KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The No. 4 University of Denver hockey team travels to play at the No. 13 Western Michigan Broncos at Lawson Arena this weekend in the squad's final two games before the holiday break.
 
Friday's contest begins at 5 p.m. MT and Saturday's series finale is at 4 p.m. MT. Both contests will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
The Pioneers will be at the halfway point of their season following this weekend, as DU presently owns a 11-4-1 overall record and is 4-2-0 with 11 points in NCHC play in 2023-24. Denver will be playing its first road games since Nov. 10-11 at Arizona State as the squad just wrapped up a season-long, six-game homestand.
 
DU is coming off a weekend split at home against North Dakota in a top-three matchup. The then-No. 3 Pioneers lost 7-5 on Friday before bouncing back with a 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday against the Fighting Hawks, who ranked No. 2 in the country last week and moved up to No. 1 in the polls on Monday.
 
Western Michigan is on one of the longer active winning streaks in the NCAA currently as the Broncos have won six consecutive games to improve to 10-3-1 overall. WMU is one point behind Denver in the NCHC standings with 11 points and a 3-3-0 conference record.
 
The Broncos are in the midst of their own season-long six-game homestand and hosted the Lindenwood Lions last weekend, holding LU to one goal in each outing. WMU won 3-1 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday and has held its opponent to one score or less in all six contests of its current winning streak.
 
Denver has a 24-11-2 all-time record against Western Michigan and a 19-9-2 mark since becoming conference foes. The teams met just twice last year, with DU winning 5-3 and 3-1 on Feb. 24-25 in Kalamazoo to earn the Penrose Cup as 2022-23 NCHC regular-season champions.
 
The Pioneers are 7-9-0 all-time at Lawson Arena and are in a stretch of playing six consecutive games at the home of the Broncos (since 2021-22) before serving as hosts again the series on Feb. 2-3 at Magness Arena.
 
After this weekend, the Denver will go on its holiday break. The team will reconvene after Christmas and host an exhibition against Minot State on Dec. 30. The Pioneers' return to regular-season play on Jan. 5-6 versus Niagara University in a non-conference series.
 
This week marks DU's only two away games in a 12-game stretch around the holidays, as the Pios primarily have home games from before American Thanksgiving until after the New Year (Nov. 17-Jan. 13).
 
LAST TIME OUT: Denver split its weekend top-three series against North Dakota, as the then-No. 3 Pioneers lost 7-5 on Friday before earning a 3-2 victory in overtime vs. the No. 2 Fighting Hawks.  UND erased a 4-1 deficit after the first period by scoring four times in the third period on Friday to earn the victory in the series opener.  Tristan Broz scored twice for DU on Friday, while Shai Buium had three points (1g/2a).
 
The Pioneers used their own rally on Saturday, as Zeev Buium tallied the game-tying goal midway through the third period and Carter King notched the game-winner 2:06 into overtime.  Goaltender Freddie Halyk made 20 saves on Friday and tied a season best by stopping 29 shots on Saturday.
 
NOTABLES

• DU is now 1-1-1 in overtime games this year. Saturday marked the Pios' first OT victory since winning 4-3 on Dec. 10, 2022 at Minnesota Duluth.
• Carter King scored his first career overtime goal and his fifth game-winning goal of his collegiate career.
• Denver had won four straight games vs. UND before its loss on Friday, which was also the team's first defeat of the season by more than one goal.
• Goaltender Freddie Halyk has started 11 consecutive games and had his career-best shutout streak end at 141:47 on Friday—the ninth-longest run by a netminder in program history.
• Massimo Rizzo had two assists on Friday for his sixth game of the season with multiple helpers and his ninth with multiple points.
• Tristan Broz registered his second career multi-goal game last Friday. He tied a career high with a five-game point streak (3g/5a) from Nov. 17-Dec. 1 (previous: Feb. 4-18, 2023, 1g/5a).
• Sean Behrens has five points in the last six games (1g/5a).
• Aidan Thompson has eight points (2g/6a) in the last seven games.
• Lucas Olvestad recorded assist/points in consecutive games for the first time in his career on Nov. 25-Dec. 1.
• Shai Buium recorded his 50th career point on Friday and Jared Wright appeared in his 50th career game on Saturday.
• The Pioneers improved to 7-0-0 on Saturdays this season.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: The Buium brothers earned NCHC honors on Monday as junior Shai Buium was named Defenseman of the Week and freshman Zeev Buium was selected as Rookie of the Week.
 
Shai tied a career high with three points (1g/2a) on Friday against NoDak.  Zeev also recorded three points (1g/2a) over the weekend, including scoring the game-tying goal on Saturday before assisting in DU's overtime-winner.
 
This is Shai's second career NCHC weekly award and his first Defenseman of the Week accolade as he was named Rookie of the Week on Feb. 14, 2022.  Zeev picks up hardware for the second consecutive Monday as he was named Defenseman of the Week on Nov. 27.
 
ROOKIES MEMORABLE NOVEMBER: Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium was named the NCHC Player of the Month for November and was recognized nationally as the Division-I Co-Player of the Month in the NCAA.
 
