DENVER – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team returns to conference play this weekend as the Miami RedHawks visit Magness Arena for a pair of games.
 
Friday's contest starts at 7 p.m. MT while Saturday's outing starts at 6 p.m. MT and will be televised regionally on Altitude 2. Both games will also be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
The series versus the RedHawks marks the final two outings of the Pioneers' season-long, six-game homestand and begins a stretch of 14 straight contests against NCHC foes to close the season. DU has games scheduled for each of the final eight weekends of the regular season.
 
Denver (17-5-0, 8-2-0 NCHC) wrapped up non-conference play last week by splitting its set against the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks. DU fell 3-1 on Friday before responding on Saturday in a 7-2 victory. DU's seven tallies were its most in a game this season, and four of the markers came in the third period. McKade Webster, Carter King, Carter Mazur and Massimo Rizzo each contributed a goal and an assist, while defensemen Sean Behrens and Mike Benning both had a pair of helpers in the game.
 
The Pioneers will be wrapping up their four-game season series versus the RedHawks after the teams met on Oct. 28-29 in Oxford, Ohio. DU picked up 4-0 and 4-2 wins, with Carter Mazur totaling five goals and Massimo Rizzo registering points on seven of the team's eight tallies over the weekend.
 
Miami is 7-11-2 on the season and is eighth in the NCHC standings with seven points and a 2-7-1 conference record.  MU is 2-1-0 in its last three games, which included a 5-0 home win against St. Cloud State on Dec. 10 in its final contest before the holiday break.  The RedHawks last played on Dec. 30-31 at home vs. Niagara and split the set by winning 5-3 on Friday before losing 5-4 on Saturday.  
 
Denver has won each of the last eight meetings against Miami dating back to last season—the longest winning streak by either team in the all-time series. The Pioneers own a 21-8-3 all-time record versus the Hawks and are 13-5-3 in games on home ice.
 
This will be DU's first home NCHC contests since splitting a home set against Omaha after Thanksgiving on Nov. 25-26. The Pioneers are presently on top of the NCHC standings with 23 points and an 8-2-0 conference record.
 
SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Matthew Barbolini leads the team in all three scoring categories, registering nine goals, 11 assists and 20 points.  John Waldron ranks second with eight goals and 13 points.  Goaltender Ludvig Persson has started 19 contests in net this year and owns a 7-10-2 record, 3.21 goals-against average, .901 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
CONNECTIONS: Casey Dornbach's father, Greg, played college hockey at Miami from 1985-1987 … Sean Behrens and Jack Devine were teammates with Red Savage at the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2019-21 … Behrens was a teammate with Savage for USA at the 2023 World Junior Championships … Connor Caponi spent two years as a teammate with Joe Cassetti with the Waterloo Black Hawks from 2018-20 … John Waldron was teammates with DU's Caponi (2019-20) and Owen Ozar (2020-21) with Waterloo … Zane Demsey, Michael Feenstra, Axel Kumlin and William Hallen played on USHL Dubuque with Denver's Tristan Lemyre and Lucas Olvestad last season … Justin Lee was teammates for half a season with Matthew Barbolini with the Lincoln Stars in 2018-19 … Carter Mazur played on the Tri-City Storm with Nick Donato from 2019-2021 … McKade Webster played with Dylan Moulton on the Green Bay Gamblers in 2019-20 … Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills) and PJ Fletcher (Dana Point) are both from Southern California … Magnus Chrona and Miami's Axel Kumlin are from Stockholm, Sweden, while MU goalie Ludvig Persson (Hindas), forward William Hallen (Gothenberg) and Hampus Rydqvist (Gothenberg) are also from the country … Miami's Thomas Daskas played college hockey in Colorado in 2020-21 with the Air Force Academy.
 
EARLIER THIS SEASON VS. MIAMI: The Pios won 4-0 in the series opener on Oct. 28, as Carter Mazur scored a natural hat trick, Tristan Broz tallied his first goal at DU and Magnus Chrona made 24 saves for his 10th career shutout.  DU earned a 4-2 victory on Oct. 29 after tallying three times in the third period to sweep the weekend set.  Rizzo had points on seven of Denver's eight goals on the weekend, while Mazur finished with five total goals in the two contests. 
 
IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 4 in the nation in the latest USCHO.com poll and is No. 3 in the country in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings.  DU has been inside the top four all season and had been at No. 1 in the poll for six straight weeks.  In the Pairwise Rankings that determine the field for the national tournament, Denver comes in at No. 5 behind Minnesota, Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State and Penn State.
 
STREAKING: Defenseman Mike Benning and forward Massimo Rizzo extended their career-long point streaks to nine game after reaching the scoresheet in both games last weekend against Alaska.  Rizzo scored in each contest vs. the Nanooks and now has six goals and five assists on his run.  Benning contributed assists in both games and has five goals and 10 assists during his stretch.  These are the longest point streaks by a Pioneer since Bobby Brink had a 14-game run from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 19, 2022 (7g/21a).
 
