ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Denver hockey team faces Colorado College on Friday afternoon as the in-state rivals square off in the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals at Xcel Energy Center.
No. 1-seed DU and No. 7 CC play in the first semifinal game of the day at 3:07 p.m. MT, while No. 4 St. Cloud State and No. 6 North Dakota are in the other contest later that day. The two winners will meet in the NCHC Tournament Championship Game on Saturday at 6:37 p.m. MT, and all games this weekend will be broadcasted nationally on CBS Sports Network.
The Pioneers are the top seed in the conference tournament after winning the Penrose Cup as regular-season champions and are going for their third NCHC Tournament title, as they also won the Frozen Faceoff previously in 2014 and 2018. DU 24-8-1 all-time in the NCHC Tournament and is the only team in the conference to make it to the Frozen Faceoff in all nine iterations of the event.
DU swept its quarterfinal series last weekend at Magness Arena, defeating the No. 8-seed Miami RedHawks 6-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday.
The Tigers upset No. 2-seed Western Michigan last weekend in in Kalamazoo by also sweeping the best-of-three series. CC won 3-1 on Friday and 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.
Denver and Colorado College's only other meeting in the NCHC's Frozen Faceoff was in the former third-place game in 2019, with DU winning 6-1. The last time that the Pioneers and Tigers faced off in a conference semifinal or championship game was in the 2005 WCHA Final Five Championship, with Denver winning 1-0 en route to its second consecutive national title (both teams later met in the NCAA Frozen Four that season as well).
Overall, DU and CC are set to play for the 28th time in a conference tournament, with the Pioneers owning a 16-11 record in such games. The teams faced off 21 times in the WCHA Tournament, with DU posting an 11-10 mark in those outings.
HISTORY VS. COLORADO COLLEGE: Denver and Colorado College are set to play in the 337th all-time meeting, which will tie for the most between two teams all-time in college hockey—Michigan and Michigan State have also had 337 all-time matchups. The squads will also play in their fourth different venue in the Xcel Energy Center, as DU and CC have played games at Ball Arena, Magness Arena and Ed Robson Arena during the 2022-23 campaign. DU has a 194-121-21 all-time record against CC, has won each of the last 11 games dating back to Jan. 2, 2021, is 15-1-1 in the past 17 matchups, and has only officially lost five games (non-shootout losses) against its in-state rival since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. The Pioneers are 7-3-0 all-time in neutral-site meetings and 3-0 vs. the Tigers at Xcel Energy Center. Overall, DU and CC have played against each in 14 different venues since the series began on Jan. 6, 1950, including at the Target Center in Minneapolis and the old St. Paul Civic Center.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Colorado College is coming off a two-game sweep of No. 2 seed Western Michigan in the NCHC Quarterfinals last weekend in Kalamazoo, winning 3-1 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday after Matthew Gleason scored the game-winning goal at 3:08 of overtime. The wins in Western ended a 13-game winless streak to end the regular season (0-11-2) and were the Tigers' first since defeating then-No. 3 St. Cloud State 4-2 on Jan. 13. CC has a 12-21-2 overall record on the season and is the No. 7 seed in the NCHC Tournament after finishing conference play with a 6-15-3 record and 25 points. Hunter McKown is CC's leading scorer with 20 goals and 26 points. Graduate student captain Bryan Yoon is the team's top-scoring defenseman with 15 points (1g/14a) and is tied for first on the team in assists with Stanley Cooley (6g/14a). Goaltender Kaiden Mbereko has started 27 contests this season and owns an 8-15-2 record, 2.36 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and three shutouts.
CONNECTIONS: Denver Director of Hockey Operations
Travis Culhane spent two seasons in the same role for Colorado College (2019-2021) ... Tigers assistant coach
Peter Mannino is a former DU goaltender that won the 2005 National Championship and took home the MVP award at that year's Frozen Four ...
Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills) and Chad Sasaki (Cypress) are both from Orange County, California …
Casey Dornbach and Brett Chorske are each from Edina, Minnesota … Noah Prokop and
McKade Webster were teammates with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2017-18 … Ethan Straky skated with
Kent Anderson in Green Bay in 2021-22 and was teammates for two seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program with
Sean Behrens and
Jack Devine from 2019-2021 …
Behrens and
Devine were also at the U.S. NTDP in 2019-20 with Hunter McKown and played with goalie Kaiden Mbereko at the program from 2019-2021 … Mbereko and Stanley Cooley were teammates of
Aidan Thompson with the USHL Lincoln Stars last season, while
Thompson skated two seasons at Lincoln with CC's Noah Laba and Gleb Veremyev from 2020-2022 … Cooley played with
Mike Benning on the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints from 2018-2020 … Ray Christy and
Shai Buium played a few games together for the Sioux City Musketeers in the 2019-20 USHL season …
Tyler Haskins skated with Nate Schweitzer with the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede in 2020-21 …
Jared Wright and Cade Ahrenholz were teammates last season with the USHL Omaha Lancers … Ryan Beck skated with
Tristan Lemyre and
Lucas Olvestad in 2021-22 with the Dubuque Fighting Saints … CC has four players from Colorado on its roster: Kaiden Mbereko (Aspen), Jack Millar (Westminster), Noah Prokop (Highlands Ranch) and Brian Yoon (Parker).
CHRONA CAGING THE TIGERS: Goaltender
Magnus Chrona had his shutout streak of 350:11 against Colorado College end after Hunter McKown scored on a penalty shot at 4:04 of the third period on Feb. 4. Chrona's streak stretched seven games and included five full shutouts over the course of three seasons. CC's Brian Hawkinson had tallied the previous goal against him at 13:53 of the third period on Feb. 25, 2021 at World Arena. Chrona posted clean sheets in the first three meetings last year against the Tigers—
Matt Davis played the series finale.
GOLD PAN STAYS AT DU: Denver won all four games during the regular season against Colorado college, capturing the Gold Pan trophy for the fourth-straight season and 17th time overall circulation since 1993-94, the Gold Pan is given to the team that wins the season series between the in-state rivals. Since they previously held the trophy, the Pioneers only needed a series split to retain it while the Tigers had to win the four-game series outright.
ON ST. PATRICKS DAY: Denver will be playing on St. Patrick's Day for the 10th time in program history and for the first time since defeating St. Cloud State 4-1 in 2018. The Pioneers own a 2-7 all-time record on St. Patrick's Day, with the team also winning its first contest on the date in 1961 vs. Minnesota (6-1).
MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS: Denver has five Minnesota natives on its roster in
Tristan Broz (Bloomington),
Casey Dornbach (Edina),
Tyler Haskins (Rochester),
Lane Krenzen (Twig) and
Jared Wright (Burnsville) …
Shai Buium (2017-21) and
McKade Webster (2015-17) played prep school hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minn. … Head coach
David Carle also attended Shattuck from 2006-2008 …
Tristan Broz spent his freshman campaign in 2021-22 with the University of Minnesota … Freshman
Rieger Lorenz is a second-round NHL Draft pick of the Minnesota Wild (2022) ... Denver Athletics Director
Josh Berlo served nine seasons in the same role with Minnesota Duluth from 2013-2022.
LAST WEEKEND FOR DENVER: The Pioneers swept their best-of-three series last weekend against the No. 8 seed Miami RedHawks, winning 6-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday in the NCHC Quarterfinals. Goaltender
Matt Davis started both contest and made 30 saves in the series opener and stopped 19 shots on Saturday.
DU received a four-goal performance from
Jack Devine on Friday while four other players had multi-point nights. Seven different Pioneers scored on Saturday, and senior
Kyle Mayhew led the team with four assists—one of six players with multiple points in the contest.
30-AND-30: The Pioneers recorded their second consecutive 30-win season with their win on Saturday vs. Miami, marking the first time in the program's 74-year history that it has reached the 30-win threshold. DU, which won 31 games last season en route to a championship, was the second team in the country to reach the mark, as Quinnipiac accomplished the feat just an hour earlier last Saturday.
Overall, DU has won at least 30 games in a campaign eight times in its history.
LAST GAME, BEST GAME: Playing in his final game at Magness Arena, fifth-year senior
Kyle Mayhew had a night to remember. The defenseman recorded a career-high four assists on Saturday vs. Miami, marking the most points in a contest by a blueliner this year.
