DENVER – The race to the NCHC Penrose Cup continues for the No. 6 University of Denver hockey team this weekend as the Pioneers host the conference-leading No. 14 St. Cloud State Huskies at Magness Arena.
 
Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT and is nationally-televised exclusively on CBS Sports Network. Saturday's 6 p.m. contest can be watched on NCHC.tv.
 
Denver is presently fourth in the NCHC standings with 13 points and a 5-3-0 mark in league play. St. Cloud is unbeaten in conference games and are in first place with 22 points and a 7-0-1 record, with its only loss coming in a shootout.
 
The Pioneers (14-5-1 overall) are winners of three straight, matching a season-long winning streak. DU beat then-No. 13 Western Michigan 6-5 in overtime on Dec. 9 before the holiday break and defeated Niagara in both outings last week at home, winning 5-2 and 6-1.
 
St. Cloud State is the reigning NCHC Tournament champions and own a 11-5-2 overall record on the season. The Huskies are 3-0-2 in their last five games, and they last played on Dec. 29 and 31 in a home-and-home series with Bemidji State, earning back-to-back 6-1 victories.
 
SCSU went 3-1-0 against DU last season, with the teams last meeting on Jan. 20-21, 2023 in Minnesota and the Huskies earning 7-3 and 2-0 wins, respectively. The teams last played in Denver on Nov. 4-5, 2022, as St. Cloud won the series opener in overtime before Denver picked up the victory the next night.
 
This weekend marks the start of a four-game regular-season series, as the teams will meet again on March 1-2 in St. Cloud. It is also the conclusion of DU's four-game homestand and a stretch where it is playing 10-of-12 contests at home from Nov. 17-Jan. 13. The Pios will play nine of their final 14 contests of the season away from Magness Arena.
 
Friday's game marks the 115th all-time meeting between the squads with the Pioneers owning a 56-52-6 record and a 33-25-2 mark in games at home in a series that dates back to the old WCHA.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Denver swept its weekend series against the Niagara Purple Eagles last weekend, winning 5-2 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday. The Pioneers scored three unanswered goals on Friday to break a 2-2 tie in the second period.  Jack Devine had two goals and Sean Behrens contributed two assists.
 
Tristan Broz led DU on Saturday with a four-point performance on two goals and two assists, while Rieger Lorenz (0g/2a), Aidan Thompson (1g/1a) and Miko Matikka (1g/1a) also had multi-point nights. Goaltender Matt Davis made 22 saves on Friday and 27 on Saturday in his first action since Oct. 27.
 
NOTABLES

• The Pioneers are on a three-game winning streak, tied for their longest of the season (also Oct. 28-Nov. 4).
• Matt Davis returned to the lineup on Friday after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.  He is now unbeaten in his last four starts dating back to Oct. 21 at Boston College (3-0-1), the longest stretch of the season by a DU goalie.
• Massimo Rizzo had a career-long seven-game assist streak end on Saturday (2g/10a). The stretch was tied with Sean Behrens (0g/10a) from Oct. 8-Nov. 4 for the longest of the season by a DU player.  Only Bobby Brink's run of 13 straight games with a helper from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 18, 2022 (21a) has been longer in the last three seasons.
• Miko Matikka had his career-long 11-game point streak end on Friday night, as the freshman recorded 11 goals and four assists in contests from Nov. 3-Dec. 9.  Entering last weekend, the streak was the fourth-longest in the nation this season and one game shy of tying for the top spot.
• Matikka scored the fastest goal to begin a game this season on Saturday, tallying just 1:29 into the contest. Boston Buckberger previously had the fastest at 1:35 on Oct. 27 vs. Augustana.
• Jack Devine recorded his sixth multi-goal game of the season on Friday—DU owns 16 such outings this year.
• McKade Webster eclipsed 100 career penalty minutes on Friday night. Justin Lee was the last Pioneer to reach the century mark (2019-2023).
• Rieger Lorenz recorded his first career multi-assist game on Saturday.
• With the win last Friday, Denver Athletics earned its 700th overall victory at Magness Arena across hockey, gymnastics and men's and women's basketball.
• DU finished non-conference play with a 9-2-1 record, winning its final five games against non-NCHC teams.
• The Pioneers improved to 8-0-0 all-time against the Purple Eagles, with each game taking place at Magness Arena.

PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver presently ranks first in the country in offense, averaging 5.3 goals per game.  Defending national champion Quinnipiac ranks second at 4.4 goals per game.  The Pioneers are second in the NCAA in scoring margin, winning by 2.2 goals, as only the QU Bobcats are better at 2.37 goals.
 
DU also leads the nation in shooting percentage at 16.6, with Quinnipiac being the next closet team at 12.9%.  On special teams, the Pioneers have the 12th-best power play at 23.9% and have scored the third-most man-advantage goals in the NCAA (21).
 
RIZZO LEADING THE CHARGE: Forward Massimo Rizzo presently leads the nation in scoring with 32 points on seven goals and 25 assists.  He also ranks first in the country in assists and has recorded at least a point in 17-of-20 games this season.
 
