DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team travels to the shores of Lake Superior this weekend to take on the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at Amsoil Arena in the teams' only series of the season.
 
Friday's game begins at 6 p.m. MT and will be national televised on CBS Sports Network. Saturday's contest is at 5 p.m. MT and will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
The Pioneers are coming off their final bye week of the season, as they last played on Feb. 2-3 against then-No. 14 Western Michigan. DU split its series against WMU, winning 3-2 in the opener before dropping the finale by a 7-2 score. Denver's loss to Western Michigan ended a six-game home winning streak, the team's longest of the season.
 
Minnesota Duluth also had a bye last weekend, as the Bulldogs also last played on Feb. 2-3 when they lost 5-1 and 4-3 at the Omaha Mavericks.  UMD will be playing its first home games since sweeping a series against Miami on Jan. 26-26, winning by 6-2 and 3-2 scores.
 
Due to the NCHC schedule matrix, UMD and Miami (Denver's next opponent) are the only conference foes that the Pioneers will only play twice this year, with Duluth not scheduled to make the trip out to Denver.
 
The teams last played nearly a year ago on Feb. 17-18, 2023, with the Pioneers winning 6-2 and falling 6-5 at Magness Arena. DU is making its first trip to the Duluth since winning 3-2 and 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 9-10, 2022. Tristan Broz scored the game-winner in that series opener before Aidan Thompson tallied the clincher in extra time in the finale.
 
Denver owns a 132-89-31 all-time record against Minnesota Duluth and had won four games in a row in the series before UMD won the last meeting nearly a year ago. The Pioneers own a 48-44-8 record on the road in the series.
 
DU has a 18-8-2 overall record this season and has a six-point edge over UMD in the NCHC standings. Denver has 26 points and a 9-6-1 record in conference play, while Duluth has 20 points and a 9-6-1 mark in the NCHC and is 10-13-4 overall.
 
This weekend features two of the best goal scorers in the country as Denver's Jack Devine and Minnesota Duluth's Ben Steeves are tied for third in the country with 21 goals (along with fellow NCHC forward Dylan Wendt of Western Michigan). Boston University's Macklin Celebrini and Boston College's Cutter Gauthier are pacing the nation with 23 tallies each.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Denver split its home series against then-No. 15 Western Michigan on Feb. 17-18.  DU won 3-2 in Friday's opener and fell 7-2 in Saturday's finale. 
 
Freshman Alex Weiermair scored his first career goal on Friday, while Jared Wright and Shai Buium also tallied in the victory.  Buium scored 37 seconds into Saturday's contest, but WMU tallied five unanswered goals en route to the victory.  Tristan Broz found the back of the net in the game as well for the Pios.
 
NOTABLES

• Denver had won four straight games at home against Western Michigan before falling on Feb. 3.  The loss ended Denver's season-long home unbeaten streak at six games (5-0-1) dating back to Dec. 2.  It was the longest run by the Pioneers since winning seven straight contests from Jan. 7-Feb. 17, 2023.
• Shai Buium scored and recorded his 50th career assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season on Feb. 2.  He scored at 0:37 of the first period on Feb. 3 for the fastest goal to begin a game and start a period this season.  DU's previous fastest goal to start a contest was at 1:29 by Miko Matikka on Jan. 6 vs. Niagara and the fastest to start a period was also by Matikka at 0:43 in the second on Dec. 9 at Western Michigan.
• Alex Weiermair scored his first career goal on Feb. 2; he is the eighth Pioneer to tally his first in college hockey this season.
• Matt Davis made 39 saves on 41 shots faced on Feb. 2, both career highs. It was the most saves and shots faced by a DU goalie since Magnus Chrona stopped 39-of-42 shots on Jan. 4, 2020 vs. Massachusetts.
• The Pioneers' one penalty and two penalty minutes on Feb. 2 were a season low. DU twice had two PIM in a game twice last season on Nov. 25, 2022 vs. Omaha and Jan. 21, 2023 at St. Cloud State.
• Zeev Buium blocked a career-high seven shots on Feb. 3.  It was the most blocks in a game since Justin Lee also stopped seven shots on Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Miami.
• Carter King had a season best and matched a career high with seven shots on goal on Feb. 2.
• Freshman goaltender Paxton Geisel played his first home game on Feb. 3.
• WMU was making its first visit to Denver since Nov. 12-13, 2021, as the teams only played twice last season in Kalamazoo.
• The Pioneers and Broncos split the four-game regular season series (2-2-0), but WMU finished with more points (7-5).