FORWARD OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Massimo Rizzo was named the NCHC Forward of the Week on Monday after totaling three points (2g/1a) in last week's series vs. Alaska Fairbanks.  Rizzo scored in both games against UAF and added an assist in Saturday's contests for his seventh multi-point effort of the season.
 
This is his first Forward of the Week award, and his second career weekly honor from the NCHC.  He was named co-Rookie of the Week on Oct. 11, 2021.  He is the third different Pioneer to be named Forward of the Week this season, joining Carter Mazur (Oct. 31) and Jared Wright (Nov. 14).
 
CHRONA AT 100: Goaltender Magnus Chrona appeared in in his 100th career game on Saturday against Alaska and will make his 100th start in his next contest.  The only game of Chrona's career that he did not start and entered in relief was on Feb. 28, 2020 at St. Cloud State.  He becomes the eighth Pioneer netminder to reach the century mark in games played and is one away from tying Lucien Carignan (1987-1991) for seventh place on the program's all-time list.  Chrona won his 64th career game on Saturday, surpassing Peter Mannino (2004-2008) for sole possession of fourth place in DU's record book.
 
FINDING TWINE: Denver scored a season-high seven goals in Saturday's 7-2 win over Fairbanks, surpassing its previous high of six that it reached on two prior occasions (Nov. 12 at North Dakota, Nov. 26 at Omaha).  DU tallied four times in the third period, which was also its most in a single frame this season and the program's most in a period since tallying five times in the third in last season's national championship game.  Overall, the third-period offense by Denver marked its fastest four (12:02) and three (4:54) goals scored this season, surpassing its previous bests of four in 19:40 and three in 7:51 (both on Nov. 12 at North Dakota).  The nine combined goals on Saturday also tied a season high in a game this season for DU (three times previously), and the team's five-goal margin of victory also matched a season best (Dec. 16 vs. Lindenwood, 5-0).
 
BROZ BREAKING OUT: Sophomore-transfer Tristan Broz has points in seven of his last nine games, which included a career-long, four-game point streak from Dec. 9-17 (3g/5a).  Broz also recorded a personal-best, four-point performance on Dec. 17 vs. Lindenwood where he scored and added three helpers, which was also a career high.  His previous career high in a game was three points (1g/2a) on Feb. 26, 2022 vs. Wisconsin while playing at the University of Minnesota.  Broz transferred to Denver in the offseason.
 
CHRONA ON RICHTER WATCH LIST: Senior Magnus Chrona was named to the Watch List for Mike Richter Award on Thursday, as he was one of seven NCHC goaltenders and among 41 keepers nationally to be up for the honor.  College hockey's goaltender of the year award will be narrowed down to approximately 15 players in the coming weeks, and the winner will be chosen on Friday, April 7 during Frozen Four festivities in Tampa, Fla.
 
MASS-IVE MARKERS: Sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo recorded a career-long goal streak from Nov. 26-Dec. 9 (4g/0a).  It was the longest goal streak of the campaign by a Denver player and matched the 2021-22 season high by Carter Mazur (Nov. 12-20, 2021).  Rizzo leads Denver in scoring with 29 points (10g/19a) in 22 games this season, and he now has 65 points (22g/43a) in 61 career contests.
 
NOTABLES

• The Pioneers are now 10-3-2 all-time vs. Alaska Fairbanks and sport a 5-1-2 record on home ice.
• Denver's eight power-play chances (2-for-8) on Saturday were its most in a game this season (previous: seven, three times), while it scored multiple times with the man advantage for the sixth time this year.  The team has now tallied at least one power-play goal in each of the last six games, a season-long streak.
• DU killed off all five penalties on Saturday, tying a season high (Oct. 22 vs. Providence, 5-of-7). The Pios had their season-best nine straight penalty kill streak end on Friday.
• Denver's seven goals on Saturday were its most since tallying eight on Feb. 4, 2022 vs. St. Cloud State (8-5 win).
• Goaltender Jack Caruso made his season debut on Saturday by playing the final 4:08 of the third period. It was his first game since his NCAA debut on Jan. 2, 2020 vs. Colorado College.
• Sean Behrens played on Saturday in his first game back after winning a bronze medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championship.
• Aidan Thompson had his career-long, four-game point streak (1g/3a) end on Saturday.
• The Pioneers had their season-long, seven-game overall and five-game home winning streaks come to an end on Friday.  DU's overall winning streak was its longest since a nine-game run last season from Jan. 15-Feb. 11, 2022.
• Denver has not dropped consecutive games at home since Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2020 vs. Minnesota Duluth.

 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: The Pioneers wrapped up their 12-game non-conference slate last weekend, finishing with a 9-3-0 record and a 9-1-0 mark on home ice in non-NCHC games.  Denver had won eight consecutive home non-conference matchups and suffered its first loss last Friday vs. Alaska since falling 3-2 to Merrimack on Dec. 30, 2017, ending a 25-game unbeaten streak (23-0-2).
 
