GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The No. 4 University of Denver hockey team heads out for its second consecutive road trip this weekend as the Pioneers take on the No. 5 North Dakota Fighting Hawks at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.
 
Friday's game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network and has an adjusted start time of 6:30 p.m. MT. Saturday's contest begins at 5 p.m. MT and will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv and Midco Sports.
 
The Pioneers are on a season-long seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) dating back to Dec. 9 when they won in overtime at then-No. 13 Western Michigan. Denver swept its series this past weekend at the No 19 Omaha Mavericks, winning 6-3 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday at Baxter Arena to improve to 7-2-1 in its last 10 outings.
 
DU has now scored at least six goals in a game nine times this season and leads the NCAA in offense by averaging 5.25 goals per game.
 
The Pios will be traveling to Grand Forks for the first time since Nov. 11-12, 2022 when the won 3-2 and 6-3 to sweep the weekend series.
 
North Dakota has a 16-6-2 overall record this season and is tied for first with St. Cloud State in the NCHC standings with 26 points and a 7-4-1 mark in conference play. UND and SCSU faced off against each other last week in Minnesota, with the Hawks winning 5-3 on Friday before tying 3-3 on Saturday, though the Huskies earned the extra conference point by winning the tiebreaking shootout.
 
Denver has won five of the last six contests against NoDak and is 135-157-16 all-time against its rival from the North. DU and UND have played 308 games in their series, the Pioneers' second-most against a single opponent (Colorado College, 338) and the Fighting Hawks' most.
 
DU and North Dakota will be playing in a top-five matchup for the second time this year and will be wrapping up a four-game regular season series this weekend. The teams split their previous set on Dec. 1-2 at Magness Arena when the No. 3 Hawks rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 7-5 in the series opener before Carter King scored in overtime to help the No. 2 Pioneers pull out a 6-5 win the next night.
 
This weekend also marks the end of a four-game road swing for DU, which is tied for the team's season long with its opening contests on Oct. 7-21 at Alaska Fairbanks, Providence and Boston College.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Denver swept its weekend series at Omaha, winning 6-3 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday. It marked the eighth and ninth times this season that the Pioneers have scored six or more goals in a contest.
 
DU's top line led the way on Friday, as Jack Devine had a career-high five points (2g/3a), Massimo Rizzo tied a personal best with four points (1g/3a) and McKade Webster registered three points (1g/2a) to match a career total as well.
 
Rizzo added four more points on Saturday, with each coming via an assist, and Zeev Buium tied a personal high with four points on one goal and three assists.  Connor Caponi had two points as well in the outing (1g/1a), and goaltender Matt Davis finished the sweep by stopping 36-of-41 shots in the two games.
 
PIOS ON A ROLL: The Pioneers are on a season-long seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) dating back to Dec. 9 at No. 13 Western Michigan.  It is their longest such stretch since winning seven in a row from Nov. 26-Dec. 17, 2022.  The last time that DU went unbeaten in eight straight games was when the team had an 11-game run from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 11, 2022 (10-0-1).
 
MASS-IVE PERFORMANCE: Forward Massimo Rizzo had eight combined points last week at Omaha, recording four each night to match a career best for a single game (now five times).  He had a goal and three assists on Friday before tying a personal high with four assists on Saturday; he also had that many helpers during opening weekend this year on Oct. 8, 2023 at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
Rizzo is the first Pioneer to record back-to-back four-point games and finish a weekend set with eight total points in games going back to the start of the 2015-16 season.  His seven combined assists in the two contests marks the second time in his career that he's accomplished the feat, as he also had that many helpers earlier this season on Oct. 7-8, 2023 at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
Western Michigan's Jason Polin was the last NCHC player with an eight-point weekend as he had a back-to-back hat tricks and added two assists on Nov. 4-5, 2022 against Miami.
 
RIZZO CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: Massimo Rizzo leads the nation with 32 assists and 42 points and has recorded at least a point in 20-of-24 games this season.  The junior, who became the 102nd member of the DU's 100-point club on Nov. 11 at Arizona State, has now recorded 124 points in 101 career games and is tied with Perry Schnarr for 48th in program history in all-time scoring.
 
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).  Brink's 43 assists that year was an NCHC record while his 57 points were second all-time in the conference behind UND's Brock Boeser's 60 in 2015-16.
 