SHAI'S SCORING TOUCH: Junior defenseman Shai Buium is on a five-game point streak and has scored in consecutive games for the first time in his career when he tallied on Feb. 2-3 vs. Western Michigan. He has 10 points in his last eight games (3g/7a) and is one outing away from matching his career-long streak of six games from earlier this season on Nov. 3-19 (2g/6a).
 
Buium has posted career highs this season in all three scoring categories.  He ranks fifth on the team with 25 points, tied for fourth with 18 assists and his seven goals are tied with his brother, Zeev Buium, for the most by a Denver defenseman.  His plus-20 rating is the second-highest on the Pioneers.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Pioneers are in stretch where they are playing nine of their final 14 games of the regular season away from Magness Arena, with the team traveling to Omaha, North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Colorado College in the final weeks of the campaign.
 
Denver owns an 8-5-0 record on the road this season, which included weekend sweeps in Omaha on Jan. 19-20 and at Alaska Fairbanks to begin the campaign on Oct. 7-8.  DU's road sweep at UNO was its first against an NCHC opponent since Feb. 24-25 at Western Michigan when it secured its second consecutive Penrose Cup as conference regular-season champions.
 
HISTORY VS. UMD DULUTH: Denver owns a 132-89-31 all-time record against Minnesota Duluth and had won four games in a row before UMD won the last meeting.  The Pioneers and Bulldogs split their last series on Feb. 17-18, 2023 in Denver, with the Pios winning 6-2 before falling 6-5 the next night.  DU won last year's four-game season series, 3-1-0, which included posting consecutive overtime wins in its previous games in Duluth on Dec. 9-10.  The Pioneers own a 48-44-8 record on the road in the series and sport a 108-77-11 mark in conference play.  Denver and Minnesota Duluth are the only two NCHC squads to win multiple championships, with both teams claiming the trophy twice.  DU defeated UMD to win the 2017 championship and also picked up a win against its NCHC foe in the regional final en route to the 2022 title.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth has a 10-13-4 record and ranks seventh in the NCHC standings with 20 points and a 6-9-1 conference record.  The Bulldogs are also coming off a bye weekend, as they last played on Feb. 2-3 when they lost 5-1 and 4-3 at the Omaha Mavericks.  UMD will be playing its first home games since sweeping a series against Miami on Jan. 26-26, winning by 6-2 and 3-2 scores.  Ben Steeves is tied for first in the conference with DU's Jack Devine with 21 goals and also leads UMD in scoring with 29 points.  No other players on the squad have reached double-digit goals, as Blake Biondi ranks second with eight tallies.  Owen Gallatin is second on the team in scoring with 21 points and first in assists with 16.  Goaltender Zach Stejskal has started 17 games and owns an 8-6-3 record, 2.56 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and one shutout.  Matthew Thiessen has guarded the pipes in 11 games and sports a 2-7-1 record, 3.37 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.
 
CONNECTIONS: Denver Athletic Director Josh Berlo served nine seasons in the same role with Minnesota Duluth (2013-2022) … Denver has two Minnesota natives on its roster in Tristan Broz (Bloomington) and Jared Wright (Burnsville) … Shai Buium (2017-21), Zeev Buium (2019-21), Sam Harris (2018-21), Peter LaJoy (2016-20) and McKade Webster (2015-17) played prep school hockey at Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota … Webster played with Jesse Jacques with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2017-18 … UMD's Quinn Olson and DU's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz are all from Calgary, Alberta … Lorenz played with Riley Bodnarchuk with the AJHL Okotoks Oilers in 2021-22 … Sean Behrens was on USA's 2022 World Junior Championship team with UMD's Dominic James … Behrens and Jack Devine were at U.S. National Team Development Program with Owen Gallatin during the 2019-20 campaign and was at the NTDP the same time as Cole Spicer in 2020-21 … Broz played with Gallatin with the USHL Fargo Force in 2020-21 … Massimo Rizzo played with UMD's Luke Loheit with the BCHL's Penticton Vees in 2018-19 … Shai Buium played on the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers with Minnesota Duluth's Carter Loney and Ben Steeves in 2020-21, and Garrett Brown played with Steeves at Sioux City in 2021-22 … Connor Caponi skated with Luke Bast with the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks in 2019-20, and DU's Brown and Miko Matikka played alongside Aaron Pionk in Waterloo to conclude the 2022-23 campaign … Aidan Thompson was a teammate on the USHL Lincoln Stars with Dominic James (2020-21), Luke Johnson (2021-22) and Joey Pierce (2021-22) … Kieran Cebrian and Aidan Dubinsky played together with the USHL Tri-City Storm in 2021-22 … Sam Harris was a teammate of Jack Smith with the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede in 2021-22.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (FEB. 18, 2023): No. 3 Denver nearly erased a three-goal deficit in the third period, but its rally fell short as the Pioneers lost 6-5 to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at Magness Arena.  The Pioneers scored three times in the final frame, including twice in the first 1:43, but wasn't able to even the score.  Ben Steeves' second goal of the game on the power play at 2:26 of the third ended up as the game-winner for Duluth and came 43 seconds after DU's Massimo Rizzo tallied to cut the deficit to 5-4.  Jack Devine had a career-high four points with one goal and three assists and linemates Rizzo (two goals) and Tristan Broz (two assists) also posted multi-point outings.  Rizzo scored both of his markers in the third, with each cutting the deficit to one at the time.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No 5 in the country in both national polls that were released on Monday.  The Pioneers moved up from No. 6 in the USCHO.com poll and also jumped one spot in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live ranking.  DU is tied for fifth in the latter poll with Michigan State.
 
