COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 3 University of Denver hockey team scored two goals in less than a minute to take a lead in the third period, and the Pioneers wrapped up the regular season on Saturday with a 4-2 victory against the Colorado College Tigers at Ed Robson Arena.
 
"Going down 2-1 in the third, I thought it was a really good opportunity for us to see how we handle that level of adversity," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach David Carle. "Obviously, we passed and came out and had a really strong third period."
 
Freshman Tristan Lemyre tied the game at 2-2 with 7:56 remaining in the final frame on a redirection, and fellow rookie Aidan Thompson buried a shot off a pass from sophomore Carter Mazur 52 seconds later to give Denver its first lead and the only one it needed on the night.
 
Thompson also contributed an assist in the outing, and sophomore defenseman Shai Buium tallied and added a helper as well for the Pioneers (28-8-0, 19-5-0 NCHC)—NCHC regular-season champions for the second-straight year. Massimo Rizzo sealed the contest with an empty-net marker with 38 seconds to play, and Casey Dornbach, Carter King and Kyle Mayhew each recorded a helper in the contest.
 
Denver sophomore goaltender Matt Davis made his second consecutive start and stopped 25 shots. He has won all six of his starts this season and improved to 9-2-0 in his career.
 
CC netminder Matt Vernon made 29-of-31 saves.
 
The Pioneers rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the game. Matthew Gleason began the game's scoring, as he tallied with 1:31 left in the first period to give CC its first lead over DU in 618:29 when it last picked up a win in the series on Jan. 1, 2021.
 
Buium knotted the contest halfway through the middle frame during a man advantage for the Pios, but the Tigers took another one-goal advantage heading into the second intermission as Hunter McKown tallied at 15:15 of the period.
 
Colorado College (10-21-3, 6-15-3 NCHC) wasn't able to find its own equalizer late in the contest despite having a two-minute power play with 4:34 remaining and an extra attacker on the ice for the final minutes.
 
Denver finished with a 33-27 edge in shots on goal and has now won 11 straight contests against its in-state rival since Jan. 2, 2021. The Pioneers concluded the regular season on a four-game winning streak and with victories in nine of their last 10 games.
 
UP NEXT: DU is the No. 1 seed in NCHC Tournament, which begins next weekend with quarterfinal games on campus. The Pioneers will host the No. 8-seed Miami RedHawks at Magness Arena in a best-of-three series on Friday at 7 p.m. MT and Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. If necessary, Game 3 is Sunday at 6 p.m. MT at Magness. Tickets are on sale now and the games will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pioneers swept the regular-season series against the CC Tigers for the second straight year.
• DU finished the year with four-game sweeps of Miami, North Dakota and Colorado College.
• The Pios finished with a 10-4-0 record on the road, winning each of its last four contests away from Denver. DU did not lose a road game on NHL-size ice.
• Casey Dornbach recorded his 120th career point in the outing.
• Carter Mazur extended his season-long point streak to eight games (5g/7a), one shy of matching his career long.
• Seven players played all 36 regular-season games: Mike Benning, Tristan Broz, Casey Dornbach, Justin Lee, Kyle Mayhew, Carter Mazur and Massimo Rizzo.
• Tyler Haskins played his 11th game of the season and first since Jan. 13 versus Miami.
• Tristan Lemyre now has points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
• Denver has scored a power-play goal in seven consecutive games.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
18:29 CC (0-1) – PPG, Matthew Gleason scored on a rebound in front while a man advantage was coming to an end.
 
2nd Period
11:44 DU (1-1) – PPG, Shai Buium tallied on a one-timer at the right circle off a cross-pass by Casey Dornbach.
15:15 CC (1-2) – Hunter McKown found the top half of the net on a one-time slap shot from the blue line during a delayed penalty.
 
3rd Period
12:04 DU (2-2) – Tristan Lemyre knocked the puck into the net mid-air after Carter King also redirected it while it was in mid-flight.
12:55 DU (3-2) – Aidan Thompson scored in front after Carter Mazur fed him the puck from below the goal line.
19:22 DU (4-2) – ENG, Massimo Rizzo chased down a free puck and fired it into the open cage.
 
 
TICKETS: Tickets for the NCHC Quarterfinals came be purchased here.
 
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