DENVER – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 5-2 on Saturday at Magness Arena to sweep both the weekend set and four-game season series.
 
DU (23-7-0, 14-4-0 NCHC) won both games in North Dakota (12-13-4, 6-10-2 NCHC) on Nov. 11-12 and earned a 5-3 victory on Friday in the Hawks' first game in Denver since January 2021. The Pioneers have won four games in a row against UND and earns the season sweep for the first time since 2009-10 (4-0-0).
 
"It was good to win games in two different ways," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach David Carle. "Like last night, our 5-on-5 play really excelled, and tonight, obviously special teams did. We were able to take advantage on the power play, and I thought the penalty kill was excellent."
 
Massimo Rizzo had a goal and two assists for the Pioneers, while defenseman Sean Behrens also had a multi-point performance with a pair of helpers. Shai Buium scored the game-winner, and Carter King, Aidan Thompson and Tristan Broz also found the back of the net.
 
Goaltender Magnus Chrona made 21 saves on 23 shots in the victory, DU's fourth in a row and seventh in the last nine games.
 
After going 0-for-5 on the man advantage on Friday, Denver scored three power-play goals on Saturday—all of which coming during major penalties on North Dakota. Gavin Hain was given a game misconduct for slew-footing at 14:20 of the first period, while Tyler Kleven's night ended early on a direct contact to the head foul at 13:33 of the middle frame.
 
King redirected Behrens' shot just five seconds into Hain's major penalty to give DU a 1-0 lead with 5:24 left in the opening frame, and the Pioneers tallied twice due to Kleven's foul. Thompson knocked in the puck from a between-the-legs pass by Mazur at 16:12 and Buium tallied his second goal of the season off a rebound at 17:01.
 
Denver finished 3-for-7 on the power play while killing off all six of UND's man-up opportunities. The teams combined for 82 penalty minutes—the most in a contest this year for DU—with NoDak picking up 50 of those.
 
Mark Senden and Jackson Blake scored in the third period for the Fighting Hawks to break up the shutout bit, but the Pioneers also received goals in the frame from Broz and Rizzo to hold onto their multi-goal advantage.
 
North Dakota goalie Drew DeRidder stopped 32-of-37 shots in the loss.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers wrap up their four-game homestand next weekend as they host Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena in the last two-contest home series of the regular season. Denver plays at Western Michigan on Feb. 24-25 before a home-and-home set versus Colorado College on March 3-4.  
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver now has six straight home wins, a season-long streak.
• DU's 32 penalty minutes were a season-high (previous: 23, Feb. 4 at Colorado College). The most combined PIMs in a game prior to Saturday for Denver was 47 on Dec. 3 vs. Arizona State.
• The Pioneers' three power-play goals in the game matched a season high (two times previously).
• Denver won a season-best 64.6 percent of its faceoffs, and its 42 faceoffs wins were tied for the most in a game this season (third time).
• Aidan Thompson won 10-of-11 faceoffs, while Carter King led the Pios with 14 draw wins.
• Thompson is on a four-game point streak (2g/2a), tying a career long.
• Sean Behrens (1g/4a), Tristan Broz (1g/2a), Shai Buium (1g/2a) and Massimo Rizzo (2g/3a) are all on four-game point streaks.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
14:36 DU (1-0) – PPG, Carter King deflected Sean Behrens' outside shot into the cage just five seconds into a major power play.
 
2nd Period
16:12 DU (2-0) – PPG, Aidan Thompson knocked in the puck from the right side after Carter Mazur fed it to him on a pass between his legs.
17:01 DU (3-0) – PPG, Shai Buium potted the puck after the Sean Behrens' shot rebounded off the UND goalie and McKade Webster tapped it to him during a scramble in front.
 
3rd Period
1:43 UND (3-1) – Mark Senden's shot from the blueline made its way through traffic and into the top of the net.
11:10 DU (4-1) – Tristan Broz knocked in the puck from the top of the crease after Massimo Rizzo forced a turnover below the goal line.
13:10 UND (4-2) – Jackson Blake scored in the low slot after a spin move in front.
16:04 DU (5-2) – Massimo Rizzo chased down the puck on a bad UND pass and scored on a wrist shot during a one-on-one situation.
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On his confidence with the penalty kill: "I think a lot. You've seen it building. I don't know if we've ever really lacked the confidence on the kill, but it is nice to be able to get the results of it. There have been some odd goals that have gone in throughout the year. Sometimes with no fault of the goaltender or the players on the ice. Sometimes that happens, but again, the execution level was excellent tonight on our reads and when we did make a miscue, Magnus (Chrona) was there to be able to make a big save."
 
On faceoff wins: "Their PK forecheck is so good, so to be able to start with the puck is critical. I thought we won a lot of PK faceoffs as well to be able to get clear 200 feet. That gave into our puck-pressure game on the man down."
 
Sophomore Forward Massimo Rizzo
On season sweep of North Dakota: "It's super exciting. I mean those are good games. Those are kind of like playoff games, get us ready for that. So definitely fun beating those guys."
 
On the team's penalty kill: "I think that Magnus (Chrona) is really good, our penalty kills is really good. I mean, we worked on it and practiced on it a ton. Just stick with it and trusting our process."
  
On Aidan Thompson: "You don't think he is a freshman out there. He is playing great, sees the ice really well. He is helping our team a lot."
 
Sophomore Defenseman Shai Buium
On penalty kill: "We work hard at our penalty kill. We always want to not let the other team score on that; we did a really good job of that today. Guys were willing to block shots, we did what we were supposed to do. We got the job done. 
  
On the game-winning goal: "Finally got another goal here, that was nice. Behrens and Dornbach making nice plays, Behrens got a nice shot through, and I was just there to tap it in."
 
 
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