DENVER – The No. 2 Denver Pioneers hockey team used six unanswered goals on Friday to defeat the Colorado College Tigers 6-1 in front of a record crowd at Magness Arena.
 
DU (5-1-1, 1-0-0 NCHC) can lock up the Gold Pan trophy on Saturday with a win against CC (5-2-0, 0-1-0 NCHC) at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs.
 
Junior Jack Devine scored twice for Denver and freshman goaltender Freddie Halyk made 19 saves in his second career start in front of 7,021 in attendance—the largest crowd to watch the Pioneers play at Magness Arena since the building opened in 1999.
 
"It's our first league game, you want to start of the right way," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "I thought our guys were into it all night. The fans were exceptional. The atmosphere was the best I've seen in a long time, so credit to them, coming out and supporting, making it such a great environment for the student-athletes."
 
The Tigers led 1-0 after the first period, but Halyk didn't let another shot get past him following Evan Werner's opening marker at 6:09 of the frame. The Cochrane, Alberta, netminder made five stops in the second and eight more in the third to earn his second victory after posting a shutout last Saturday against Air Force.
 
DU evened the score with Shai Buium's second marker of the season 4:56 into the middle period, and Tristan Broz tallied on a one-timer 2:36 later to give the Pios a lead they didn't relinquish.
 
The Pioneers turned their one-goal deficit in the first intermission to a two-goal lead after two periods of play, as Carter King also netted a marker in the stanza, scoring shorthanded three minutes after Broz found the back of the twine.
 
Both of Devine's goals came in the third period, as he redirected Sean Behrens' outside shot at 7:14 and then finished off a pass from Massimo Rizzo 2:31 later after his linemate skated the puck the length of the ice before dropping it off for him at the right circle. Devine's eight tallies on the season are tied for second in the country.
 
Jared Wright recorded his first goal of the year with 12 seconds remaining in regulation.
 
The Pioneers fired a season-high 48 shots on goal. Colorado College goaltender Kaiden Mbereko made 39 saves. Henry Wilder played the final 10:13 and stopped three-of-four shots.
 
UP NEXT: Denver and Colorado College wrap up their weekend set on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. The game will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv and locally on CW.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver and Colorado College were meeting for the 338th time, overtaking Michigan-Michigan State for the most-played rivalry in college hockey history.
• DU's previous high attendance at Magness Arena was 6,683 on Jan. 19, 2019 vs. Colorado College.
• DU won its ninth straight home game against CC and eighth in a row at Magness Arena in the all-time series. The Pioneers have won each of the last 12 regular-season meetings against the Tigers.
• Massimo Rizzo stretched his season-opening point streak to seven games (5g/10), but his career-long four-game goal streak came to an end.
• Sean Behrens recorded two assists and extended his assist/point streak to a career-long six games (0g/8a).
• Rieger Lorenz had an assist to stretch his point streak to a now career-best four games (2g/2a).
• Miko Matikka registered his first career point with an assist.
• Carter King scored his second career short-handed goal.
• Tristan Broz recorded his fourth career game-winner.
• The Pioneers wrapped up a stretch of playing six games against six different opponents.
• Freddie Halyk has allowed one goal against in his first two career starts
• DU finishes its three-game homestand unbeaten at 2-0-1 and now begins a three-game road trip.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
6:09 CC (0-1) – Evan Werner stole the puck along the left boards and scored with a wrist shot from the slot.
 
2nd Period
4:56 DU (1-1) – Shai Buium took a pass from his brother Zeev Buium and tallied from the slot while the CC goalie was out of position.
7:32 DU (2-1) – Tristan Broz scored on a one-time shot from the top of the right circle off a feed from Garrett Brown.
10:32 DU (3-1) – SHG, Rieger Lorenz forced a turnover in the CC zone before passing the puck to Carter King, who buried his shot from the slot.
 
3rd Period
7:14 DU (4-1) – Jack Devine deflected Sean Behrens' shot from the blue line into the net.
9:45 DU (5-1) – After Sean Behrens blocked a shot back in DU's own end, Massimo Rizzo skated the puck the length of the ice before leaving it in the slot for Jack Devine, who buried his second goal of the night.
19:48 DU (6-1) – Jared Wright received a give-and-go pass from Boston Buckberger and hit twin in the final seconds of regulation.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
 
On the penalty kill and Jared Wright's performance: "His speed gives him a chance to play for a long time. He was excellent on the kill. Obviously, we get the short-hand goal, we killed the five-on-three, thought we disrupted a lot. We got a lot of really good clears, so big credit to the guys and their ability to execute on the kill."
 
On Zeev Buium, Shai Buium, and Sam Harris: "When Zeev pasted it over to Shai, I thought it was pretty cool that they get the opportunity to do that. I'm jealous of them. It's certainly a moment in their lives that they will never forget, playing here together. Hopefully many more where they connect on goals. It was the first time that they got to do that as well. It's really cool for them. Sammy without playing power plays and penalty kills found a way to get him some good ice, and I liked how he responded."
 
Junior Forward Jack Devine
On the game: "I thought it was a big one for us. I thought it was a game where we got tested a lot. I thought we kept our cool there. So I thought it was a big win against a big rival, and I am just proud of the guys with how we responded tonight."
 
On the physicality of the game: "I think for us, just not backing down to them. They wanted to play a physical game, and I think we responded well to that. I think just sticking to our game, playing fast, playing strong, so I thought that we did well in that aspect."
 

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