DENVER – The No. 6 University of Denver hockey team swept the weekend series with the Niagara University Purple Eagles on Saturday night with a 6-1 win at Magness Arena.
 
Junior Tristan Broz tied a career high with four points on two goals and two assists, and junior Carter King scored his NCAA-leading fourth short-handed goal of the season. The Pioneers also received tallies from freshman Miko Matikka and sophomores Jared Wright and Aidan Thompson.
 
Sophomore Rieger Lorenz had two assists, while Thompson and Matikka also contributed helpers for multi-point nights as well.
 
Junior goaltender Matt Davis stopped 27-of-28 shots and is now unbeaten in his last four starts (3-0-1)
 
DU (14-5-1, 5-3-0 NCHC) tallied the game's first three goals, with Matikka opening the scoring just 1:29 into the contest after firing a wrister off a pass from Broz during a rush. Broz buried his first marker 6:28 into the middle frame as he chased the puck down in the offensive end and one-touched a wrister past the Niagara netminder.
 
Wright pushed DU's lead to 3-0 on a tap-in off Lorenz's centering pass later in the second period, and Thompson gave the Pios a 4-1 advantage on the power play at 5:40 of the third. King tallied shorthanded with 6:25 left to play, and Broz recorded his second goal of the night in the final 86 seconds.
 
Niagara's (7-13-1, 5-8-1 AHA) only marker came from Tyler Wallace on the power play at 13:24 of the middle stanza. NU goaltender Mitchell Day finished with 34 shots as the Pioneers outshot the Purple Eagles 40-28.
 
Denver was without head coach David Carle and defenseman Zeev Buium for the second-straight contest, as they were both traveling back to the United States after being in the same roles with Team USA at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden. The Americans defeated host Sweden 6-2 on Friday to win the gold medal.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers host the No. 14 St. Cloud State Huskies next weekend at Magness Arena to wrap up their four-game homestand. DU and SCSU face off at 7 p.m. MT on Friday in a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network before concluding their series next Saturday at 6 p.m. on NCHC.tv.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU won its fifth straight non-conference game and finished its non-NCHC schedule this season with a 9-2-1 record.
• The Pioneers improved to 8-0-0 all-time against the Purple Eagles, with each game taking place at Magness Arena.
• Broz had his first four-point game of the season, matching a career high (accomplished twice before). It was Broz's fifth multi-point performance of the season and marked the sixth time in 2023-24 that the Pioneers have had a player record four points in a game.
• Carter King scored his NCAA-leading fourth short-handed goal of the season, giving him sole possession of fifth place for the most in a single campaign in program history.  King now has five career man-disadvantage goal, breaking a tie with Logan O'Connor for 11th place and moving him into a tie for sixth place all-time.
• King's goal also extended his point streak to seven games (5g/2a).
• Miko Matikka scored 1:29 into the first period, marking the fastest goal to begin a game this season by the Pioneers.
• Kent Anderson had an assist on Saturday after scoring on Friday, marking the first time in his career he's recorded points in consecutive games.
• Lucas Olvestad has recorded points in back-to-back games for the second time in his career (previously: Nov. 25-Dec. 1, 2023).
• Massimo Rizzo was held off the box score to end his career-long, seven-game assist streak. The seven-game run with a helper was tied with Sean Behrens (Oct. 8-Nov. 4, 2023) for the longest of the season and the longest since Bobby Brink had 13 straight games with a point from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 18, 2022.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
1:29 DU (1-0) – Miko Matikka received a pass from Tristan Broz on a rush up the ice and scored short-side.
 
2nd Period
6:28 DU (2-0) – Tristan Broz chased down a leading pass and found the back of the net with a wrister from the left circle.
9:42 DU (3-0) – After a faceoff win by Kieran Cebrian, Jared Wright redirected Rieger Lorenz's pass while stationed in the low slot.
13:25 NU (3-1) – PPG, Tyler Wallace tapped in the puck in the crease after Max Rudho's shot at the right-wing wall caromed off and behind DU goalie Matt Davis.
 
3rd Period
5:40 DU (4-1) – PPG, Aidan Thompson buried a shot from the slot following a pass from Tristan Broz below the goal line.
13:35 DU (5-1) – SHG, Carter King tallied shorthanded after receiving a pass from Rieger Lorenz in transition.
18:34 DU (6-1) – Tristan Broz scored on a wrister from the right circle.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Junior Forward Tristan Broz
On the win: "I just thought it was a good job by all of the guys in the locker room tonight. Just playing the right way. We knew we were probably a little bit better of a team than them, but it was about building right habits going into conference play. So I just thought it was a good job by everybody."
 
On his line with Aidan Thompson and Miko Matikka: "I thought we were working hard tonight. For the most part we were just winning battles and playing the right way. We were above pucks and we weren't giving them much defensively, which was leading to our defense. It was a good job by our unit."
 
Junior Goaltender Matt Davis
On how he felt getting back into the lineup this weekend: "It was really good. I mean obviously I had that setback earlier in the year, so it was great to get back out there and get the win. I thought they were a good team; they worked their tail off, and it was fun to play against them." 

On his recovery from a lower-body injury: "It was definitely hard, especially since we had a fair amount of big weekends going on. I wish like heck I could have been out there, but you know you just have to keep on going and control what you can control."
 


TICKETS: Single-game tickets and partial season-ticket packages are available. Click here for more.