The junior began 2023-24 on an eight-game point streak from Oct. 7-Nov. 4 (5g/12a), the longest season-opening point stretch since Jarid Lukosevicius had points in each of his first nine contests in 2018-19 (8g/5a).  Rizzo also matched a personal best with a four-game goal streak from Oct. 20-28 and recently had a career-long seven-game assist streak end from Nov. 24-Jan. 5.
 
The last DU player to lead the NCAA in scoring at the end of the season was Bobby Brink in 2021-22 when he registered 57 points (14g/43a) in 41 games (1.30 pts/game).  Prior to Brink, the previous time a Pioneer led the country in points was Ed Beers in 1981-82 (50g/34a).
 
Rizzo owns 114 points (36g/78a) in 97 career games, currently ranking tied for 66th all-time in program history in scoring.  He became the 102nd member of the DU's 100-point club on Nov. 11 at Arizona State.
 
BROZ FOUR POINTS: Forward Tristan Broz matched a career high with four points on Saturday night, tallying twice and adding two assists.  The performance marked the sixth time overall and Broz as the fifth different Denver player this season to register four points in game.
 
The junior has recorded four points in a contest two times previously, with both occurring last year. He had one goal and three assists on Dec. 17, 2022 vs. Lindenwood and scored four times on Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Miami.
 
KING OF THE SHORTY: Junior Carter King scored his NCAA-leading fourth short-handed goal of the season on Saturday, giving him sole possession of fifth place for the most in a single campaign in program history.  It is the most man-disadvantage goals by a Pioneer since Tyler Bozak had five in 2007-08. 
 
King now has five career short-handed goals, breaking a tie with Logan O'Connor for 11th place and moving him into a tie for sixth place in school history (with five others).
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native scored two short-handed goals on Nov. 10 at Arizona State, becoming just the fifth Pioneer to tally multiple short-handed goals in the same game and the first to do so since Bozak on Nov. 4, 2007 vs. Minnesota.
 
DAVIS NAMED GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK: Junior Matt Davis was selected as the NCHC's Goaltender of the Week on Tuesday after posting two wins against Niagara.  This is his second career top goalie honor after also picking up the award on March 6, 2023.
 
Returning to the lineup after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury, Davis stopped 49-of-52 over the two games.  He made 22 saves on Friday and stopped 27 shots on Saturday.
 
BUIUM ON HISTORIC POINT STREAK: Denver rookie Zeev Buium has points in each of his last 12 games, surpassing Boston University's Lane Hutson's 11-game run from last season for the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than 21 years, courtesy of College Hockey News (online databases presently do not go back further than 2002).
 
Buium has four goals and 17 assists in the dozen games dating back to Nov. 3 vs. Colorado College.  Hutson posted similar numbers with three goals and 16 assists during his 11-game stretch from Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023.  Both players were on Team USA for the 2024 World Juniors.
 
The run by Buium is the longest by a Denver player since Bobby Brink had a 14-game point streak from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 19, 2022 (7g/21a).  Buium is also on a personal-best five-game assist streak, with him totaling 10 helpers in that time frame since Nov. 25.
 
STREAKING: In addition to Zeev Buium's 12-game point streak, the following Pioneers are also on runs:

• Carter King is on a seven-game point streak (5g/2a) and has points in 16 of the last 17 games (12g/11a) since Oct. 21.
• Aidan Thompson is on a three-game point streak (1g/3a).
• Kent Anderson has points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career (1g/1a).
• Lucas Olvestad has recorded points in consecutive games for the second time in his career (1g/1a).  

PIONEERS WIN GOLD AT THE WORLD JUNIORS: Several Pioneers brought home the gold medal for the United States at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship last week, as the Americans won their sixth title in the last 20 years after defeating host Sweden 6-2 in the final.  The win on Jan. 5 was on the exact same day as in 2004 of USA's first win, which featured Denver's Matt Carle on the roster.
 
Denver head coach David Carle served in the same role for USA at the under-20 tournament in his first coaching stint of a United States roster.  Marshall Johnston at the 1977 tournament is the only other Denver coach to guide a U.S. World Junior squad.  Overall, Carle is the third NCHC head coach to lead the U.S. to gold at the WJC, joining former St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko (2017) and North Dakota and Omaha coach Dean Blais (2010 w/OMA).
 
Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium was one of 11 players with 2005 birthday on the American team and was the youngest of the entire group.  Buium is the ninth NCHC player to earn gold, with DU's Bobby Brink and NoDak's Tyler Kleven and Jake Sanderson being the last to do so in 2021.
 
Several other people with Pioneer connections were at this year's World Junior Championship, as Denver Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane served as the video coach and Equipment Manager Nick Meldrum was in the same role at his second career World Juniors.  Former DU assistants Steve Miller (University of Minnesota) and David Lassonde (USA Hockey) and St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson and Augustana head coach Garrett Raboin were also USA coaches.
 
