ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The No. 1 Denver Pioneers hockey team defeated the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 4-1 on Sunday night to sweep the season-opening series at Avis Alaska Sports Complex.
 
Freshman James Reeder scored his first collegiate goal on his birthday and also added an assist in his second career game. Junior forward Samu Salminen tallied his first marker with the Pioneers as well.
 
Senior captain Carter King potted his first of the campaign as well, and junior Aidan Thompson buried his third goal of the weekend. Senior Jack Devine recorded multiple assists for the second-straight night with a pair, and sophomore Zeev Buium and graduate student Connor Caponi also contributed a helper apiece.
 
"I really liked our start, I thought that was important for us," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "For us to get out of [the first period] only up one, was a little disappointing, but we wanted to play the right way and I thought we did that in the first. In the second, obviously get the big power-play goal by Kinger there. Then I thought it got a little sloppy toward in the end of the second, it was better for us in the third. Even in the third, to get that fourth goal to get a little bit of separation was good for us as well."
 
Goaltender Matt Davis was busier than he was the previous night, stopping 24-of-25 pucks to improve to 2-0 on the campaign. He only faced 12 shots on goal in the series opener.
 
DU went 1-for-4 on the power play, with King burying a wrist shot from the slot 1:25 into the second period. The Pioneers tallied four times on the man advantage on Saturday.
 
Reeder opened the scoring 8:04 into the first period, and his first career tally was of the highlight variety. He intercepted a pass along the left boards and drove toward the net before unleashing a wrister past goaltender Greg Orosz.
 
King and Salminen found the back of the net in middle period, and Thompson tallied midway through the third frame to push DU's lead to 4-0.
 
Dimitry Kebreau ended the Pioneers' shutout bid with 78 seconds left in regulation. Orosz made 32 saves as DU finished with a 36-26 edge in shots on goal.
 
Denver has now won 11 consecutive games dating back to last season.
 
UP NEXT: DU starts a season-long four-game homestand with the Magness Arena opener and homecoming on Oct. 18-19 against Northeastern, with the school raising the 2024 National Championship banner on the Saturday night. The Pioneers then face former WCHA-foe Wisconsin on Oct. 25-26.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver improved to 50-16-7 all-time against UAA and sports a 23-8-5 record in Anchorage. The Pios are 10-1-2 in the last 13 meetings and own a 34-7-3 record in the series since the start of the 1999-00 campaign.
• DU is on an 11-game winning streak, the longest stretch to go across multiple seasons since also going on an 11-game run in 1969. Only 1960 and 1962 are longer at 19 games apiece. Overall, DU's current run is the longest since a 13-game win streak from Jan. 21-March 11, 2017.
• Sophomore Garrett Brown made his season debut after only playing eight games last year due to a season-ending lower-body injury.
• James Reeder scored his first career goal, doing so on his 19th birthday. He also added an assist for his first career multi-point game.
• Samu Salminen tallied his first marker with the Pioneers after joining the program as a transfer in the offseason.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
9:04 DU (1-0) – James Reeder intercepted a UAA clearing pass along the boards, skated toward the slot and hit twine with a wrist shot from the high-left circle..
 
2nd Period
1:25 DU (2-0) – PPG, Carter King knocked in the puck from the slot after it came to him via Jack Devine.
11:12 DU (3-0) – Samu Salminen wristed the puck into the back of the net off a pass from Connor Caponi.
 
3rd Period
9:59 DU (4-0) – Aidan Thompson scored with a low wrist shot that got through traffic at the top of the right circle.
18:42 UAA (4-1) – Dimitry Kebreau scored in the final two minutes of the game.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On James Reeder's goal: "It was a great effort. I thought that line was really good, scored two goals for us at 5-on-5. Good for Jay, on his birthday, his mom is in town and up here watching him as well. You couldn't script it much better for him, so happy for him."
 
On going on a bye week before the home opener: "I think playing on Sunday, the redeye back home and getting back into the classroom, I think it will be good to have that bye week to be able to take some of the things that we learned here and work on them throughout the week as we prepare for a good Northeastern team. I think they beat Quinnipiac earlier this afternoon, albeit in an exhibition game. We know they're going to be a really good team coming into Magness."
 

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