DENVER – The No. 4 University of Denver hockey team continues its season-long homestand this weekend as the Pioneers host the Yale Bulldogs at Magness Arena. Friday's game is at 7 p.m. MT and Saturday's contest begins at 6 p.m. MT.
 
Both outings this weekend will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
The Pioneers are 3-1-1 at home this season after splitting their series last week against the Omaha Mavericks. DU won 8-4 on Friday before falling 4-3 in the finale that began on Saturday and concluded on Sunday afternoon after the game was suspended due to ice conditions.
 
Nine different DU players had multi-point outings in Friday's performance, and the Pios erased a two-goal deficit in the second period on Sunday to knot the contest but couldn't do it again when the Mavs tallied two more to take a 4-2 lead into the third.
 
Yale is 2-5-0 on the season after beginning the campaign on Oct. 27. All of the Bulldogs' games have been ECAC conference games, with them splitting contests last weekend with a 5-0 win against St. Lawrence on Friday before falling 2-1 to Clarkson on Saturday. Yale's win over SLU ended a five-game losing streak, as its previous win came in the season opener at Brown, 3-2 in overtime.
 
This will be the Bulldogs' first non-conference games of the season.
 
Denver and Yale last met 11 years, as the squads last faced off on Nov. 23, 2012 at Magness Arena. The Bulldogs won that outing 2-1 in overtime. DU is 6-1-0 all-time vs. Yale, winning each of the first six matchups in a series that dates back to Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1951.
 
The Pioneers will be playing on Black Friday for the second consecutive season after hosting Omaha last year. This will be just the fourth time in the last 11 seasons that DU will play on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
 
Denver will also be playing in its penultimate non-conference series of the season, as the Pios wrap up non-NCHC play on Jan. 5-6 against Niagara. DU is 5-2-1 this year in non-conference games.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Denver split its weekend series against Omaha, winning 8-4 on Friday before falling 4-3 in the series finale, which took two days to complete. Saturday's game was suspended prior to the second period due to ice conditions and was resumed on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
 
The Pioneers scored five unanswered goals in the second period on Friday to erase a 2-1 deficit at the first intermission before adding two more markers in the third. Nine players had multi-point outings, led three points from freshman defenseman Zeev Buium and two goals from sophomore Rieger Lorenz.
 
On Sunday, DU battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the second frame with markers from Jared Wright and Lorenz, but Omaha tallied twice in the final 2:03 to regain the two-goal advantage heading into the third. Miko Matikka scored in the third, but the Pioneers weren't able to even the game again despite outshooting the Mavericks 10-1 in the last stanza.
 
CARLE CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Head coach David Carle is one victory away from 125 in his career, which would tie his predecessor, Jim Montgomery, for fifth on DU's all-time wins list. His current .675 winning percentage is presently the best in program history (Murray Armstrong, 1956-1977, .674; Jim Montgomery, 2013-2018, .663).
 
The Anchorage, Alaska, native is also six games away from being the fifth head coach at DU to manage the bench in 200 career contests.
 
GREAT EIGHT: The Pioneers recorded consecutive 8-4 wins on Nov. 11 at Arizona State and Nov. 17 vs. Omaha.  The last time DU tallied eight goals in back-to-back games was in 1989-90 when they did it three contests in a row, winning 12-5 and 8-1 on Nov. 3-4, 1989 at Alaska Fairbanks and 8-6 on Nov. 10, 1989 at Michigan Tech.
 
GENERATION ZEEV: Freshman Zeev Buium had a career-high three points last Friday vs. Omaha, with his one goal and two assists all coming in the second period. His performance was tied for the most points in a single frame this season (Massimo Rizzo, 2nd, 0g/3a, Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks) and also tied for the most by a DU defenseman on the year (Sean Behrens, 0g/3a, Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks). 
 
Buium's three points were the most by a freshman defenseman on the team since Sean Behrens did twice in 2021-22 (3a on Nov. 16, 2021 vs. Air Force; 3a on Feb. 4, 2022 vs. St. Cloud State). The younger of the Buium brothers is also on a personal-best six-game point streak (2g/7a), which is the longest by a rookie D since Behrens' seven-game run from Jan. 15-Feb. 5, 2022 (2g/9a).
 
STREAKING

• Carter King is on a career-long and DU season-best nine-game point streak (7g/9a).
• Zeev Buium is on a person-best six-game point streak (2g/7a) and is on a three-game assist streak (1g/5a).
• Shai Buium is on a five-game assist streak (6a) and a six-game point streak (2g/6a), both career longs.
• Miko Matikka is a season-best five-game goal streak and six-game point streak (6g/2a).
• Jared Wright is on a career-best six-game point streak (4g/3a).
• Rieger Lorenz is on a career-long three-game goal streak (4g/0a)

MATIKKA REPEATS AS ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Freshman forward Miko Matikka earned his second consecutive NCHC Rookie of the Week honor after also being chosen as the conference's top freshman on Nov. 13. Matikka totaled two goals and one assist in the series vs. Omaha, recording his second multi-point outing of the season on Friday (1g/1a) before scoring for a fifth consecutive game on Sunday.
 