Buium led all conference players and tied for first in the nation with 14 points in November as a freshman defenseman and was also first in the conference with 11 assists and a plus-13 rating.  He had points in each of the eight games and was just the second freshman to be named an NCHC Player of the Month, joining North Dakota's Brock Boeser in March/April 2016.
 
Fellow frosh Miko Matikka also earned monthly honors as he was named the NCHC Rookie of the Month as he also had points in all eight games in November and led all league freshmen with seven goals after going on a six-game goal streak from Nov. 4-24.
 
DU repeats with the monthly awards, as Massimo Rizzo was selected as Player of the Month of October while Boston Buckberger took home top rookie honors last month.  Rizzo was also selected as the National Co-Player of the Month to start the season.
 
STREAKING

• Zeev Buium is on a personal-best 10-game point streak (4g/13a) and three-game assist streak (1g/6a), the latter tying a season long.
• Miko Matikka has points in each of his last nine games he's played (7g/4a).
• Massimo Rizzo is on a four-game assist/point streak (1g/7a).
• Carter King is on a three-game goal streak (3g/0a) and has points in 12 of the last 13 games (10g/9a) since Oct. 21.

PIONEERS AT THE WORLD JUNIORS: USA Hockey announced on Monday that Zeev Buium has been named to its preliminary roster for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, from Dec. 26, 2023 to Jan. 4, 2024.  Buium is one of 29 players vying for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team during its training camp, which begins on Dec. 14 in Plymouth, Michigan.
 
Denver head coach David Carle will serve in the same role for Team USA at the under-20 tournament after being named to the position on April 4.  This is Carle's first time coaching Team USA at any level, and he will be the first Denver coach to guide the U.S. World Junior squad since Marshall Johnston at the 1977 tournament. 
 
Denver Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane is also on Carle's staff as the video coach and Equipment Manager Nick Meldrum is serving in the same role at his second World Juniors.  Former DU assistants Steve Miller (University of Minnesota) and David Lassonde (USA Hockey) and St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson are also USA coaches.
 
GENERATION Z-EEV: Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium is on a 10-game point streak (4g/13a), the longest by a Denver player since Carter Mazur's 10-game run late last season from Feb. 10-March 11, 2023 and one of the longest stretches by a rookie D-man in college hockey history.  Boston University's Lane Hutson's 11-game point streak last season from Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023 is the only one longer in the last 21 years by a first-year rear guard.
 
The San Diego, California, native recorded a career-high four assists on Nov. 25 vs. Yale, which was tied for the most in a game this season by a Pioneer (Massimo Rizzo on Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks).  It was also tied for the third-most in a game in program history by a defenseman (12th time), with then-fifth-year senior Kyle Mayhew the last to accomplish the feat on March 11, 2023 against Miami in the NCHC Quarterfinals.  Courtesy of College Hockey News, his four assists were also the most by a DU freshman blueliner since 2002 and marked just the third instance since 2016 by a rookie D-man in college hockey (Boston University's Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota's Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha).
 
Buium recorded a then-career-high three points on Nov. 17 vs. Omaha, with his one goal and two assists all coming in the second period.  That performance was tied for the most points in a single frame this season with Massimo Rizzo's second period on Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks (0g/3a).
 
AUTO-MATIKKA: Freshman forward Miko Matikka has points in each of the last nine games he's played (7g/4a) and had the longest goal streak by a Pioneer in more than seven years.  Matikka found the back of the net in six consecutive games from Nov. 4-24, which was the best stretch at DU since Dylan Gambrell went on a seven-game run with a goal from Feb. 13-March 5, 2016 (8g/14a).
 
The Helsinki, Finland, native picked up consecutive NCHC Rookie of the Week awards on Nov. 13 and 20, becoming the first DU player to repeat as a weekly conference winner since Magnus Chrona did it with Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 17 and 24, 2022. Matikka was named the NCHC Rookie of the Month for November after leading all conference freshmen with seven goals and his 10 points ranking second among rookies behind teammate Zeev Buium (14).
 
DEVINE PERFORMANCES: Junior Jack Devine leads the nation with 14 goals this season and ranks second behind teammate Massimo Rizzo (28) for first in overall scoring with 26 points.  He has five multi-goal games this year and has picked up multiple points in 10-of-16 outings.
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native began the season with a career-long, five-game point streak (6g/7a), which also included posting multiple points in each outing.  It was the longest multi-point streak by a Pioneer since Massimo Rizzo also had a five-game stretch from Oct. 21-Nov. 4, 2022 (4g/9a).  He also went on personal best three-goal goal streaks from Oct. 7-21, 2023 (5g/2a) and from Nov. 24-Dec. 1 (4g/4a).
 
HISTORY VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN: Denver and Western Michigan met just twice last season, with DU winning 5-3 and 3-1 on Feb. 24-25 in Kalamazoo to earn the Penrose Cup as 2022-23 NCHC regular-season champions.  This weekend marks the fifth and sixth consecutive games at Lawson Arena in the all-time series, as WMU hasn't visited DU since Nov. 12-13, 2021; the teams will play at Magness Arena on Feb. 2-3.  The Pioneers are 7-1-1 in the last eight games against the Broncos.  Denver owns a 24-11-2 all-time record against Western Michigan and a 19-9-2 mark since becoming conference foes in 2013-14. DU has a 13-2-1 record against WMU at Magness Arena and is 7-9-0 at Lawson Arena in Michigan.
 
