NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 1 University of Denver hockey team gets set to make its first of two trips this season to the northeast this weekend, as the Pioneers face the Yale Bulldogs at historic Ingalls Rink.
 
Both Friday and Saturday's games begin a 5 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
The Pioneers and Bulldogs are set to meet for the second consecutive season after the teams faced off at Magness Arena on Nov. 24-25, 2023. DU posted clean sheets in both games, as goaltender Freddie Halyk made 13 saves in a 5-0 victory in the opener before stopping 28 shots in a 9-0 win to become the first Denver goalie to post consecutive shutouts since Magnus Chrona on Jan. 13-14, 2023 against Miami.
 
DU is heading into this year's matchup with a 6-0-0 record, the program's most wins to begin a campaign since winning each of its first eight games in 2019-20.  The Pioneers swept their series versus then-No. 20 Wisconsin last week to wrap up a season-long four-game homestand, winning 4-2 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday against their former WCHA foe.
 
Due to scheduling as an Ivy League school, Yale's series with Denver will be its season opener. The Bulldogs, who will officially play seven non-conference games during the year, will start ECAC play the following weekend at Cornell.
 
Yale posted a 10-18-2 overall record last season and finished 7-13-2 in conference play.
 
Last season's matchup in the Mile High City marked the two programs' first meeting since 2012, and the Pioneers are set to travel to New Haven for just the second-time ever. This will be the team's first at Ingalls Rink, as DU's previous trip on Jan. 4, 1980 when it won 4-2 came at the New Haven Coliseum as part of the Colonial Bank Hockey Tournament. Denver owns an 8-1-0 all-time record in the series that dates back to Christmas Day 1951, with its only defeat coming in that 2012 matchup at home (2-1 loss in overtime).
 
Yale is the Pioneers' fourth of six non-conference opponents it will play this season, and this weekend is its first road series since starting the year at Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 5-6. The matchup at Ingalls Rink is Denver's only two road games in a stretch where it will play six-of-eight on home ice.
 
After this week, Denver wraps up its home non-conference slate on Nov. 8-9 against Lindenwood in its 75th Anniversary Weekend before opening league play at North Dakota on Nov. 15-16. The Pioneers' final non-NCHC series is after the New Year on Jan. 3-4 at Maine in what will be their second and final trip to the northeast in 2024-25.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The No. 1 Pioneers swept the weekend series at home against former WCHA-rival Wisconsin, winning 4-2 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday to stay undefeated on the season.
 
Cale Ashcroft scored his first career game-winning goal and second tally of his career midway through the third period on Friday to lift the Pioneers to victory, while goaltender Matt Davis stopped a season-high 31 shots. Sam Harris tallied in both games over the weekend, as he was one of six Pioneers to find the back of the net in the series finale on Saturday. Jack Devine had three points (1g/2a) in a game for the second time this year and Davis stopped 25 shots after UW opened the scoring.
 
MILESTONE MEN: Graduate student Connor Caponi and senior Jack Devine are expected to reach milestone games as Caponi is one game away from 150 in his career and Devine is one shy of 125 in his Denver tenure.
 
Caponi will be the 70th player in program history to reach the 150-game plateau and the first since Kyle Mayhew on March 10, 2023 vs. Miami. Caponi is 19 contests from tying former teammate Ryan Barrow's games-played record of 168 (2017-2022).
 
DIVINE DEVINE: Senior Jack Devine leads in the nation in scoring and has registered points in each of the first six games of the season (1g/13a), a career high for the longest point streak for the forward. He twice accomplished his previous-long stretch of five games, with him last doing it Feb. 3-24, 2024 (1g/6a).
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native has registered multiple points in five of the six games, including in each of the last three outings.  Devine opened the season with a personal-best four assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (all on the power play) and recorded three points with a goal and two assists on Saturday against Wisconsin.
 