The Helsinki, Finland, native is on a five-game goal streak and has points in each of the last six games (6g/1a). His goal streak is tied for the longest of the season with Carter King (Oct. 28-Nov. 11).  This was the fourth-straight week that a Pioneer was chosen as Rookie of the Week.
 
ALL HAIL THE KING: Forward Carter King is on a career-long nine-game point streak (7g/9a), the longest of the season by a Pioneer and the longest since Carter Mazur's 10-game stretch last season from Feb. 10-March 11, 2023 (5g/9a).  King's current run began on Nov. 21 at Boston College, and he has points in 10-of-12 games this year.  The Calgary, Alberta, native had a five-game goal streak from Oct. 28-Nov. 11, which was the longest by a Denver player since Cole Guttman from Dec. 7, 2019 to Jan. 4, 2020 (6g/2a).
 
The junior combined for six points in DU's two games at Arizona State on Nov. 10-11, registering three goals and three assists.  King scored two short-handed goals on Nov. 10 at ASU, becoming just the fifth Pioneer to score multiple short-handed goals in the same game and the first to do so since Tyler Bozak on Nov. 4, 2007 vs. Minnesota.
 
He owns three short-handed goals this season, which leads the NCAA and is tied for the fifth-most in a single season in school history.  Kyle Ostrow was the last DU player to score at least three goals while with the man disadvantage in 2010-11.  King has four career shorties, tied with Logan O'Connor (2015-2018) for the 11th-most in the program annals.
 
DU's alternate captain also tied a Denver season best and recorded a career-high four points (1g/3a) the next night, reaching 50 career points in the process (21g/29a).  His previous personal best was three points, with him recording a hat trick on Jan. 13, 2023 vs. Miami and a trio of assists on Nov. 20, 2021 vs. Miami.  King also won a DU season-high and career-best 16 faceoffs on Nov. 11 vs. ASU.
 
NOTABLES

• Because Saturday's game was suspended, DU played its second game on Sunday this season (Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks).
• DU played an afternoon game on Sunday for the first time in the regular season since Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020 when it faced St. Cloud State in the NCHC Pod in Omaha, Nebraska (4:05 pm CT start).
• Sean Behrens scored his first goal of the season on Friday.
• Kieran Cebrian tied a team season-high with four blocked shots on Sunday.
• Rieger Lorenz tallied his first career short-handed goal on Sunday—the team's fifth shorty of the season. Denver is tied with Northeastern for the most man-disadvantage goals of the year.
• Goaltender Freddie Halyk has started seven consecutive games.
• The Pioneers outshot the Mavs 10-1 in Sunday's third period, the fewest shots allowed in a game this season. The last time DU allowed just one shot on goal in a stanza was in the third period on Oct. 14, 2022 at UMass.
• Denver had just six penalty minutes in each game vs. Omaha, tied for the fewest of the season (four times).
• DU scored the fastest four (9:33), five (12:35) and six (25:37) of the season on Friday, one game after posting the previous fastest two (0:35), three (1:20), four (10:24), five (16:40) and six goals (26:36) on Nov. 11 at Arizona State.
• Denver is now 38-14-5 and 23-5-2 all-time against Omaha in program history.
• The Pioneers had their three-game home winning streak and four-game unbeaten streak at Magness Arena end on Sunday. 

PIONEERS ON BLACK FRIDAY: DU is set to play on the Friday after Thanksgiving for the second consecutive season after hosting Omaha last year on Nov. 25 (3-0 loss). Prior to last year, the Pioneers hadn't played on Black Friday since hosting Providence College in 2018 at Magness Arena.
 
Denver will be playing just its fourth Black Friday game in the last 11 years, as the Pioneers won 4-3 in OT at Air Force on Nov. 25, 2016 in the other occurrence in that time period.  DU played on Black Friday for 11 straight seasons from 2002-2012.
 
HISTORY VS. YALE: The Pioneers get to set to face the Yale Bulldogs for the eighth and ninth time in the programs history and the first meeting in more than a decade. DU last faced Yale nearly 11 years ago on Nov. 23, 2012 at Magness Arena, losing 2-1 in overtime before facing then-No. 3 New Hampshire the next night to wrap up the weekend. Prior to that 2012 meeting, the teams hadn't faced each other in 16 years, with the Pioneers picking up a 3-2 overtime win on Dec. 28, 1996 in the Denver Cup at McNichols Arena. DU is 6-1-0 in the all-time series, winning each of the first six matchups before Yale's win in 2012. Of the squads' seven all-time meetings dating back to Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1951, six have come at DU.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale is 2-5-0 on the season after beginning the campaign on Oct. 27 due to the Ivy League teams' schedule. All of the Bulldogs' games have been ECAC conference games. Yale split its games last weekend, winning 5-0 against St. Lawrence on Friday before falling 2-1 to Clarkson on Saturday. The Bulldog's win over SLU ended a five-game losing streak, as their previous win came in the season opener at Brown (3-2 OT win). Yale is opening its non-conference play and beginning a stretch of six consecutive games outside of the ECAC. The team will also play Long Island (twice), Merrimack and Boston University on its run. This weekend is the Bulldogs only road non-conference outings of the season. David Chen leads the squad in scoring with eight points (3g/5a) while Rhys Bentham is the top goal-scorer with four of his six points coming from markers. Briggs Gammill also has six points on three goals and three assists. Goaltender Nathan Reid has played in all seven games and has started in five of them, posting a 1-4-0 record, 3.12 goals-against average and .890 save percentage. Jack Stark has seen action in four contests and has two starts with a 1-1-0 mark, 3.50 GAA and .863 save percentage.
 