The Pioneers previously played home games against No 11 Notre Dame and Maine on Oct. 7-8, No. 11 Providence on Oct. 21-22, Arizona State on Dec. 2-3 and Lindenwood on Dec. 16-17 before facing Fairbanks.  The season-opening contests vs. Notre Dame and Maine marked the only time before the postseason that Denver played two different opponents on back-to-back days.  DU's only two road non-conference contests took place with a series at No. 13 Massachusetts on Oct. 14-15. 
  
HOME SWEET HOME: Denver is set to wrap up its season-long, six-game homestand and a stretch of 10-of-12 contests at Magness Arena.  The current homestay was separated by a two-week holiday break, as the Pios had consecutive weekends off after playing Lindenwood on Dec. 16-17.  Denver owns a 11-3-0 record at home this season.  Minus the two bus trips down to Colorado College for games on Feb. 4 and March 4, the Pioneers only have two more road trips out of the state during the regular season, with their next set for Jan. 20-21 at St. Cloud State.
 
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: The Pios are 35-6-1 in their last 42 contests in their own rink and sport a 43-10-2 record at Magness Arena since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.  Denver went 17-1-1 during the 2021-22 season in its own barn and had a 22-1-1 mark in games in the state of Colorado, including winning both matchups at the Denver-hosted NCAA West Regional in Loveland, Colorado.
 
BATTLE AT BALL ARENA: The Pioneers' game on Friday, Jan. 27 against rival Colorado College has been moved from DU's Magness Arena to downtown Denver's Ball Arena, home of the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Buy Tickets
 
On the heels of Denver earning the moniker of being "Hockey Capital USA" with national championships at the NHL, college, high school and pee-wee level, the game vs. CC will mark DU's first regular-season contest at the NHL arena.  The Pioneers did play an exhibition outing at the then-called Pepsi Center on Oct. 6, 2012 vs. the University of British Columbia to accommodate a U.S. Presidential Debate that occurred the same week at Magness Arena.
 
The Pioneers and CC Tigers have met 332 times previously in their history, presently the second-most played rivalry in college hockey behind only Michigan and Michigan State (335 games).  Fans who previously had tickets for the Jan. 27 game at Magness Arena will be reseated in a comparable location at Ball Arena.
 
BENNING'S DECEMBER TO REMEMBER: Mike Benning was named the NCHC Player of the Month for December after he led all conference skaters with 10 points (3g/7a) in six games during the month.  DU teammate Tristan Broz (3g/6a) and Western Michigan forward Ryan McAllister (3g/6a) ranked second in the conference with nine points each. St. Cloud State's Dylan Anhorn and Jack Peart were the next top-scoring NCHC defensemen with six points apiece.
 
Benning had four multi-point efforts in December, and his 10 points were the most he ever produced in a month, surpassing his previous high of seven that he accomplished three times previously: December 2020 (1g/6a), February 2022 (4g/3) and March 2022 (1g/6a). 
 
BEHRENS AT THE WORLD JUNIORS: Sophomore defenseman Sean Behrens won a bronze medal with the United States at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick, from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.  After falling to eventual gold-medal winner Canada in the semifinals, the Americans pulled off an 8-7 win in overtime on Jan. 5 against Sweden to earn a medal at its 14th under-20 tournament.  Behrens finished with three points (1g/2a) in seven games and was named the U.S.'s player of the game in the opener on Dec. 26 vs. Latvia after producing a goal and an assist in the victory.
 
AFTER 20: The Pioneers owned a 16-4-0 record and an .800 winning percentage at the 20-game mark this season (games through Dec. 17), the program's best marks since also starting the season 16-4-0 (.800) in 2007-08.  Denver sported a 14-4-0 record and .777 winning percentage at the halfway mark of its season prior to its games vs. Lindenwood on Dec. 16-17, which was also its best since 2007-08 (14-4-0, .777). 
 
The Pioneers were 9-3-0 (.750) at their one-third mark this season, the team's most wins since 2012-13 (9-3-0) and its best winning percentage since 2019-20 (8-2-2, .750).  Denver is playing 36 games this season instead of the usual 34 due to the exemption given to teams that participate in the Ice Breaker Tournament.
 
MONTH-BY-MONTH: DU went 6-0-0 in games during the month of December, marking the 10th straight month since the start of last season where it posted a greater-than .500 record.  The Pioneers have gone at least .500 in 13 straight months dating back to January 2021.
 
CARLE WINS 100TH GAME: Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle earned his 100th career win on Dec. 10 at Minnesota Duluth to join Murray Armstrong (460), George Gwozdecky (443), Ralph Backstrom (182) and Jim Montgomery (125) as Denver bench bosses to reach the milestone.  He recorded his 100th victory in his 160th career game—the second-fastest Pioneer coach behind Armstrong (143 games) and five games faster than his predecessor Montgomery (165 games) to reach the milestone.  In addition, his .666 winning percentage (100-47-13) is also the second-best mark among DU coaches during their quest to get 100 victories (Armstrong, 100-34-9, .731).
 
 
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