DENVER – Former WCHA foes face off this weekend as the No. 1 Denver Pioneers Hockey team hosts the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers in a two-game series at Magness Arena.
 
Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT, and will be broadcast on Altitude and NCHC.tv. Saturday's start time is 6 p.m. MT and the game will be streamed on NCHC.tv.
 
DU will be celebrating Girls Hockey Night throughout Friday's contest and will honor the players' families on Saturday during the first intermission as part of Hockey Parents Weekend. Limited tickets are available for both games.
 
The Pioneers are off to their best start to a season since 2021-22, as they improved to 4-0-0 following a weekend sweep of then-No. 19 Northeastern. Denver defeated the Huskies by 5-2 scores each game and has now won nine-straight outings in the all-time series.
 
DU has also had recent success against Wisconsin, as the Pios have won each of the last four meetings and are unbeaten in the last six contests (5-0-1). The Pioneers and Badgers used to square off yearly as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association from 1969 to 2013—with DU going 53-62-11 in league games—before UW left for the Big Ten and Denver joined the NCHC.
 
The Pios have had the Badgers' number in recent years and to close out their time as conference foes,. Denver is 14-5-2 in the series since the start of 2008-09 and sport a 7-1-2 record in the last 10 meetings. The teams last met on Jan. 4-5, 2019 in Madison, with DU picking up wins of 6-3 and 4-3 in overtime.
 
Wisconsin reached just its second NCAA Tournament since 2015 last season under then-new head coach Mike Hastings and finished with a 26-12-2 overall mark. UW has started 2024-25 at 1-3-0 and is coming off back-to-back 2-1 losses to Ohio State to start Big Ten play.
 
UW will be making its first trip to the Mile High City since playing just one game at Magness Arena on Nov. 26, 2016, a 6-5 win for the Pioneers. This weekend marks the conclusion of a pre-scheduled home-and-home series between the two programs that was delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 
Denver is also wraps up a season-long four-game homestand, and this weekend marks the halfway point of a stretch where the team plays six-of-eight contests at home.  
                                                                    
LAST TIME OUT: No. 1 Denver swept its first home weekend series with 5-2 victories on both Friday and Saturday night against No. 19 Northeastern. Freshman Jake Fisher had his first multi-point game (1g/1a) on Friday while fellow rookie Hagen Burrows picked up his first collegiate points with a pair of assists in the outing as well.
 
Senior captain Carter King led Denver on Saturday by tying a career high with four points (2g/2a) and junior forward Aidan Thompson recorded a new personal best in points and assists with four helpers. Goaltender Matt Davis stopped 15-of-17 shots on Friday before making a season-best 27 saves on Saturday.
 
KING'S BANNER NIGHT: Forward Carter King had a memorable Saturday, which began with him taking a lap with the 2024 NCAA Championship trophy and watching the program's 10th national title banner be raised to the Magness Arena rafters.  After the pregame festivities, he went out and produced two goals and two assists and won 20 faceoffs.
 
His faceoff victories were the most in a game in his career while his four points matched a personal best after he had a goal and three assists on Nov. 11, 2023 in DU's comeback win at Arizona State.  It was also his third career multi-goal game, joining his hat trick on Jan. 13, 2023 vs. Miami and two markers on Nov. 10, 2023 at ASU.
 
DOMINANT AT THE DOT: Center Carter King set a new personal best by winning 20-of-34 faceoffs on Saturday.  It was the most draw wins by a Pioneer since Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts.
 
King, whose previous career high for faceoff wins was 17 on Nov. 24, 2023 against Yale, leads the team with a .640 winning percentage in the circle (57-of-89).  He ranked second on the team in faceoff wins (342) and winning percentage (.511) last season.
 
As a team, Denver has won 54.7-percent of its faceoffs this season, including registering a 63.6-percent success rate on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (40-of-66).
 
THOMPSON HELPS OUT: Junior forward Aidan Thompson set a new career high for assists/points with four helpers on Saturday in the 5-2 victory against Northeastern.  His previous personal best was three points, which he achieved with three assists on Jan. 14 vs. Miami and one goal and two assists on Feb. 17, 2023 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
Thompson's performance marked the second four-assist game of the season for the Pioneers, as Jack Devine also accomplished the feat in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage.
 
The Fort Collins, Colorado, native ranks second on the team with eight points (3g/5a).
 
MORE NOTABLES

• Denver has won its first four games of the season for the first time since 2021-22.
• DU outshot its opponents 151-83 in its first four games and has a 20-7 edge in total goals.
• The Pioneers have now won nine straight games against Northeastern in the all-time series dating back to 1994.  DU is 10-2-0 at home versus the Huskies and sport a 17-5-0 overall record.
• Carter King's goal at 0:12 of the third period on Saturday was the fastest to begin a period this season by a Pioneer and the fastest since Chris Knowlton tallied 11 seconds into the first period on Nov. 26, 2011.
• Jack Devine ranks first in the nation with nine assists/points—six of his helpers have come on the power play.
• The Pioneers improved to 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 is also now 13-2-2 in its last 17 home openers.
• Hagen Burrows recorded a pair of assists on Friday for his first collegiate points and multi-goal game.
• DU's 45 shots on goal on Friday were a season high, surpassing the previous best of 38 on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage.
• The Pioneers outshot the Huskies 15-3 in Friday's first period, the largest shot differential in a game this season (previous: 11, 1st period, Oct. 6 at Alaska Anchorage).

