OMAHA, Neb. – The top line of the No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team combined for four goals and 12 points on Friday night in a 6-3 victory at the No. 19 Omaha Mavericks at Baxter Arena.
 
Denver (16-5-2, 7-3-1 NCHC) stretched its season-best unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1) and goes for the series sweep of Omaha (11-8-2, 4-6-1 NCHC) on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcasted exclusively on NCHC.tv.
 
Junior forward Jack Devine recorded a career-high five points on two goals and three assists while classmate Massimo Rizzo matched personal best with four points (two goals and two assists). The left wing on that line, senior McKade Webster tied a career best with a marker and two helpers.
 
Sophomore Aidan Thompson and freshman Boston Buckberger also scored, while juniors Carter King and Sean Behrens and freshman Zeev Buium all had assists.
 
Denver goaltender Matt Davis stopped 19 shots and pushed his personal unbeaten streak to a career-best seven games (5-0-2). The Pioneers outshot the Mavericks 41-22 overall.
 
"To outshoot a team 41-22 at their home, a lot to like in the game," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "I thought our rush D was very good. We were very good at our net-front in the middle of the rink, best we've been in a while, so that was a really good sign—the development and growth and things we worked this week in practice. Again, a lot to like. Strange hockey game, found a way to fight through it, and I say play through it—we had eight power plays, they had four. It was just disjointed, but we found our way through."
 
DU and UNO traded their first two goals of the game before the Pios scored four unanswered to take a commanding 6-2 lead early in the third. Two of the Mavs' markers came on the power play, including Jesse Lansdell's on a scramble in the crease midway through the third period.
 
Each of Devine's first four points (two goals and two assists) came in the second period; it was the most points in a period this season by a Pioneer player.
 
Omaha's Zach Urdahl tallied game's opening goal on a penalty shot in the first period, and Ty Mueller buried a power-play chance in the second period.
 
Mavericks goaltender Simon Latkoczy started and stopped 19 shots. Seth Eisele played the third and made 16-of-17 saves.
 
UP NEXT: Denver continues the four-game trip on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Omaha before wrapping up the road swing next weekend on Jan. 26-27 at North Dakota.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU improved 8-2-3 in the last 13 contests at Baxter Arena. The Pioneers are now 39-14-5 all-time against Mavericks and own a 15-9-3 mark in the series in Omaha.
• The Pioneers allowed a penalty shot in a game for the first time this season and Zach Urdahl's goal was the first penalty shot tally against DU since Colorado College's Hunter McKown on Feb. 4, 2023.
• Junior forward Massimo Rizzo played in his 100th career game.
• Jack Devine had a career high five points (2g/3a) to become the first Pioneer with a five-point game since Bobby Brink on Feb. 4, 2022 (1g/4a).
• Devine matched a career high with three assists (Feb. 18, 2023 vs. Minnesota Duluth) and eclipsed 50 career points in the contest as well (now at 51).
• Each of his first four points came in the second period, marking the most points in a frame by a single player this season. DU players had previously recorded three points in a period 14 times since the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
• Matt Davis is now unbeaten in his last seven games (5-0-2) since Oct. 21, the longest stretch of his career. He started in his fifth straight game, also setting a new personal high.
• Carter King had an assist to extend his point streak to a career-long 10 games (6g/6a); he now has points in 19 of his last 20 games since Oct. 21.
• Connor Caponi had two penalty minutes on Friday to reach the 100 career penalty-minute threshold.
• Aidan Thompson scored to reach 50 career points.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
7:18 UNO (0-1) – SHG PSG, Zach Urdahl tallied with a wrister glove-side during a penalty shot after being hooked by Miko Matikka on a breakaway.
17:14 DU (1-0) – Carter King beat the UNO goalie on a rush up the ice and fed the puck in front where Boston Buckberger knocked it into an open net from the crease.
 
2nd Period
1:38 DU (2-1) – Aidan Thompson buried a one-timer at the right circle off a pass from Jack Devine with two seconds remaining on a 5-on-3 power play.
8:34 UNO (2-2) – PPG, Ty Mueller tallied on a one-time snap-shot from the right circle
14:37 DU (3-2) – Jack Devine scored on a rebound off a shot from McKade Webster.
16:57 DU (4-2) – Jack Devine's backhand shot toward the net caromed off McKade Webster and into the cage.
17:43 DU (5-2) – Massimo Rizzo forced a turnover at the UNO blueline and fed the puck across the ice to Jack Devine for a goal during the 2-on-1.
 
3rd Period
1:51 DU (6-2) – Massimo Rizzo tallied on a one-time snap-shot from the slot off a pass by Jack Devine.
10:41 UNO (6-3) – PPG, Jesse Lansdell knocked in a loose puck during a scramble in the crease.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On 4-on-4 play in the game: "It always helps to have good players, and we do have that. We have very dynamic offensive players. We spent a lot of time on special teams between four kills and eight power plays, to be able to generate five even-strength goals is impressive out of the group."
 
On the second period success: "It was good again tonight. We obviously put our foot on the gas, I thought our urgency level went up. I would like to do that in the first period more, we would all like that, but certainly the second periods have been a key for us all year long. Five goals against St. Cloud last week (in the second) and four of them here tonight. We've done it multiple times, ASU comes to mind. We're a team that can obviously score and can score in bunches."
 

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