The Denver center 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.
 
TRULY DEVINE: Junior Jack Devine registered a career-high five points with two goals and three assists on Friday at Omaha, the first Pioneer with a five-point game since Bobby Brink on Feb. 4, 2022 (1g/4a).  Four of Devine's five points came in the second period, which also marked the most in a single frame this year—DU players had previously recorded three points in a period 14 times since the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
 
Devine registered his seventh multi-goal game of the season in Friday's performance and became the first player in the country to reach the 20-goal threshold. He accomplished the feat in just 23 games to become the quickest Pioneer in recent history to hit the mark.  His three assists on Friday also matched a career high, as he last had a trio of helpers in a contest on Feb. 18, 2023 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native leads the nation with 21 goals, three more than a three-way tie for second place (18) and ranks second behind teammate Massimo Rizzo (42) in overall scoring with 39 points.  He has seven multi-goal games this year and has picked up multiple points in 14 outings this year.
 
The Pioneer forward began the season with a career-long, five-game point streak (6g/7a), which also included posting multiple points in each outing.  It was the longest multi-point streak by a Pioneer since Rizzo also had a five-game stretch from Oct. 21-Nov. 4, 2022 (4g/9a).  He is currently on a personal-best three-game goals streak (4g/3a), the third time this season he has tallied in three consecutive contests: Oct. 7-21, 2023 (5g/2a), Nov. 24-Dec. 1 (4g/4a).
 
GENERATION Z-EEV: Freshman Zeev Buium tied a career high with four points on one goal and three assists on Saturday at Omaha.  He also had four points—all assists—on Nov. 25 vs. Yale, which were the most by a DU freshman blueliner since 2002 (online databases presently don't go back any further) and marked just the third instance since 2016 by a rookie D-man in the NCAA (Boston University's Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota's Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha), courtesy of College Hockey News.
 
His four assists on Nov. 25 vs. Yale are tied for the most in a game this season by a Pioneer was also tied for the third-most in a game in program history by a defenseman (12th time)—last accomplished by Kyle Mayhew on March 11, 2023 against Miami in the NCHC Quarterfinals.  Courtesy of College Hockey News, Buium's four assists were also the most by a DU freshman blueliner since 2002 and marked just the third instance since 2016 by a rookie D-man in college hockey (Boston University's Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota's Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha).
 
Buium, who had his season-high 12-game point streak end on Jan. 12 vs. St. Cloud State (the longest by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than two decades), now has points in 15 of the last 16 contests.  The San Diego, California, native's 32 points this year are tied for fifth overall in the NCAA and is tied for the second-most among freshmen in the country (first among rookie D-man).
 
GOOD TO BE THE KING: Junior Carter King registered an assist on Friday at Omaha and scored his 15th goal of the season on Saturday to extend his career-long point streak to 11 games (7g/6a).  The forward now has points in 20 of the last 21 games (13g/14), which included a then personal-best nine-game point streak from Oct. 21-Nov. 19 (7g/9a).  The only game he hasn't recorded a point in over last three months was Nov. 24 against Yale.
 
The DU alternate captain's previous nine-game point streak was at the time the longest of the season by a Pioneer and the longest since Carter Mazur's 10-game stretch (5g/9a) last season from Feb. 10-March 11, 2023 (since surpassed by Zeev Buium).  The Calgary, Alberta, native also had a five-game goal streak from Oct. 28-Nov. 11, which at the time was the longest by a Denver player since Cole Guttman (6g/2a) from Dec. 7, 2019 to Jan. 4, 2020 (since surpassed by Miko Matikka).
 
NCHC WEEKLY HONORS: Junior Massimo Rizzo picked up his second NCHC Forward of the Week award of the season on Monday, while freshman Zeev Buium was named the conference's Defenseman of the Week for the second time this year as well.  Rizzo combined for eight points (1g/7a) while Buium recorded five points (1g/4a) in the two games at Omaha.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Massimo Rizzo is first in the country in points (42) and second in assists (32).
• Jack Devine is first in the nation in goals (21), tied for second in points (39) and tied for fifth with eight power-play goals.
• Zeev Buium is tied for fifth in the nation in points (32), which leads all NCAA defensemen and is tied for the second-most among all freshmen in the country. His 26 assists are tied for third in the NCAA and are the second-most by a rookie.
• Miko Matikka is tied for 15th in the NCAA and is third among all freshmen in the nation with 14 goals.
• Carter King leads the NCAA with four short-handed goals this season and is tied for eighth in points (31) and 15th for goals (14).