 
HISTORY VS. WISCONSIN: Former WCHA foes are set to meet for the first time since Jan. 4-5, 2019 as the squads finally finish up their home-and-home series that was delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Denver has a 64-76-13 all-time record against Wisconsin but has won each of the last four meetings, is unbeaten in the last six (5-0-1) and is 7-1-2 in the last 10 matchups.  DU won both games in Madison in the previous series in January 2019, winning 6-3 and 4-3 in overtime.  The Pioneers sport a 30-40-6 mark at home against the Badgers, who will be making their first trip to Magness Arena since a one-game meeting on Nov. 26, 2016 where DU won 6-5.  Since the start of the 2008-09 season Denver is 14-5-4 against Wisconsin.  The two schools were conference members in the WCHA from 1969 to 2013, where the Pioneers owned a 53-62-11 mark in league games.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (Jan. 5, 2019): Slava Demin's goal at 1:42 of overtime handed the No. 8 Denver Pioneers a 4-3 win against the Wisconsin Badgers and their fifth-straight victory at the Kohl Center in Madison.  The Pioneers trailed 2-0 early in the first period but responded with a pair of game-tying goals and the overtime-winner to move their non-conference record to 8-0-2 and NCAA overtime record to 3-1-2.  Denver outshot Wisconsin 40-16.  Tyler Ward and Eric Fear tallied to tie the game at 2-2 and Cole Guttman scored at 7:54 of the third period to force overtime.  Goalie Filip Larsson made 13 saves in the win.
 
CONNECTIONS: Connor Caponi is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin … Matt Davis (2020-21) and Kent Anderson (2021-22) both played their junior hockey in the state of Wisconsin with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers … Jake Fisher and Logan Hensler are both from Woodbury, Minnesota … Fisher won a USHL Clark Cup Championship with Gavin Morrisseey and Anton Castro on USHL Fargo Force in 2023-24 … Tory Pitner was teammates with Ryan Botterill and Adam Pietila with the USHL Youngstown Phantoms last season … Sam Harris played with Jack Phelan at the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede in 2022-23 … Zeev Buium and Alex Weiermair were teammates for two seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program with Zach Schulz from 2021-2023 and was at the NTDP at the same time as Logan Hensler in 2022-23 … Denver's Jack Devine (Glencoe) and James Reeder (Glenview) and Wisconsin's Jack Phelan (Hinsdale), Owen Lindmark (Naperville), Jack Horbach (Naperville) are all from the Chicago area … Denver defeated Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings in the 2022 NCAA Championship Game when he was in the same position at Minnesota State.
 
SCOUTING THE BADGERS: Wisconsin heads out for its first road games after beginning the season 1-3-0.  UW dropped both home games in its Big Ten Conference opener to Ohio State last weekend, falling 2-1 in overtime on Friday and 2-1 in regulation on Saturday.  After winning 3-2 in overtime at Omaha in an exhibition, the Badgers opened the campaign with a 4-2 loss against Lindenwood before earning a 3-2 OT win in the series finale with the Lions.  Wisconsin went 26-12-2 a year ago and reached the NCAA Tournament for just the second time since 2015.  Quinn Finley leads UW with three goals and five points through the early season, while Gavin Morrissey ranks tied for second in scoring with four points and paces the squad with three assists.  The Badgers have split their goalies through the first four games, as both William Gramme and Tommy Scarfone started a game against both Lindenwood and Ohio State.
 
NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: The Pioneers will play 12 non-conference games this season, which began with a two-game set in Anchorage, Alaska, against the UAA Seawolves on Oct. 5-6.  Denver will also make two trips to the northeast during the year, going to Connecticut to play Yale on Nov. 1-2 and then traveling to play Maine to begin the New Year on Jan. 3-4.  The Pios' games to Orono against the Black Bears will be their first since Oct. 14-15, 2005.
 
Denver hosted Hockey East's Northeastern in its first home games of the year as part of Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 18-19, with the Pioneers raising their championship banner prior to the Saturday series finale.  DU takes on the Big Ten's and former WCHA-foe Wisconsin this weekend on Oct. 25-26 and concludes its home non-NCHC schedule on Nov. 8-9 as Lindenwood visits Magness Arena as part of the Pioneers' 75th Anniversary reunion weekend.
 
DU went 13-2-1 against non-conference opponents a season ago, which included wins in each of the final nine such contests and four in the NCAA Tournament.
 
WEEKLY WINNERS: Denver picked up its first NCHC weekly awards on Monday as senior Carter King was named Forward of the Week and sophomore Eric Pohlkamp was selected as Defenseman of the Week. This was the first conference honor for both players, though Pohlkamp was named the CCHA D-man of the Week three times and Rookie of the Week twice last season while a member of Bemidji State.
 