The Pios are presently No. 7 in the Pairwise Rankings, which determines the NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC has six teams ranked overall, tied for the most among all conferences with Hockey East.  North Dakota is at No. 2/2, Western Michigan is at No. 13/13, Colorado College is No. 15/16, St. Cloud State is No. 16/15 and Omaha is No. 18/18.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Massimo Rizzo is first in the country in assists (34) and is second in points (44).
• Jack Devine is tied for third in the nation in both  goals (21) and points (42).
• Zeev Buium is seventh among all freshman in the nation in points (34) and is first among all rookie defenseman. Only one D-man (BU's Lane Hutson) has more points than him. His 27 assists are tied for seventh in the NCAA and are the second-most by a freshman.
• Miko Matikka is tied for seventh among all freshmen in the nation with 14 goals.
• Carter King leads the NCAA with four short-handed goals this season and is tied for 18th in points (32) and 31st for goals (14).

RIZZO CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: Forward Massimo Rizzo leads the nation with 34 assists and is second with 44 points, as he's recorded at least a point in 22-of-28 games this season.  The junior, who became the 102nd member of the DU's 100-point club on Nov. 11 at Arizona State, has now recorded 126 points in 105 career games and is tied for 44th in program history in all-time scoring.
 
The last DU player to lead the NCAA in scoring at the end of the season was Bobby Brink in 2021-22 when he registered 57 points (14g/43a) in 41 games (1.30 pts/game).  Prior to Brink, the previous time a Pioneer led the country in points was Ed Beers in 1981-82 (50g/34a).  Brink's 43 assists that year was an NCHC record while his 57 points were second all-time in the conference behind UND's Brock Boeser's 60 in 2015-16.
 
TRULY DEVINE: Junior Jack Devine is tied for third in the nation with 21 goals, two behind leaders Macklin Celebrini (Boston University) and Cutter Gauthier (Boston College).  He ranks tied for third in overall scoring with 42 points, with teammate Massimo Rizzo in second with 44 points.  He has seven multi-goal games this year and has picked up multiple points in 14 outings this year.
 
The Denver forward was the first player in the country to reach the 20-goal threshold on Jan. 19 at Omaha.  He accomplished the feat in just 23 games to become the quickest Pioneer in recent history to hit the mark.
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver leads the country in offense, averaging 4.8 goals per game.  Michigan is second at 4.4 goals per contest.  The Pioneers are third in the NCAA in scoring margin, winning by 1.64 goals; Quinnipiac is first as that program wins by 2.03 goals.
 
DU also leads the nation in shooting percentage at 15.2%, with Boston College being the next closet team at 13.4%.  On special teams, the Pios are tied with the ninth-best power play at 24.8% and have scored the fourth-most man-advantage goals in the NCAA (31-tied), with only Michigan (39), Long Island (37) and Arizona State (34) having more.
 
HOBEY BAKER NOMINEES: Junior forwards Jack Devine and Massimo Rizzo and freshman defenseman Zeev Buium are Denver's three nominees for the 2024 Hobey Baker Award, given to the top men's college hockey player in the country.  The three Pioneers are among 17 players from the NCHC and 84 nationally up for the award.  First round of fan voting began on Friday and ends March 10 and takes into account a percentage of the total ballot. The top 10 finalists will be announced on March 20, the three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be named on April 4 and the award will be presented on April 11 at the Frozen Four.
 
TIM TAYLOR WATCH LIST: Freshmen Zeev Buium and Miko Matikka are on the watch list for the Tim Taylor Award, which is given annual to the national rookie of the year.  The Pioneer duo are among five players from the NCHC named to the list and 32 nationally.
 
Denver was one of eight programs in the country with multiple players named to the watch list, as the award will be given out during the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.  DU has had one previous winner of the award: Joey Laleggia in 2012.
 

TICKETS: Limited single-game tickets are available. Click here to learn more.