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS: Western Michigan owns a 10-3-1 overall record this season and ranks second in the NCHC with 10 points and a 3-3-0 mark in conference play.  The Broncos have won six consecutive games after losing three in a row and being swept at home against St. Cloud State on Nov. 10-11.  Since then, WMU earned a road sweep at Colorado College on Nov. 17-18 and home wins against St. Lawrence (Nov. 24-25) and Lindenwood (Dec. 1-2).  Western held the LU Lions to just one goal in each game last weekend, winning 3-1 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday.  The Broncos own the ninth-best power play (25%-tied) and the fourth-best penalty kill (90.2%) in college hockey this season.  Luke Grainger leads the team in scoring with 23 points and 16 assists, while Dylan Wendt is the top-goal scorer with 12 tallies on the year.  Goaltender Cameron Rowe has played every minute this season, owning a 10-3-1 record, 1.86 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
CONNECTIONS: DU Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane is from Kalamazoo and graduated from WMU in 2017. Culhane is the son of former Broncos head coach Jim Culhane and served as Western's Director of Hockey Ops during the 2018-19 season … Defenseman Shai Buium is a Detroit Red Wings draft pick (No. 36 overall in 2021) … Jack Devine and Sean Behrens played in Plymouth, Mich., from 2019-2021 with the U.S. National Team Development Program, while Zeev Buium and Alex Weiermair played at the U.S. NTDP from 2021-2023 … Equipment Manager Nick Meldrum is from Warren, Mich., graduated from Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie in 2007 and spent two years with the U.S. NTDP when it was in Ann Arbor prior to coming to DU … Jared Wright and Alex Bump are both from Burnsville, Minn., and played together with the USHL Omaha Lancers in 2021-22 … Bump was teammates with Cale Ashcroft and Kieran Cebrian with the USHL Tri-City Storm at the end of the 2022-23 season … Samuel Sjolund is from the same hometown as Lucas Olvestad (Stockholm, Sweden) and played with Olvestad, Tristan Lemyre and Paxton Geisel with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints in 2021-22 … Owen Michaels skated with Geisel with Dubuque in 2022-23 and was briefly teammates with Peter LaJoy while with the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats in 2020-21 … Connor Caponi was a teammate with Wyatt Schingoethe and Joe Casetti with the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks from 2018-2020 … McKade Webster played with Chad Hillebrand at the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2019-20 … Shai Buium skated with Matteo Costantini with the USHL Sioux City Musketeers in 2020-21 … Boston Buckberger was a teammate of Cole Crusberg-Roseen with the USHL Lincoln Stars last season in 2022-23 while Aidan Thompson played with Jacob Bauer at Lincoln in 2020-21 … Tristan Lemyre (Mirabel) and WMU's Luke Grainger (Montreal) are both from Quebec … DU's Alex Weiermair (Los Angeles) and Western's Ethan Wolthers (Valencia) and Ean Somoza and (Simi Valley) are all from the L.A. area in California.

PREVIOUS MEETING VS. WMU (FEB. 25, 2023): No. 3 Denver hockey secured its second consecutive Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions with a 3-1 victory against the No. 5 Western Michigan Broncos at Lawson Arena.  It was the third time that DU has won the Penrose Cup, with the school having also captured the hardware in 2017 and 2022.  Denver erased a first-period deficit against Western Michigan and never relinquished the lead in front of a crowd of 4,419, the highest-attended game at Lawson Arena since 2012.  Jack Devine tied the outing at 1-1 with a power-play marker midway through the middle frame, and Carter Mazur tallied the game-winner 4:48 into the third period after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone.  Massimo Rizzo sealed the victory with an empty-net goal and goaltender Magnus Chrona made 30 saves.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved to No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll and No. 4 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll after the latest national rankings were released on Monday.  DU, which was previously No. 3 on each list, received two first-place votes in USCHO.com and one first-place nod in USA Hockey/The Rink Live.
 
North Dakota moved up to No. 1 in the country after previously being at No. 2.  The NCHC has four teams ranked with Western Michigan at No. 13/13 and St. Cloud State at No. 20/20 joining the Pios and Hawks. Omaha and Colorado College also received votes in at least one of the polls.
 
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: With the addition of goaltender Paxton Geisel on Nov. 24, Denver's 27-man roster features 11 freshmen to form one of the largest incoming classes in recent years.  The last time DU had 11 freshmen on its roster was 2017-18 (DU had 10 freshmen in 2018-19).  The Pioneers' 11 freshmen tie the program with five other schools for the second-most in the NCAA this season, with only Robert Morris having more (16).
 
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 will turn 18 years old this Thursday, Dec. 7.  Boston University's Macklin Celebrini is the youngest, turning 18 next summer on June 13, 2024.
 

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