … Both team's starting goaltenders are from Sweden: Denver's Magnus Chrona (Stockholm) and Michigan's Erik Portillo (Gothenburg) … The Pioneers have two Michigan natives on their staff in Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane (Kalamazoo) and Equipment Manager Nick Meldrum (Warren). Culhane graduated (2017) and previously worked at Western Michigan University, while Meldrum graduated from Lake Superior State (2007) and spent two years with the U.S. NTDP when it was in Ann Arbor prior to joining DU.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES: Michigan is the No. 1 overall seed in the national tournament and owns a 31-9-1 record on the season.  The Wolverines went 16-8-0 in Big Ten play and won the conference tournament championship on March 9 with a 4-3 win at Minnesota.  UM is on a six-game winning streak but wasn't able to play a full schedule this season as their game on Dec. 30 vs. Western Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational was cancelled several days before due to a roster issue in the UM program.  However, UM did play the previous night on Dec. 29 vs. Michigan Tech, tying 0-0.  Michigan has the third-highest scoring offense in the country (4.02 goals per game) and owns the ninth-best defense, only allowing 2.22 goals against.  The Wolverines are led by 13 NHL Draft picks, including seven that have been selected in the first round—the most ever by a team in college hockey history.  Matty Beniers leads the squad in scoring with 43 points (20g/23a) while Brendan Brisson is first in goals (21) and owns 42 points (21g/21a); Denver and Michigan are the only two programs in the country with multiple 20-goal scorers.  Kent Johnson and Owen Power are tied for eighth in the country in assists with 29, while freshman Luke Hughes leads all defensemen in the nation in scoring with 39 points (17g/22a).  Goaltender Erik Portillo ranks fourth in the country with a .768 winning percentage.  He has played in all 41 games and has a 31-9-1 record, 2.02 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and three shutouts.
 
PIONEERS IN THE FROZEN FOUR: The Pioneers, who are in their 18th Frozen Four, are aiming to make their 12th NCAA Championship Game, as they own an 11-6 record in the national semifinals.  In title games, DU has an 8-3 record.  The Pios played in four third-place games (when that was a thing) from 1966-1986 and went 2-2 in such contests.
 
Denver has made four of the last six Frozen Fours dating back to 2016 (was not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), including winning the championship in 2017.  The Pios last made it this far in 2019 where they fell 4-3 in double-overtime to UMass in Buffalo, N.Y.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY IN BOSTON: The Pioneers are returning to the site where they won the 2004 National Championship, which marked the sixth in program history and ended 35-year drought.
 
DU also won the 1960 title in Boston, beating Michigan Tech 5-3 at the then-called Boston Arena on the campus of Northeastern.  It was the Pioneers' second national championship and the first of back-to-back titles.
 
This year marks Denver's fifth time playing in college hockey's "final four" in Boston city proper, having also previously done so in 1972 and 1973.  DU also played the 1963 championships in nearby Chestnut Hill, where it lost 6-5 to North Dakota in the final.
 
EXPERIENCE AT THE FROZEN FOUR: Denver has four players with Frozen Four experience entering this week, as Ryan Barrow, Cole Guttman, Kyle Mayhew and Brett Stapley all played in DU's previous appearance vs. UMass in 2019.
 
Entering this year, only five players on DU's roster had experience in the national tournament with transfer Cameron Wright joining Barrow, Guttman, Mayhew and Stapley on the squad after playing one such game with Bowling Green in 2019.
 
LAST MEETING VS. MICHIGAN - MARCH 23, 2002: Jed Ortmeyer scored the game-winning goal with 1:21 left in regulation to propel Michigan to a 5-3 win over Denver in an NCAA West Regional quarterfinal.  The Wolverines, wearing their road blue uniforms despite playing in front nearly 7,000 of their own fans at Yost Ice Arena, advanced to take on Minnesota in the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.
 
UM rallied from a 3-2 deficit entering the final period, as Eric Werner tied the game at 4:47 of the frame and Eric Nystrom sealed the contest with an empty-netter—his second goal of the night—with 27 seconds remaining.
 
