DENVER – The No. 3 University of Denver hockey team defeated the Colorado College Tigers 2-1 on Friday at Magness Arena in the final home regular season game of the season.
 
"I think they defend well," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle on the Tigers. "If we are not at our best with our team speed and our puck support, it is hard to make them uncomfortable because their structure is really good. I thought the first period, we started well. We had some real bright spots in the second period where we had them hemmed in, but other than that, I thought they truthfully contained us pretty well 5-on-5 as expected. A lot has been made of their goal scoring, but I don't think their team defense gets talked about nearly enough. They do a really good job taking away time and space and sticking to their structure."
 
DU celebrated senior night and its 10th straight win over its in-state rival by playing in front of a crowd of 6,667—the highest-attended game at Magness Arena this season and the building's second-largest crowd since it opened in 1999 (6,683, Jan. 19, 2019 vs. Colorado College).
 
The teams conclude their regular season on Saturday in Colorado Springs, as they wrap up their four-game season series at 6 p.m. MT at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. The Pioneers will be back at Magness Arena next weekend to being the postseason as they host the Miami RedHawks in the best-of-three series in the NCHC Quarterfinals.
 
Defensemen Mike Benning and Justin Lee scored for DU and forward McKade Webster contributed a pair of assists. Carter Mazur and Tristan Lemyre also recorded helpers in the game.
 
Making his first start in net since December, goaltender Matt Davis stopped 21-of-22 shots and earned his fifth victory of the season.
 
After a scoreless first period, the Pioneers tallied both of their goals in a matter of 1:50 in the middle frame. Benning scored his 13th marker of the year at 7:59 of stanza off a rebound during a power play, and Lee found twine at 9:49 after his outside shot redirected into the cage off a Tigers player.
 
CC's Kaidan Mbereko got the start in net and made 15 saves before leaving the game with an apparent injury following' Benning's goal. Matt Vernon finished the contest and stopped six-of-seven shots.
 
Hunter McKown scored the only tally of the game for Colorado College with 2:20 remaining in the second period to cut Denver's lead to 2-1 heading into the third.
 
The Pioneers finished with a 23-22 edge in shots on goal and went 1-for-5 on the power play.

 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pioneers honored their six-member senior class before the game: Magnus Chrona, Brett Edwards, Kyle Mayhew, Lane Krenzen, Casey Dornbach and Justin Lee.
• Mike Benning scored his 31st career goal, taking sole possession of eighth place for the most goals by a defenseman in school history. He now leads the country for goals by a blueliner with 13 on the season.
• Forward Carter Mazur had an assist and is now on a seven-game point streak.
• Justin Lee scored his sixth goal of the season.
• Tristan Lemyre had his second assist of the campaign.
• McKade Webster had two assists in a game for the second time in his career (Jan 2,2021 vs. Colorado College). It was his seventh multi-pint game of his career.
• Goaltender Matt Davis was making his first start since Dec.17 vs. Lindenwood.

GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
 
2nd Period
7:59 DU (1-0) – PPG, Mike Benning knocked in a loose puck off a rebound from a Carter Mazur shot.
9:49 DU (2-0) – Justin Lee's shot from the left point went off a CC's player and into the net.
17:40 CC (2-1) – PPG, Hunter McKown took a behind-the-back pass from Logan Will and scored into an open net.
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On senior night: "I think it is a great tradition in college hockey to be able to signify a lot of their efforts that they have put in. I think the group, as we talked about before the game, they kind of steadied the ship here. We've went through some pretty rough waters back at the end of 2020 and obviously through the '21 season. I think those guys stuck with it, believed, and they have been a big part of the solution, getting us a championship a year ago, and putting us on a good track again this year."
 
On Matt Davis: "He was excellent tonight, especially early, like the first three to five minutes. They had some looks that maybe get a little bit overshadowed by how much we had the puck after that, but he was excellent. You see his puck-playing ability, really is an X factor, he ices one on the penalty kill, so we got a lot of confidence in him. His challenge is that he has had an All-American-level goaltender in front of him for the last two years (Magnus Chrona). To Matt's credit, he's never sat back and been sulking or disappointed. He has just attacked every day and tried to get better with Ryan Massa, our goalie coach. I think you see how excited the guys are for him when he gets in the net because the work he puts in every day that goes unnoticed by the public eyes."
 
Senior Defenseman Justin Lee
On defeating Colorado College: "Yeah, the only thing I hoped for was winning the game, so we were lucky enough to get it done. Obviously not our best hockey, but we can build off of that going into tomorrow's game."
 
On his emotions going into senior night: "They did a great job recognizing all of the seniors, so that was nice. We still have bigger things ahead of us that we've got to focus on, but it was a special night."
 
Senior Defenseman Kyle Mayhew
On win versus a rival: "That is the way that you want to go out against your rival. Unreal crowd. Couldn't write it any better than that. Hopefully, there weren't any cameras on me during 'Country Roads,' might have seen a couple of tears there. It was a special night for sure."
 
On captain Justin Lee and him scoring: "I love that for him, big smiles all around. Everyone loves that, that guy has earned it. He has done everything right for four years, so I love that going out for him. A great way to go out."
 
Senior Forward Casey Dornbach
On the game: "It was huge, we got the win, that's all that matters. A quick turnaround now for tomorrow night and clean a few things up."
 
On his senior season overall: "It's an honor to be here, and it's been a privilege and a lot of fun. It was really cool to honor all of the other guys who have been here for a long time."
 
 
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