STRONG START FOR THOMPSON: Junior forward Aidan Thompson ranks second on the Pioneers and tied for fifth in the nation in scoring with 11 points (4g/7a). He has recorded at least a point in all six games this season, including setting a career high for assists/points with four helpers on Oct. 19 vs. Northeastern.
 
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.  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.
 
The Fort Collins, Colorado, native has assists in each of the last four games—a personal best streak.
 
NOTABLES

• The Pioneers improved to 7-0-1 in the last eight meetings with the Badgers dating back to 2014. DU is now 66-76-13 overall and 32-40-6 at home in the all-time series against Wisconsin.
• Denver tied a season high with six goals scored on Saturday vs. Wisconsin (6-2, Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage) and posted the largest margin of victory this season.
• The Pios scored each of their goals on Saturday in 35:32, the fastest six tallies in a game this season and the fastest since netting six in 23:20 on Nov. 25, 2023 vs. Yale.
• Cale Ashcroft scored his first career game-winning goal on Friday and his first tally since Oct. 28, 2023 against Air Force.
• Goaltender Matt Davis has started 34 consecutive games since Jan. 5, 2024, posting a 28-4-2 record in those contests and 15-0-0 since March 9.
• Kent Anderson and Zeev Buium each posted a plus/minus rating of +4 on Saturday, the highest of the season by a DU player
• Jack Devine tied a career high with seven shots on goal on Friday, which matched Eric Pohlkamp for a season best as well (Jan. 13, 2023 vs. SCSU)
• DU blocked a season-high 14 shots on Friday, with Zeev Buium leading the squad with five blocks.
• Sophomore Boston Buckberger played his 50th career game on Saturday. He was the only freshman to appear in all 44 contests a season ago.
• Freshman Jake Fisher registered his first power-play goal on Saturday, and James Reeder recorded his first collegiate assist on Friday vs. the Badgers.

STREAKING

• Jack Devine is on a career-long six-game assist/point streak (1g/13a).
• Carter King is on six-game point streak (5g/4a) and had his four-game goal streak end last Saturday.
• Aidan Thompson is on a six-game point streak (4g/7a) and a career-best four-game assist streak (1g/7a).
• Eric Pohlkamp is on a five-game point streak (2g/3a), a career long.
• Sam Harris is on a four-game goal streak, tying a career long (4g/2a).
• James Reeder has recorded points in consecutive games for the first time in his career (0g/2a).

HISTORIC WIN STREAK: The Pioneers have won 15 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 15-game streak is the longest since winning 22 contests in a row 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 21-2-1 in the 24 contests since the start of February 2024.  The Pios have also won 15 consecutive games against non-conference opponents since Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State and is 10-0-1 in non-NCHC contests at home dating back to Jan. 7, 2023.
 
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: The Pioneers' 2025 senior class is on pace to be the winningest group in school history and is one win shy of becoming the 16th class with 100 or more wins in their DU tenure.  Among the 2025 grads' accomplishments have been three Gold Pan trophies, two Penrose Cups, an NCHC Frozen Faceoff title and two national championships in their 99 victories.
 
Last year's senior class of 2024 finished with the fourth-most wins in the program annals with 103 victories and a .708 winning percentage (103-41-5).  Only the classes of 2005 (112 wins), 2019 (105) and 2018 (105) had more victories than last season's seniors.
 
DEVINE CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: Senior forward Jack Devine recorded five points (1/g4a) last weekend against Wisconsin and now has 120 points in his career, tied with four others for 55th all-time in program history.  He is one point behind former teammate Cole Guttman for 54th and three points from moving into the top 50 among all players in Pioneer history.
 
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.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver was the top-ranked team in the country in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls last week after entering the year as the preseason No. 1 team.
 