Denver received second-period tallies from Chris Paradise, Kevin Doell and Luke Fulgham.  Goaltender Wade Dubielwicz finished with 33 saves for the Pioneers.  Michigan netminder Josh Blackburn stopped 18-of-31 shots faced.
 
BARROW SET TO TIE GAMES PLAYED RECORD: Fifth-year senior Ryan Barrow appeared in his 166th career game on March 26 vs. Minnesota Duluth and is one game away from tying Ed Cristofoli's school record of 167 games that was set from 1985-1989.
 
BOBBY BRINK HOBEY BAKER HAT TRICK FINALIST: Junior forward Bobby Brink is a top-three finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey's top player, with the winner set to be announced on Friday, April 8 in Boston. He is joined in the Hobey Baker Hat Trick by Minnesota State goaltender Dryden McKay and Minnesota forward Ben Meyers.
 
Brink leads the nation in scoring with 56 points and 42 assists, the most by DU players since Gabe Gauthier had 57 points in 2004-05 and Matt Carle had 42 assists in his Hobey Baker-winning campaign in 2005-06.  He was the first player in the nation to reach the 50-point threshold, which he achieved with an assist on Feb. 26 at Omaha (Minnesota State's Nathan Smith is the only other player with 50 points).
 
He has registered 47 points (11g/36a) in the last 31 games and gained 35 (9g/26a) of his 56 points during conference play, the most in the NCHC.  Ed Beers was the last and only Denver player to lead the nation in scoring, doing so in his senior season of 1981-82.
 
Denver has had two Hobey Baker Award winners in program history: Matt Carle in 2006 and Will Butcher in 2017.  He is the first Pioneer to be named to the Hat Trick since Henrik Borgstrom in 2018.
 
CARLE FINALIST FOR COACH OF THE YEAR: Denver head coach David Carle was named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, which is given annually to the D-I Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 6.
 
This is the 32-year-old's second time up for the accolade (2019).  The Pioneers have won the award four times previously: Murray Armstrong (1961), Ralph Backstrom (1986), George Gwozdecky (2005), Jim Montgomery (2017).
 
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 previously 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 now reached the Frozen Four in four of its last five tries in the tournament, including winning the championship in 2017.
 
Denver is ...38-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament ...9-2 in their last 11 national tournament games dating back to 2017 ...12-4 in their last 16 national tournament games dating back to 2015.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT MISCELLANEOUS

• The Pioneers went 7-6-0 against other NCAA Tournament teams during the 2021-22 season, with all of them being NCHC conference opponents.
• DU entered the NCAA postseason with the fourth-best record since the holiday break among national tournament squads, going 16-4-1 (.786).
• Cameron Wright entered the tournament with the most career goals (71) and power-play goals (29) and second-most points (131) by active players in this year's NCAAs. His 183 career games are the most among players in the Frozen Four.
• Entering the tournament, the Pios led all teams with eight, 10+ goal scorers and four, 40+ point players.  DU & UM have the only two, 20-goal scorers in the country.
• DU has the most freshmen (9-tied) and fewest seniors (5-tied) among tournament squads.  The team has the top-scoring senior (157) and freshmen classes (135) among Frozen Four teams
• David Carle is making his second appearance in the Frozen Four as a head coach.
• Bobby Brink & Cole Guttman are the highest-scoring pair of teammates at the national tournament with 101 total points.
• Brink, Guttman & Carter Savoie (145 points) are the highest-scoring trio in the tournament.

 
PRO PIPELINE: Denver has 12 NHL drafted players on its roster, tied for the third-most in the nation with only Minnesota (14) and Michigan (13) having more.  Boston University and Harvard also have 12 NHL Draft picks on their rosters.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 3 in the country in the latest DCU/USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, which released a new ranking last week.  The Pioneers' rating in the USCHO.com poll is their highest since being No. 2 on Nov. 11, 2019.
 