King totaled five points (3g/2a) in the two games, which included his career-high four points on Saturday.  Pohlkamp extended his point streak to three games with an assist on Friday and first goal at DU on Saturday.
 
PLAYERS ON A RUN

• Jack Devine is on a four-game assist/point streak (0g/9a).
• Carter King is on a three-game goal streak and four-game point streak (4g/3a).
• Aidan Thompson is on a four-game point streak (3g/5a).
• Eric Pohlkamp is on a three-game point streak (1g/2a), one shy of tying his career long.

 
STREAKING: The Pioneers have won 13 consecutive games dating back to last season on March 9 against Colorado College.  It is the third-longest win streak across multiple seasons in program history, with only a pair of 19-game runs from Feb. 13-Dec. 13, 1960 and Jan. 13-Dec. 2, 1961 being longer.
 
Overall, DU's current 13-game winning streak is the longest since going on a 13-game stretch from Jan. 21-March 11, 2017.  The last time Denver had a winning streak longer than 13 contests was a 22-gamer from Jan. 5-March 16, 1968 en route to a championship.
 
Denver went 9-1-0 in its last 10 games of 2023-24 and is 19-2-1 in the 22 contests since the start of February 2024.  The Pios have also won 13 consecutive non-conference games since Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State and is 8-0-1 in non-NCHC contests at home dating back to Jan. 7, 2023.
 
DEVINE CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: Senior forward Jack Devine recorded three assists last weekend against Northeastern to move into a tie for 65th in program history in all-time scoring.  His 115 points (44g/71a) are tied with Troy Terry (2015-2018) and George Morrison (1968-1970) on DU's all-time list, and he is one point away from a three-way tie for 62nd and three points from cracking the top 60.
 
Devine became the 103rd Pioneer to reach 100 career points after scoring in his 109th contest on March 8, 2024 at Colorado College.  The Glencoe, Illinois, native led the team and ranked fourth in the nation with 27 goals in 2023-24.  It was the most tallies by a Pioneer since Ryan Dingle also had 27 in 2005-06.
 
PIOS POWER UP: Denver is converting on 31.8 percent of its power plays, which included two power-play markers on Saturday in the win against Northeastern.  The Pioneers were 4-for-9 with the man advantage in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage, with their four power-play goals scored being the squad's most in a game since Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State (4-of-6).
 
Five of Jack Devine's six assists over the weekend in Alaska came while DU was a man-up on the ice, while all four of Zeev Buium's assists were the result of power-play goals by the Pios.
 
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver set home attendance records last weekend during homecoming, including setting a new single-game high with a crowd 7,051 on Saturday for its banner-raising ceremony and series finale against Northeastern.  Overall, 13,888 people watched the series sweep of NU—the most for a two-game weekend in school history and breaking the previous mark by more than 1,200 fans.
 
The Pioneers set a home attendance record during the 2023-24 campaign by averaging 6,130 fans at Magness Arena across 20 games, besting their previous high mark of 6,022 over the course of 24 contests in 2006-07.  Denver had a sold-out crowd of 7,033 for its regular-season finale against Colorado College on March 9, which at the time was the highest-attended hockey game at Magness Arena in program history.  DU had set its last high mark for attendance in its previous game against CC on Nov. 3 at Magness with a crowd of 7,021.
 
Overall, 122,594 people watched the Pioneers at Magness Arena in 2023-24 (20 games) after 133,117 people visited DU's home rink in 23 games in 2022-23 (the second-highest attended season in the rink's history).  If the 17,952 that witnessed Denver defeat Colorado College at Ball Arena on Jan. 27, 2023 are included in the data (it officially counted as a DU home game), then 151,069 people watched Pioneer home games in 2022-23—the highest total attendance for the team since 1999.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver remained as the top-ranked team in the country in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls after entering the year as the preseason No. 1 team.
 
The NCHC's six ranked schools are tied with the Big Ten for the most in the NCAA, while those two conferences join Hockey East with three programs each in the top 10.  The other ranked teams in the NCHC are North Dakota at No. 7/7, Colorado College at No. 9/9, St. Cloud State at No. 12/14, Western Michigan at No. 14/13 and Omaha at No. 16/19.
 
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PIONEERS: Denver will commemorate 75 years of Pioneer hockey throughout 2024-25 to recognize its diamond jubilee as a program.  DU will host a 75th anniversary reunion the weekend of Nov. 8-9 when Lindenwood visits Magness Arena.  Among the activities set for that weekend is honoring all of the hockey alums in attendance on the ice during an intermission, with each of the team's NCAA-record 10 championship trophies set to make an appearance as well.
 
The 2024-25 season is actually the 76th in DU hockey history, but the team's 75th anniversary of its first game is in early December.  The Pioneers' first ever contests were at home on Dec. 19-20, 1949 against Saskatchewan, with the squad losing 17-0 and 9-1 in the series.  Denver's first win was Jan. 27, 1950 at Wyoming, and the program's first home victory came against that same Wyoming squad on Feb. 18, 1950 (10-6) at the old DU Arena.
 

TICKETS: Limited tickets for Denver hockey's 75th anniversary in 2024-25 are available. Click here to purchase and for more information.