ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The No. 1 University of Denver hockey team used four power-play goals in the season opener on Saturday night to defeat the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 6-2 at Avis Alaska Sports Complex.
 
"Proud of how the team played. You never quite know what you're going to get on game 1, but they were certainly really excited to get out there, play against someone other than themselves," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "I thought our jump was really good. I thought our conditioning was good through the whole 60 minutes. The power play was obviously excellent… For me, it's a good starting point."
 
Junior Aidan Thompson and Sam Harris each scored twice, freshman Jake Fisher recorded his first career goal and junior Jared Wright also tallied for the defending national champion Pioneers. Senior forward Jack Devine registered a career-high four assists, sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium contributed three helpers and Rieger Lorenz also produced a pair of apples.
 
Senior goaltender Matt Davis stopped 10 shots in his second consecutive opening-night start.
 
The Pioneers outshot the Seawolves 38-12 overall, producing double-digit totals each period.
 
Aiden Westin knotted the game at 1-1 for Alaska Anchorage with 6:32 left in the first period, but Harris recorded his first marker of the night 2:26 later to start a run of five unanswered goals by DU.
 
The Pios found the back of the net twice on a major power play in the second stanza after an illegal hit to the head by the Seawolves' Tanner Edwards at 10:53. Thompson notched his second of the game 24 seconds into the extended man advantage, and Harris joined him in the multi-goal club with 52 seconds remaining on the infraction.
 
Denver's four goals on the power play was its most in a game in nearly three years, as the school last tallied that many times while a man-up on Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State.
 
Fisher recorded his first collegiate goal 5:13 into the third period. UAA's Joey Potter tallied in the final minute of regulation for UAA to DU's goal-scoring run.
 
Seawolves goaltender Greg Orosz finished with 32 saves, with 15 coming in the third.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers and Seawolves wrap up their season-opening series on Sunday at 7 pm. MT/5 p.m. AKT at Avis Alaska Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast for free online on the UAA Athletics YouTube.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pioneers were playing their first game against former WCHA-foe Alaska Anchorage since Oct. 19, 2013 in the Alaska Goal Rush Tournament in Fairbanks and were playing their first game in Anchorage since Jan. 27-28, 2013.
• Denver improved to 49-16-7 all-time against UAA and sport a 22-8-5 record in Anchorage. The Pios are 9-0-2 in the last 11 meetings and own a 33-7-3 record in the series since the start of the 1999-00 campaign.
• The Pioneers won their fourth consecutive season opener and were starting on the road in back-to-back years after beginning 2023-24 in Fairbanks, Alaska, against the Nanooks. DU is now 43-25-7 all-time on opening night.
• The Oct. 5 start date is the second earliest to begin a regular season in the last 25 years (Oct. 3, 2003 vs. Ohio State).
• Jack Devine registered a career-high four assists, surpassing his previous best of three helpers (2x, last: Jan. 19, 2024 at Omaha).
• Aidan Thompson scored twice for his second career multi-goal game (Feb. 16, 2024 at Minnesota Duluth), and Sam Harris had two goals for his fourth career multi-goal game.
• Denver's four power-play goals surpassed its season high from each of the last two years (2022-23 and 2023-24) and were the most in a game since the team went 4-for-6 on Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State.
• Freshmen forwards Hagen Burrows, Jake Fisher and James Reeder and defenseman Tory Pitner all played in their first collegiate games. Fisher scored his first NCAA goal.
• Junior forward Samul Salminen and sophomore Eric Pohlkamp made their Pioneer debuts after joining the program in the offseason as transfers.
• Goaltender Matt Davis made his second consecutive opening night start after also guarding the pipes in the first game of 2023-24 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
• Garrett Brown, Peter LaJoy and Alec Whipple were the scratches.
• Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle was leading the bench in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, for the first time.
• Matt Davis had a 136:52 shutout streak come to an end that dated back to the NCAA Frozen Four on April 11. The stretch was the longest of his career (previous: 127:19, March 9-16, 2024). It was the 12th-longest shutout stretch in program history and the longest to stretch across multiple seasons.

 
 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
4:54 DU (1-0) – PPG, Aidan Thompson buried a one-time shot off a pass by Zeev Buium four seconds into a power play.
13:28 UAA (1-1) – PPG, Aiden Westin tallied on one-timer from the left circle with two seconds remaining on the man advantage.
15:54 DU (2-1) – PPG, Sam Harris knocked in a loose puck in the low slot to put the Pioneers back in the lead.
 
2nd Period
4:53 DU (3-1) – Jared Wright went forehand-to-backhand with the puck and slid it five-hole on the UAA goaltender while all alone in front of the crease.
11:17 DU (4-1) – PPG, Aidan Thompson found twine with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle early on a major power play.
15:01 DU (5-1) – PPG, Sam Harris scored on a rebound in the low slot off a shot by Carter King.
 
3rd Period
5:13 DU (6-1) – Jake Fisher fired a wrist shot in the net during a scramble in the slot.
19:13 UAA (6-2) – Joey Potter netted a goal in a scramble in front of the goal.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the third period mindset: "I thought we kept our foot on the gas. Obviously it's a 1-1 score in the third, but I thought our puck pressure and our reloading, kind of attention to details—things that we've talked about—stayed pretty high."
 
On DU's four power-play goals: "I'm sure that will be a focal point by them, and we'll probably see more 5-on-5 play tomorrow night, which will be good. We saw our power play tonight and they were successful and got a little mojo. All-in-all it was good, but certainly a focal point for them would be trying to a little more 5-on-5 play tomorrow. Again, we saw more of that I felt like in the third period. I liked our effort in the third period in a 5-1 game, not to take our foot off the gas. I thought we stayed hungry and were able to role four lines, which was good for the guys to get that mode."
 
On the Jack Devine-Carter King-Aidan Thompson line: "I was curious to see how those guys would be. I thought they had some good possession time. Obviously, they were on the power play together and executed at a high level—four goals with Harris getting two of them and Thompson the other two. But on 5-on-5, I thought they were pretty good. Their puck support was good, and that's kind of one of our larger question marks; we knew the Cebrian line would be really solid, hard to play against, but the other three lines we're trying to figure out what we have and move some good things around. All-in-all, I think we'll get a lot of good video and teaching will occur and I'm happy with the starting point we have."
 

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