MILESTONE GAMES: Juniors Tristan Broz (99 games played) and Jack Devine (98 games played) are expected to play in their 100th career contests this weekend at North Dakota.  They will become the sixth and seventh Pioneers to reach the milestone this season, joining Connor Caponi (Oct. 7 at Alaska Fairbanks), McKade Webster (Nov. 10 at Arizona State), Carter King (Jan. 13 vs. St. Cloud State) and Massimo Rizzo (Jan. 19) and Shai Buium (Jan. 20), who both accomplished the feat last week at Omaha.  Caponi is expected to play in his 125th career outing on Saturday, while junior Sean Behrens is eight contests away from the 100-game threshold
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver leads the country in offense, averaging 5.25 goals per game.  Michigan is second at 4.68 goals per contest.  The Pioneers are first in the NCAA in scoring margin as well, winning by 2.29 goals; Quinnipiac is second at 2.26 goals.
 
DU also leads the nation in shooting percentage at 16.1, with Boston College being the next closet team at 13%.  On special teams, the Pios have the seventh-best power play at 26.1% and have scored the second-most man-advantage goals in the NCAA (30) behind only Michigan (34).
 
HISTORY VS. NO-DAK: Denver and North Dakota wrap up their four-game regular season series after the teams split the first two contests in Denver on Dec. 1-2.  UND rallied for a 7-5 win in the Friday matchup before DU won 3-2 in overtime in the series finale.  The Pioneers enter this weekend with a 135-157-16 all-time record against the Fighting Hawks and are 5-1-0 in the past six outings, including winning all four game against North Dakota in 2022-23 to sweep its rival for the first time since 2009-10.  DU is making its first trip to Grand Forks since Nov. 11-12, 2022 where it won 3-2 and 6-3.  Denver and North Dakota have played 308 in their all-time series, with the Hawks being the Pios' second-most common opponent behind Colorado College (338 games).  Denver owns a 118-132-14 record in conference play vs. North Dakota and is 46-93-10 all-time in the series on the road.  DU defeated UND to win the 2005 NCAA National Championship in Columbus, Ohio.
 
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS: North Dakota owns a 16-6-2 overall record this season and is tied for first with St. Cloud State in the NCHC standings with 26 points and a 7-4-1 mark in conference play; DU is three points behind with 23 points (8-3-1).  UND played at St. Cloud last weekend in a matchup of the NCHC's top two teams, winning 5-3 on Friday before playing to a 3-3 tie on Saturday, though the Huskies picked up the extra conference point with a shootout victory.  Cameron Berg tallied the game-tying goal for North Dakota with less than seven minutes remaining in the third period, and SCSU won the shootout 2-1.  Last weekend marked UND's first road contests since traveling to Denver on Dec. 1-2.  The Hawks are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, which also featured three consecutive overtime losses from Dec. 2-9.  Jackson Blake leads the team with 15 goals and 30 points this season, while Owen McLaughlin ranks second with 17 assists and 25 points.  Garrett Pyke is UND's leading assist-getter with 18.  Goaltender Ludvig Persson has started 21 contests this year and sports a 13-6-2 record, 2.40 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and three shutouts.
 