It was the seventh time this season that a Pioneer had recorded four points in a game (previous six were all forwards) and the second in as many days after
Jack Devine's four goals on Friday. Overall, Mayhew's four assists were the most in a game since
Bobby Brink also had four helpers on Feb. 4, 2022 vs. St. Cloud State.
Last season, senior captain
Cole Guttman tied a career high in his final game at Magness Arena with four points (2g/2a) vs. Miami in Game 2 of the quarterfinals.
TRULY DEVINE: Sophomore
Jack Devine recorded his first career hat trick as he tallied four goals in the Game 1 victory vs. Miami in the NCHC Quarterfinals.
It was the 32nd four-goal game of the in program history and the second of the season for the Pioneers, as
Tristan Broz also tallied four times vs. the RedHawks on Jan. 14. In addition, each of Devine's first three markers came consecutively, for the second natural hat trick of the year (
Carter Mazur, Oct. 28 at Miami).
Three of Devine's four goals came on the power play, also a rarity in the program's 74-year history. He is just the third player in the DU annals to score three man-advantage markers in a game and the first since Oct. 28, 1983 when Dwight Mathiasen did it vs. Colorado College. Perry Schnarr also scored three man-advantage markers vs. Michigan Tech on Jan. 21, 1977.
Devine added another goal on Saturday to complete a five-goal weekend and now has nine goals and 15 points (9g/6a) his last eight games since Feb. 17 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
Carter Mazur also had a five-goal weekend vs. Miami on Oct. 28-29 in Oxford.
STREAKING: Sophomore
Carter Mazur is on a career-long 10-game point streak (5g/9a), surpassing his previous personal best of nine contests in a row from Nov. 12-Dec. 31, 2021 (7g/8a). Mazur is also on a six-game assist streak, tied for the longest of the season by a DU player and the longest of his career.
Several other Pioneers are also on respective streaks:
- Tristan Lemyre is on a three-game goal streak and four-game point streak (3g/3a), both career longs.
- Casey Dornbach is on a three-game assist/point streak (1g/4a).
- Carter King is on a three-game assist/point streak (0g/4a).
- Aidan Thompson is on a three-game assist/point streak (2g/4a). He is also on a three-game multi-point streak, second-longest of the year by a Pioneer (Massimo Rizzo, five games, Oct. 21-Nov. 4)
NOTABLES
- Denver and Miami were meeting for the second straight season in the NCHC Quarterfinals, and the Pioneers have now won 12 straight games over the RedHawks dating back to the start of last season.
- Saturday marked the fourth time this season that the Pioneers scored seven goals in a game, with three coming against the RedHawks.
- DU scored at least four goals in all six matchups and tallied at least six markers in all four home games.
- The Pioneers scored all four of their hat tricks during the season against Miami: Carter Mazur on Oct. 28, Carter King on Jan. 13, Tristan Broz on Jan. 14 and Jack Devine on March 11.
- Tristan Lemyre recorded multiple points in each game, including the first of his career on Friday.
- Senior Kyle Mayhew skated in his 150th career game on Friday and junior Mike Benning played in his 100th contest on Saturday.
- Sophomore Owen Ozar and freshman Lucas Olvestad both scored their first career goals, and freshman Tyler Haskins picked up his first collegiate point with an assist.
- Casey Dornbach's goal 36 seconds into the first period on Saturday was the fastest goal to begin a game by the Pioneers this season.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO…: The Pioneers are finalists for eight end-of-season awards from the NCHC, which will be announced at the awards banquet on Thursday, March 16 prior to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minnesota.
ALL-NCHC TEAM: Denver had five players named to All-NCHC Teams, with three earning first-team honors: forward
Massimo Rizzo, defenseman
Mike Benning and goaltender
Magnus Chrona. Forward
Carter Mazur was chosen to the conference's second-team and defenseman
Sean Behrens was named an honorable mention.
The Pioneers had the most players honored on All-NCHC teams, with St. Cloud State having second-most with four skaters picking up accolades.
PENROSE CUP CHAMPIONS: Denver is winners of the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions for the second consecutive season. Overall, this is the third time that DU has won the trophy, having also done so in 2016-17 and 2021-22 en route to national championships in those seasons.