The NCHC has four schools ranked in the top 10—the most among all conferences. Overall, the league's five ranked programs are the third-most in the country behind the Big Ten's and Hockey East's six.  The other ranked teams in the NCHC are North Dakota at No. 6/7, Colorado College at No. 8/9, St. Cloud State at No. 10/10 and Western Michigan at No. 13/14.  Omaha, Arizona State and Minnesota Duluth also received votes in at least one of the polls
 
HISTORY VS. YALE: The Pioneers get set to face the Yale Bulldogs for the second-straight season after the teams played at Magness Arena a year ago for the first time since 2012.  Goaltender Freddie Halyk posted a weekend shutout for DU, as the Pios won 5-0 and 9-0 on Nov. 24-25, 2023.  Denver has an 8-1-0 mark in the all-time series, including winning each of the first six meetings.  The Pioneers' only loss came in that 2012 matchup on Nov. 23, falling 2-1 in overtime.  DU is traveling to New Haven for the just the second time ever, as the program's only other trip was on Jan. 4, 1980 where it won 4-2.  The Pioneers hosted the Bulldogs for two-game series at the old DU Arena in the 1951-52 and 1956-57 seasons, including playing on Christmas Day in the first-ever matchup on Dec. 25, 1951 (4-3 win).  Yale made a trip to the Mile High City in December 1996 for the Denver Cup, with the Pios winning matchup 3-2 in overtime.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (Nov. 25, 2023): Four different Pioneers recorded three or more points and goaltender Freddie Halyk registered his second consecutive shutout as the No. 4 University of Denver hockey team won 9-0 at Magness Arena.  Denver's nine goals are its most in a game since winning 10-2 at home versus Minnesota State on Oct. 22, 2011, and it marks the squad's first back-to-back shutout of a squad since posting identical 7-0 scores last season on Jan. 13-14, 2023 against Miami. DU won 5-0 in Friday's series opener.  Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium led Denver with four assists, and Rizzo matched a career best with four points on a goal and three helpers.  Senior captain McKade Webster recorded his first career multi-goal performance and added an assist to finish with a six-point weekend (three goals, three assists), while Jack Devine contributed one marker and two helpers.  Halyk made all 28 saves in his ninth consecutive start, one night after only needing to make 18 stops for the shutout.  The freshman earned his third clean sheet of the season and has a 140:02 shutout streak dating back to last Sunday against Omaha—the 10th longest by a Pioneer netminder in school history.
 
CONNECTIONS: Yale Assistant Coach Joe Howe spent three seasons on DU's staff from 2015-2018, spending two as a Volunteer Assistant Coach (2015-2017) and 2017-18 as the Director of Hockey Operations ... Howe was a member of the Pioneers' 2017 national championship team ... Samu Salminen previously played college hockey in Connecticut with the UConn Huskies from 2022-2024 … Tory Pitner played prep school hockey and captained South Kent School in Connecticut in 2021-22 … Aidan Thompson also played on a prep school team in the northeast at Berkshire School in Massachusetts in 2019-20 … Denver's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz and Yale's Rhys Bentham are all from Calgary, Alberta … King and Kieran O'Hearn were teammates with the BCHL Surrey Eagles for part of the 2019-20 campaign … Boston Buckberger played on the AJHL's Brooks Bandits with Yale's Hughie Hooker in 2021-22 … Eric Pohlkamp was teammates with David Chen on the USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in 2021-22 … Salminen (Helsinki) and the Bulldogs' Iisai Pesonen (Kuopio) are both from Finland ... Yale captain Will Dineen is the son of Kevin Dineen (1981-1983) and the nephew of Shawn Dineen (1977-1981, who both played college hockey at DU before moving on to pro hockey.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale is opening its 2024-25 season this weekend against Denver, as the program's schedule has a delayed start due to Ivy League rules.  The Bulldogs, who will officially play seven non-conference games during the year, will open ECAC play the following weekend at Cornell.  Yale went 10-18-2 overall last season and finished 7-13-2 in conference play.  The squad lost 4-2 to St. Lawrence in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.  The Bulldogs are returning their top scorer from a season ago, as David Chen paced the team with nine goals and 18 points.  The recently-graduated Ryan Conroy led the squad in assists last year (11), but both Chen and David Andreychuk finished second on the squad in the category with nine helpers each.  Goaltender Jack Stark stared 20 of the 30 games from a year ago, posting an 8-10-2 record, 2.22 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
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 then faced the Big Ten's and former WCHA-foe Wisconsin on Oct. 25-26 and will conclude 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. The Pios have also won 15 consecutive games against non-conference opponents since Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State and is 10-0-1 in non-NCHC contests at home dating back to Jan. 7, 2023.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: Denver heads out onto the road for the second time this year and the first of two trips to the northeast. In addition, to the journey to Yale, the Pioneers will also play at Maine after the New Year on Jan. 3-4.
 