CONNECTIONS: Tristan Broz played junior hockey in North Dakota with the USHL Fargo Force from 2019-2021 while Peter LaJoy skated in four games with the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats in 2020-21 ... Dylan James and Louis Jamernik are from the same hometown (Calgary, Alberta) as Denver's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz … Lorenz played with James on the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers in 2020-21 … Connor Caponi played with UND's Griffin Ness and Dane Montgomery in Waterloo in 2019-20 … Davis was teammates with Fighting Hawks' Jake Schmaltz and Jackson Kunz in 2020-21 with the Green Bay Gamblers, while McKade Webster was teammates with Schmaltz and Kunz in 2019-20 with the Gamblers … Nate Benoit started the 2021-22 season as a teammate of Kieran Cebrian with the USHL Tri-City Storm before finishing the season with the Omaha Lancers and playing with Jared Wright … Owen McLaughlin played briefly with Sean Behrens and Jack Devine at the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020-21.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (NOV. 18-19, 2023): Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium scored the game-tying goal midway through the third period and junior forward Carter King tallied nearly two minutes into overtime to give the No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team a 3-2 victory against the No. 2 North Dakota Fighting Hawks at Magness Arena.  The Pioneers split their weekend set against the Hawks after UND won the series opener on Friday.  North Dakota still earned one point in the NCHC standings on Saturday with the game being decided in the extra session.  King buried the game-winner at 2:06 of OT on a rebound after Massimo Rizzo's shot on a 2-on-1 with Buium was initially stopped.  King was the trailer up the ice and knocked in the loose puck while the Pioneers caught the Hawks on a line change.  Buium and sophomore Aidan Thompson both finished with a goal and an assist, as Thompson evened the score at 1-1 at 4:38 of the second period and Buium recorded his fifth tally of the season with 8:55 remaining in the third.  DU goaltender Freddie Halyk made 29 saves in his 11th consecutive start.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Pioneers are in a stretch where they are playing nine of their final 14 games of the regular season away from Magness Arena, with the team traveling to Omaha, North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Colorado College in the final weeks of the campaign.
 
Denver owns an 8-3-0 record on the road this season, which included weekend sweeps in Omaha last week on Jan. 19-20 and at Alaska Fairbanks to begin the campaign on Oct. 7-8.  DU's road sweep at UNO was its first against an NCHC opponent since Feb. 24-25 at Western Michigan when it secured its second consecutive Penrose Cup as conference regular-season champions.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved up to No. 4 in both national polls on Monday after previously being fifth in the USCHO.com ranking and No. 6 on the USA Hockey/The Rink Live list.  The Pioneers are presently No. 6 in the Pairwise Rankings, which determines the NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC has five teams ranked overall, tied for the second-most with the Big Ten and trailing only Hockey East (6).  The conference joins Hockey East with two teams in the top five with North Dakota at No. 5.  Western Michigan is at No. 12/12, St. Cloud State is at No. 15/14 and Colorado College comes in at No. 16/17. Omaha is the first team receiving votes in each ranking after entering the polls for the first time this year last week.
 
STRONG RETURN: Goaltender Matt Davis is 5-0-1 in his six starts since missing 13 games with a lower-body injury and is on a career-best eight-game unbeaten streak dating back to Oct. 21 at Boston College (8-0-2).  It is the longest unbeaten stretch of the season by a DU goalie and the longest since Magnus Chrona had a nine-game winning streak (Jan. 15-Feb. 11, 2022) and 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1, Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 11, 2022) during the 2021-22 championship campaign.
 
Davis' six consecutive starts since the New Year are the longest of his career.  He earned his second career NCHC Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 9 after posting a combined 1.50 goals-against average in two contests against Niagara.
 
STREAKING:

• Carter King is on a career-long 11-game point streak (7g/6a). He has points in 20 of the last 21 games (14g/15a) since Oct. 21.
• Jack Devine is on a three-game goal streak and four-game point streak (4g/5a)
• Zeev Buium is on a three-game point streak (1g/6a) and has points in 15 of the last 16 games dating back to Nov. 3.

OTHER NOTABLES:

• The Pioneers are now 7-4-1 against ranked teams this year.
• DU improved 9-2-3 in the last 14 contests at Baxter Arena.  The Pioneers are now 40-14-5 all-time against Mavericks and own a 16-9-3 mark in the series in Omaha.
• Denver scored three power-play goals on Saturday for the second time in a game this season (Jan. 13 vs. St. Cloud State) and has now tallied with the man advantage in seven straight contests since Dec. 8.
• The Pioneers allowed a penalty shot in a game for the first time this season on Friday, and Zach Urdahl scored for Omaha.  That marked the first penalty shot tally against DU since Colorado College's Hunter McKown on Feb. 4, 2023.  Cornell's Nick DeSantis was the previous opponent to have a penalty shot attempt on DU on March 23, 2023 in the NCAA Regional Semifinals (no goal).
• Jack Devine eclipsed 50 career assists on Friday.
• Connor Caponi had two penalty minutes on Friday to reach the 100 career penalty minutes.
• Aidan Thompson scored to reach 50 career points.
• Second conference sweep of the season after also beating Colorado College twice on Nov. 3-4 in a home-and-home set.

 
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