Overall, this year marked DU's 15th regular-season title as the school won 12 as a member of the old WCHA. The last time Denver earned consecutive regular-season championships was 1971-72 and 1972-73 in the WCAHA. The Pioneers entered the season as favorites to win the Penrose Cup in the conference's annual preseason poll.
The Penrose Cup was the third of five possible trophies that DU can win, as the team has already earned the Ice Breaker Tournament championship and Gold Pan vs. Colorado College.
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD
- Carter Mazur is tied for fourth in goals (22) and tied for second in game-winning goals (6).
- Massimo Rizzo is tied for seventh in points (46) and tied for 11th in assists (29).
- Mike Benning is second in goals (12) and is third in points (35) by a defenseman.
- Magnus Chrona is tied for fourth in wins (22) and tied for ninth in shutouts (4).
BURYING IT LIKE BENNING: Junior
Mike Benning ranks eighth all-time in school history for career goals with 31 this season. He is one goal away from tying for fifth place in the school annals with Jim Smith (1982-86), Jim Leavins (1981-83) and Marty Howe (1959-61).
The St. Albert, Alberta, native recorded a career-high four points on Feb. 24 at Western Michigan with two goals and two assists. It was the fifth time this season that a Denver player has recorded four points in a game and the first time by a defenseman. The last Pioneer defender to record four points in a game was
Ian Mitchell on Jan. 19, 2019 vs. Omaha (1g/3a).
Overall, that game was Benning's seventh multi-goal game of his career and third of the season (Nov. 26 vs. Omaha, Dec. 17 vs. Lindenwood). He leads all Denver rear guards in goals (13), assists (21) and points (34) and ranks tied for second on the squad with 10 multi-point games this season (
Massimo Rizzo, 12;
Carter Mazur, 10). Among all blueliners in the country, Benning is second in goals (13) and is third in points (34).
Benning recorded a career-long, nine-game point streak (5g/10a) from Nov. 26 to Jan. 7, which was the longest by a team defenseman since 2005.
BENNING NCHC PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Defenseman
Mike Benning is the league's Player of the Month for February after leading all blueliners in the conference with nine points (5g/4a) in seven games. His five goals were tied for first among NCAA defenders and were tied for second-most among all NCHC skaters in the month.
It was Benning's third time earning the honor in his career, as he also picked up the award earlier this season in December 2022 and March/April 2022. The Pioneers have picked up three such accolades this season, as Mazur was recognized as Player of the Month for October.
IN THE CHRONA ZONE: Magnus Chrona was one of nine semifinalists and the only NCHC representative for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to college hockey's to goaltender. The senior presently ranks third for fourth in the nation with 22 wins and is tied for ninth with four shutouts, which included consecutive clean sheets for the second time in his career on Jan. 13-14 against Miami.
Chrona earned his fourth shutout of the season and 13th of his career on Jan. 27 vs. Colorado College and moved into a tie with Gerry Powers (1966-1969) for second place in school history. He is two shy of matching the program record of 15 held by Peter Mannino (2005-2008).
Last season, Chrona recorded six shutouts, tied for third-most in a campaign in the school annals and one behind the record of seven accomplished by both Adam Berkhoel (2003-04) and Gerry Powers (1967-68).
KING HIM: Sophomore
Carter King has already posted career highs this season in goals (11), assists (12) and points (23) and leads the team in faceoff winning percentage at .523. The Calgary, Alberta, native has won at least 10 faceoffs in 18 contests this year, including posting a career-high 14 draw wins on Nov. 25 vs. Omaha, Jan. 27 vs. Colorado College and Feb. 11 vs. North Dakota.
King recorded his first career hat trick on Jan. 13 against Miami, with his three goals tying a career high for points in a game (three assists on Nov. 20, 2021 vs. Miami). It was his second consecutive multi-point performance, as he had two points (1g/1a) on Jan. 7 vs. Alaska Fairbanks.
MASS-IVE MARKERS: Sophomore forward
Massimo Rizzo leads the Pioneers in scoring with 45 points (16g/29a), which includes a team-high 12 multi-point games. He has recorded at least a point in 29 of the 36 contests he's played this season.