DU will travel approximately 10,349 miles this season for road games (one way, as the crow flies), which featured a trip to Anchorage and the two to the northeast.  Denver traveled 8,605 miles for road contest during the regular season in 2023-24, which included a trip to Fairbanks and cross country to New England to start the campaign.
 
Counting postseason play at neutral sites from last season, DU owns a 12-1-0 record in its last 13 games away from Magness Arena since Feb. 16, 2024.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Jack Devine ranks first in the country in assists (13) and points (14).
• Matt Davis ranks first in the nation in wins (6-tied) and 14th in both GAA (1.67-tied) and save% (.930-tied).
• Aidan Thompson is tied for fifth in the NCAA in points (11) and sixth in assists (7).
• Zeev Buium is tied for sixth in the nation in assists (7), tied for third overall among D-men in the category.
• Sam Harris is tied for first the NCAA in power-play goals (4) and tied for third in game-winning goals (2).
• Carter King is tied for ninth in the nation in goals (5).

PLAYING AHEAD: The Pioneers have had the lead or have been tied for nearly the entire season, as they've only trailed for 11:46 of game time this season.  DU didn't trail for the first 244:12 of the season (4+ games) and quickly tied last Friday's contest in less than three minutes after Wisconsin opened the scoring.
 
Overall, Denver has not trailed in 348:14 of the 360 minutes of game play this season.
 
MONTH BY MONTH: Denver finished October with a 6-0-0 mark, the team's 24th straight month where it has posted at least a .500 record dating back to January 2021.  The Pios had their run of posting a greater-than .500 mark for 15 straight months end in December 2023 after going 2-2-0 (streak began October 2021).
 
DOMINANT AT THE DOT: The Pioneers have won 54 percent of faceoffs this season, including posting a winning percentages of .493 and .561 in the two games last weekend against Wisconsin—one of the country's top face-off squads entering the series.
 
Carter King leads Denver in faceoff wins with 81 draw victories and a .604 winning percentage.  He set a personal best by winning 20-of-34 faceoffs on Oct. 19 against Northeastern for the most wins by a Pioneer since Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts.
 
As a team, Denver has won 54.7 percent of its faceoffs this season, including posting a 63.6-percent success rate on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (40-of-66).
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver has killed off 90 percent of its penalties this season (18/20) and had a stretch of 17 straight kills that began in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (four games) and ended with Wisconsin tallying on its first power-play chance on Saturday.  DU's consecutive penalty kill streak was the longest since it was successful on 19 man-disadvantage opportunities during the 2022 postseason, from March 11 through April 7, 2022.
 
Denver killed off 89.7 percent of its penalties over the final 13 games in 2023-24, going 26-for-28 in a stretch that began on Feb. 24.  DU was perfect in nine of those games, including going 4-for-4 on the PK on three occasions and seven straight in the final five outings of the season en route to the 2024 championship.
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver led the country in scoring a season ago (4.59 goals/game) and is among the leaders through the opening weeks of 2024-25.  DU has scored four or more goals in all six games this season, and its 6-1 win against No. 20 Wisconsin on Saturday was the team's largest margin of victory during the year.
 
The Pioneers, who tallied 202 goals last season, are presently second in the country in both goals (30) and goals per game (5.0) behind Minnesota (33 goals, 5.5 goals/game).  Overall, 12 different Denver players have scored and 17 of the 20 skaters that have suited up in a game have registered at least one point.
 

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