NOTABLES FROM REGIONALS

• The Pioneers were playing their first national tournament games in Colorado in 18 years and improved to 10-2 all-time in such games in their home state.
• Denver is now 23-1-0 this season when allowing two goals or less,
• DU improved to 8-3-0 on the season when tied after the first period and 5-1-0 when tied after the second.
• Carter Savoie scored in both games in regionals and leads the team with 22 goals on the season.  He is also first on the squad with five game-winning goals.
• The Pioneers only allowed two shots on goal in the first period vs. Duluth, tied the fewest faced in a period this season (Jan. 28 at Miami, 1st period).
• DU has killed off 19 straight penalties dating back to March 11 vs. Miami, tied for its longest consecutive penalty kill streak of the season (Jan. 15-28).  The Pios have killed off 19-of-20 penalties in the postseason.
• Denver and Duluth had met just eight days earlier in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals on March 18 in St. Paul, Minn.
• The Pioneers finished 3-3-0 on the season against the Bulldogs, with both teams winning once each at home, on the road and at a neutral site.
• DU is now a 3-0 all-time vs. UMD in the national tournament, as it also posted wins in the 2004 Frozen Four and 2017 National Championship Game.
• Denver blocked 16 shots in the regional semifinal vs. UMass Lowell, one shy of its season high of 17 set on Dec. 4 at Arizona State.
• Cameron Wright scored his 21st goal of the season in the regional semifinal to set a new career high for a single campaign, surpassing the 20 he had as a junior in 2019-20 with Bowling Green.
• Cole Guttman won 19 faceoffs vs. UML.  He has now won 14 or more draws in 23 games this year.  He has finished 50 percent or better at the dot in 36-of-39 contests.

 
REGIONAL HONORS: Denver captain Cole Guttman was voted by the media as the Most Outstanding Player of the West Regional and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Carter Savoie and Sean Behrens.  Guttman had a goal and an assist in the regional final, while Savoie scored the game-winner and Behrens had the primary assist.
 
MASS CONNECTION: Denver Strength and Conditioning Director Matt Shaw spent five years working and interning in Boston with various athletic departments, four with Boston University and one at Harvard University.  Shaw received both his bachelor's degree (health sciences, January 2010) and master's (physical education/coaching, May 2011) from BU.
 
WRIGHT UP THE CHARTS: Senior Cameron Wright appeared in his 175th career NCAA game on Feb. 25 at Omaha, becoming just the 27th player in D-I college hockey history to reach that many games played.  Earning an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wright was the seventh NCAA player this season to achieve the feat.
 
He has now played in 183 career games, tied for third all-time in D-I history with Seamus Donohue & the most among 2022 Frozen Four participants.
 
TWENTY SOMETHINGS: Sophomore Carter Savoie leads the team with 22 goals this season while fifth-year senior Cameron Wright is second with 21 tallies.  It's the most goals by Denver players since Henrik Borgstrom had 23 and Jarid Lukosevicius had 21 in the 2017-18 season.  Denver was the first team in the nation to have two, 20-goal scorers.  Savoie (T-4th) and Wright (T-6th) presently rank in the top 10 in the nation in markers.
 
Michigan became the second school with two players with 20 goals after Matty Beniers and Brendan Brisson both hit the mark in their respective NCAA Regional games.
 
Savoie ranked fifth in the country in goals per game (.62) at the end of DU's regular season, while Wright was first in tallies among players that transferred over the summer (played the previous four seasons at Bowling Green).
 
HOSTING REGIONALS IN LOVELAND: DU hosted this year's 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.
 
TAKE ME HOME, COLORADO: During regionals, the Pioneers played NCAA national tournament games in the state of Colorado for the first time since 2004.  In that previous occurrence on March 26-27, 2004, DU 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.  The Pioneers went on to win their sixth national title and first since 1969 that season.
 
DU is now 10-2 all-time in national tournament games in Colorado, going 4-2 in Denver, 4-0 in Colorado Springs and 2-0 in Loveland.
 

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