RIZZO ON TEAM CANADA AT SPENGLER CUP: Forward Massimo Rizzo represented Canada at the 2023 Spengler Cup, which ran Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland.  Rizzo recorded two assists in four games at the annual invitational tournament that primarily features professional hockey teams in Europe. Canada, which has sent a squad nearly year since 1984 (except COVID Pandemic years), lost in the semifinals in HC Dynamo Pardubice.
 
Rizzo was the first NCAA player to suit up for Canada at the event since DU's own Ian Mitchell also did so in 2019.  Denver alum Joey LaLeggia was also on Canada's roster at the 2023 tournament.
 
CARLE AMONG DENVER'S BEST AFTER 200 GAMES: Head coach David Carle guided the Pioneers' bench for the 200th game on Dec. 9 at Western Michigan to become the fifth DU coach to reach the milestone, joining Murray Armstrong, Ralph Backstrom, George Gwozdecky and Jim Montgomery.  Carle's .675 winning percentage is the second-best among that group through 200 games, with only Armstrong having a better mark at .735—he won three national championships in his first six-plus years at the helm of the program.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 6 in the country in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live national polls.  The Pioneers are presently No. 7 in the Pairwise rankings.
 
The NCHC has five teams ranked, with North Dakota at No. 4, Western Michigan at No. 10, St. Cloud State at No. 14 and Colorado College at No. 17/18, with the Tigers being at their highest ranking since No. 14 on Nov. 19, 2012. Omaha also received votes in the polls.
 
HISTORY VS. ST. CLOUD: Denver begins a four-game regular-season series against St. Cloud State, with the teams set to meet again on March 1-2 in Minnesota.  Friday's game marks the 115th meeting between the squads.  The Pioneers own a 56-52-6 all-time record over the Huskies and have a 33-25-5 mark in conference play in the series.  At home, Denver is 33-25-2 against St. Cloud.  DU and SCSU are 3-3-0 in the last six meetings.  The Huskies won the series last season, coming back to win 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 4, 2022 before the Pios won the next night. The teams last met on Jan. 20-21, 2023 in St. Cloud, with the Huskies winning 7-3 and 2-0 respectively.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State ranks No. 14 in both national polls and holds an 11-5-2 overall record this season.  The Huskies, who won last year's NCHC Tournament championship, currently rank first in the NCHC with a 7-0-1 conference record, defeating Miami, Western Michigan, Minnesota Duluth and Omaha.  SCSU is 3-0-2 in its last five games, last playing on Dec. 29 and 31 in a home-and-home series with Bemidji State and earning back-to-back 6-1 victories.  Four players are tied for the team lead with 16 points in Veeti Miettinen, Kyler Kupka, Adam Ingram and Dylan Anhorn. Miettinen leads the team in goals (11) while Anhorn ranks first in assists (13).  Goaltender Dominic Base has started 16 games and owns a 10-5-1 record, 2.14 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts.
 
CONNECTIONS: St. Cloud State head coach Brad Larson served as an assistant coach under DU head coach David Carle with Team USA and helped the squad win gold at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden … Tristan Broz (Bloomington) and Jared Wright (Burnsville) are both from Minnesota … Shai Buium (2017-21), Zeev Buium (2019-21), Sam Harris (2018-21), Peter LaJoy (2016-20) and McKade Webster (2015-17) played prep school hockey at Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault, Minn. …  DU's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz and SCSU's Dylan Anhorn, Ethan Aucoin and Tyson Gross are all from Calgary, Alberta … Mason Reiners was a teammate of DU's Connor Caponi (2019-20) with the Waterloo Black Hawks … Tristan Broz played with Jack Peart with the USHL Fargo Force in 2020-21 … Freddie Halyk played with Ethan Aucoin with the AJHL Lloydminster Bobcats in 2021-22 … Dominic Basse played two seasons at Colorado College (2020-22).
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (Jan. 21, 2023): No. 3 Denver fell 2-0 to the No. 4 St. Cloud State Huskies in the series finale at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The Pioneers dropped both games on the road in the top-five matchup. Both of the Huskies' goals came in a matter of 2:54 midway through the second period in what was otherwise a tight-checking game. St. Cloud outshot Denver 23-19 in the contest. Pioneers goaltender Magnus Chrona made 21 saves on 23 shots in the loss.
 
BUIUM NAMED TOP ROOKIE OF DECEMBER: Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium was recognized as the NCHC Rookie of the Month for December and leading all league freshmen and defensemen with seven points (1g/6a) in four games.  It marked the second-straight month that Buium was honored by the league as he was the Player of the Month for November and went on to also be selected as the National Co-Player of the Month in college hockey.
 
Buium registered at least a point in all four games, pushing his career-best point streak to 12 games. He also tied for first overall in the NCHC in the month with a 1.75 points-per-game average.
 
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: The Pios are 49-9-2 in their last 60 contests at Magness Arena and sport a 57-13-3 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 unbeaten in its first four home games this year (3-0-1) and is 8-2-1 in its friendly confines in 2023-24.  The program finished the 2022-23 season with a 20-4-0 record at home, winning 10 of its last 11 games and going 15-2-0 in its final 17 contests at Magness.

TICKETS: Single-game and multi-game ticket plans are available. Click here to learn more.