DENVER – The No. 1 University of Denver hockey team used a three-goal second period to defeat the No. 19 Northeastern Huskies 5-2 on Friday night in the home opener at Magness Arena.
 
Denver (3-0-0) and Northeastern (1-1-0) conclude their weekend series on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. The Pioneers will raise their 2024 NCAA National Championship banner in a pregame ceremony prior to puck drop at 5:45 p.m. MT. Tickets for the game are sold out.
 
Five different Pioneers scored with freshman Jake Fisher registering a goal and an assist in front of a crowd of 6,837—the largest attendance for a home opener in program history. Sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger had two helpers while freshman Hagen Burrows recorded the first points of his collegiate career with a pair of assists as well.
 
"I thought it was a really good effort by our guys, loved our start, obviously," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "I think we fed off the crowd. Great atmosphere. Student section was unbelievable all night long … I thought our discipline was really good. We didn't let the emotion of the night get to us that way. I thought it was working out in a lot of ways, things we've been working on through camp, certainly saw that in a lot of areas. Yeah, there's things to nitpick, but it's hard to with the effort we've had and the performance and the result we put up."
 
Juniors Samu Salminen and Jared Wright, sophomore Sam Harris and senior Carter King also tallied for Denver. Goaltender Matt Davis stopped 15-of-17 shots faced.
 
DU led 1-0 after the first period after King's marker and was up 3-1 in the second before Tory Pitner was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for face-masking. The Pioneers killed of the infraction by only allowing two shots against on the extended man-disadvantage and had several good looks themselves shorthanded.
 
Wright was the benefactor of a fortuitous bounce for his second tally of the year at 14:44 of the middle period and Salminen also recorded his second goal of the campaign on a redirection in front of a big shot by Eric Pohlkamp early in the third.
 
Cam Lund and Dylan Hryckowian scored the markers for the Huskies and NU goalie Cameron Whitehead made 40 saves.
 
Each of DU's five goals came at even strength after the team scored half of their 10 goals on the power play in its last series on Oct. 5-6 at Alaska Anchorage.
 
Denver fired a season-high 45 shots on goal and limited Northeastern to just 17, which included to just three against in the first period and four in the third.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers wrap up the homecoming weekend series with Northeastern on Saturday at 6 p.m. Denver concludes its four-game homestand next weekend against former WCHA-foe Wisconsin.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver is now 16-5 all-time against Northeastern and 9-2-0 at home in the series. The Pios have won eight consecutive games in the series, which resumed for the first time since Jan. 4, 2004.
• The Pioneers are now 52-18-5 all-time in home openers and sport a 19-4-2 mark in the first game of the season at Magness Arena. Denver also improved to 13-2-2 in the last 17 home openers.
• DU has won 12 consecutive games dating back to March 9 against Colorado College. It is the third-longest win streak across multiple seasons in program history.
• Zeev Buium, Jack Devine, Carter King and Aidan Thompson all stretched their season-opening point streaks to three games.
• Jack Devine's assist was his 113th career point, giving him sole possession of 70th place on the school all-time list.
• Hagen Burrows recorded a pair of assists for his first collegiate points and multi-goal game.
• Jake Fisher scored his second goal of the season and added an assist for his first career two-point contest.
• DU's 45 shots on goal were a season high, surpassing the previous best of 38 on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage.
• The Pioneers outshot the Huskies 15-3 in the first period, the largest shot differential in a game this season (previous: 11, 1st period, Oct. 6 at Alaska Anchorage).
• Denver had a sold-out crowd of 6,837 at Magness Arena, the third largest in school history and the largest to watch a Pioneer home opener.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
5:16 DU (1-0) – Carter King took a backhand pass from Aidan Thompson during a rush up the ice and tapped the puck over the pad of the goalie.
 
2nd Period
1:55 DU (2-0) – Zeev Buium danced through the crease before sliding the puck to his right where Jake Fisher threw it into the gaping net.
4:29 NU (2-1) – Cam Lund scored on a 2-on-1 after a giveaway by Denver in its own zone.
5:47 DU (3-1) – Sam Harris went top shelf with a wrist shot from the slot.
14:44 DU (4-1) – Jared Wright's centering pass through the slot caromed off a Huskies player's skate and into the net.
 
3rd Period
2:31 DU (5-1) – Eric Pohlkamp's shot from the top of the circle was redirected in front by Samu Salminen.
11:07 NU (5-2) – Dylan Hryckowian tapped in a centering pass while stationed at the top of the crease.


QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On Eric Pohlkamp and new guys: "I think with all the new guys, there's things they can learn. It does help that he  was on the [World]  junior team. The best part about Eric is that he watches his film through practice. He wants to learn. He wants to try to get adapted to our style of play and what we want to do as quickly as possible, so we've been really happy with him. I think he's done a nice job, but I don't think he's close to where he's going to get to."
 
On the team compared to previous years: "I think that they seem very hungry and motivated to try and build upon what we did a year ago. I think you've seen that in our first three performances. There's not a drop off from a work rate. There's maybe a lack of detail at times or execution, but their intensity and their mindset of trying to do everything and working through it has been really good … They've been easy to coach so far. We will certainly have bumps in the road and hit adversity throughout the year, which will we be good for us, but I think we've got a really good start."
 
Sophomore forward Sam Harris Quotes 
On the two freshmen Jake Fisher and Hagen Burrows on his line: "They're young and good people. It's all about details and moving our feet and staying in the moment, not getting too high or too low."
 
On Jake Fisher and Hagen Burrows' strengths: "Both of them are skill players. They got a little grit to them too, which is awesome. I'm a gritty guy. They're fast and they know how to move the puck well. Obviously, they know how to score. It's fun to play with them."
 
On his goal: "Got the puck in the neutral zone, had a guy coming on me from the right side, pass to Hagen, he bumped it over to Fish, and then I came in late as a trailer. Fish saw me, I called for it, slid it over, and went to the middle, shot, scored."
 
Sophomore Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp 
On joining new team and adjustments: "One thing I'm blown away by is how competitive these guys are. I came out here in the summer just for a couple of weeks and these guys, the work they put out is crazy, and they were coming off of the national championship, but they were still hungry. When you're there, it's awesome. I think this team has a lot of guys who are truly driven. You know this group is awesome. This team has a lot of guys that have a chip on their shoulder. You have a guy like Jack Devine who is a seventh-round draft pick and now he has kind of made a name for themselves. It's cool, it's really cool to play here, and I saw the crowd tonight, so it's pretty crazy."

On the team's puck movement and goals: "Yeah, it's something I've never seen before. I mean, we never skated backwards as a defenseman in the middle. We always tried to pop it to the middle and get back on. The transition has been awesome, and the coaching staff here as well are world class."


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