Rizzo recorded a career-long, 11-game point streak from Nov. 26-Jan. 14 (6g/8a), the fourth-longest by a DU player since the 2005-06 season. Only Danton Heinen (18 games),
Bobby Brink (14 games) and Dylan Gambrell (13 games) had better runs at Denver in that time. The stretch is tied for the third-longest point streak in the NCAA this season and also included a nine-game home point streak (Nov. 26-Jan. 14, 5g/7a).
ROAD WARRIORS: Denver has recorded four road sweep this season—all of which have come against NCHC opponents. The Pioneers finished with a 10-4-0 record on road this season, with each of their wins coming against conference foes and all of their losses coming in rinks with non-NHL-size ice.
The Pioneers won six straight road games from Oct. 28-Dec. 10, the team's longest road winning streak since also have a six-game run from Jan. 21-March 4, 2017 as part of its championship winning campaign (non-neutral site games).
This is the first time in the Pioneers' NCHC era that the squad has four road sweeps in a season, as Denver last accomplished the feat in 2001-02 in the WCHA with road series wins at Michigan Tech, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and Wisconsin.
The Pios picked up their first weekend sweep of Minnesota Duluth since Dec. 1-2, 2017 and swept North Dakota in Grand Forks on Nov. 11-12 for the first time since Jan. 29-30, 2010. This is the first time in program history that DU has compiled road sweeps at UND and UMD in the same season.
BATTLE AT BALL ARENA: DU played its first-ever regular season game on Jan. 27 at Ball Arena, home of the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Denver did play an exhibition contest at the then-called Pepsi Center on Oct. 6, 2012 vs. the University of British Columbia in order to accommodate a U.S. Presidential Debate that occurred the same week at Magness Arena.
Ball Arena marked the 14th different venue that the Pioneers and Tigers played each other in, with DU owning a winning record in 11 of them. The teams have played in five different rinks in the Denver area, including Coors Field in 2016 for the Battle on Blake and at McNichols Arena, the former home of the Avalanche (also at Magness Arena, DU Arena, Denver Coliseum).
RECORD ATTENDANCE: The Jan. 27 game vs. Colorado College at Ball Arena featured an attendance of 17,952, which at the time marked the highest-attended indoor NCAA hockey game of the season and the largest crowd to watch an indoor contest since Feb. 10, 2018 when Michigan and Michigan State skated in front of 19,515 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The DU-CC game has since been surpassed by 'Duel in the D' between Michigan and Michigan State on Feb. 11 (18,325) and the Beanpot contests at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 6 & 11 (18,258).
The Jan. 27 contest also marked the second-highest attended college hockey contest in the state of Colorado, with only the Battle on Blake outdoor game between Denver and Colorado College at Coors Field on Feb. 20, 2016 having more fans in the stands at 35,144.
MAGNESS MADNESS: The Pioneers averaged 5,788 fans at Magness Arena this season (23 games), the second-highest for the team since the building first opened for the 1999-2000 season. Only 2006-07 saw larger crowds on the hilltop since the turn of the century, as the Pios averaged 6,022 over the course of 24 games that season.
Overall, 133,117 peopled watched the Pioneers at Magness Arena in 2022-23, the second-highest attended season in the rink's history. If the 17,952 that witnessed Denver defeat Colorado College at Ball Arena on Jan. 27 are included in the data (it officially counted as a DU home game), then 151,069 people have watched Pioneer home games this year—the highest total attendance for the team since 1999.
HOME SWEET HOME: Denver finished the season with a 20-4-0 record at home. The team has won 10 of its last 11 games and went 15-2-0 in its final 17 contests on home ice.
The Pios recorded a 5-1-0 mark during a season-long six-game homestand from Dec. 16-Jan. 14 and had 10 contests at Magness Arena in a 12-game stretch from Nov. 25-Jan. 14 (8-2-0). DU played eight of its final 10 outings in Colorado, as the only time the squad was out of state in that period was at Western Michigan on Feb. 24-25.
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: The Pios are 43-7-1 in their last 51 contests at Magness Arena and sport a 51-11-2 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 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 DU-hosted NCAA West Regional in Loveland, Colorado.
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