CONNECTIONS: Denver's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz and Yale's Rhys Bentham are all from Calgary, Alberta … DU's McKade Webster and Jack Caruso and Yale's Henry Wagner are St. Louis, Missouri, natives … Miko Matikka (Helsinki) and the Bulldogs' Iisai Pesonen (Kuopio) are both from Finland … Tristan Lemyre was a teammate of Dylan Herzog with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints in 2020-21 … Davis played with Ryan Conroy for a portion of the 2019-20 season with the AJHL Spruce Grove Saints … King and Kieran O'Hearn were teammates with the BCHL Surrey Eagles for part of the 2019-20 campaign.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING VS. YALE (NOV. 24, 2012): Denver sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora made 35 saves, but Yale's Kenny Agostino scored in overtime to upset the No. 2-ranked Pioneers 2-1 at Magness Arena.  The Pioneers (9-2-0, 7-1-0 WCHA) entered the game with an NCAA-leading 4.5 goals per game average, but Denver struggled to find an offensive flow throughout regulation, including a 0-for-5 showing on the power play.  After two scoreless periods, the Pioneers entered the third with a 5-on-3 advantage, but the Bulldogs (3-2-1, 2-2-0 ECAC) killed the first penalty and then scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway by Stu Wilson with an assist from Josh Balch.  Denver finally found the back of the net with just 89 seconds remaining, when sophomore Joey LaLeggia took a pass from senior Chris Knowlton at the blue line and fired a shot that was tipped in by junior Nick Shore.  At the 3:28 mark in overtime, Antoine Laganiere took a shot from just inside the blue line, and Jesse Root knocked the puck down in front of the crease.  Agostino got the rebound on the right side of the net to score the game-winner on the power play.  Yale goalkeeper Jeff Malcolm stonewalled the Pioneers, making 32 saves in the game.
 
NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: DU will play 12 non-conference games against eight different opponents this season, with six of the matchups coming on the road. The Pioneers only played two road non-league games in 2022-23.
 
After opening the season at Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 7-8, Denver made a trip to New England for single-game outings at Providence and Boston College on Oct. 20-21.  DU's last road non-NCHC outings were Nov. 10-11 when it travels to the desert to face Arizona State.  NCAA-newcomer Augustana (Oct. 27) and in-state foe Air Force (Oct. 28) visited Magness Arena for Homecoming Weekend, and the Pioneers will wrap-up their non-NCHC slate with two-game sets at home vs. Yale (Nov. 24-25) and Niagara (Jan. 5-6) around the holidays.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved to No. 4 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live national polls on Monday.  DU was previously at No. 3 in the USCHO.com ranking and was No. 2 in USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll last week.  The Pioneers received two first-place votes in the USCHO.com list.
 
North Dakota is the new No. 1 team in the country, jumping up from No. 2/4 last week.  DU and UND are two-of-four ranked NCHC squads, as Western Michigan is at No. 15/15 and St. Cloud State is at No. 17/16.  Omaha and Colorado College also received votes in at least one of the polls.
 
MONTH-BY-MONTH: Denver is 4-2-0 in November and has secured its 18th straight month where it has posted at least a .500 record dating back to January 2021.  The Pios have presently recorded a greater-than .500 mark in 14 consecutive months since October 2021.
 
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: The Pios are 46-8-2 in their last 56 contests at Magness Arena and sport a 54-12-3 record on the DU hilltop since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.  DU hasn't lost consecutive home games since March 31-Feb. 1, 2020 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
Denver went unbeaten in its first four home games this year (3-0-1).  The program finished the 2022-23 season with a 20-4-0 record at home, winning 10 of its last 11 games and going 15-2-0 in its final 17 contests in the friendly confines.
 
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Denver has 10 freshmen to its roster this season, one of the largest incoming classes in recent years.  The last time DU had 10 freshmen on its roster was in 2018-19, one season after having 11 freshmen in 2017-18.  The Pioneers' 10 freshmen are tied for the seventh-most in the NCAA this season.
 
Denver's average age at the start of the season is 20.9 years-old, tied with Harvard for the second-youngest in the country behind Boston College (20.6).  Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium is the second-youngest player in the country, as he won't turn 18 years old until Dec. 7.  Boston University's Macklin Celebrini is the youngest, turning 18 next summer on June 13, 2024.
 

TICKETS: Single-game tickets, as well as 5-game packs and full and half-season ticket plans are all available to purchase here.