ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 3 nationally-ranked Denver Pioneers hockey team plays for the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on Saturday night against the No. 11-ranked Omaha Mavericks at Xcel Energy Center.
 
Game time is at 6:30 p.m. MT, and it will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
 
The Pioneers are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and advanced to their third title contest after winning 5-4 in overtime on Friday night against No. 17-ranked and No. 3-seed St. Cloud State in the semifinals at the home of the NHL Minnesota Wild.
 
Omaha entered the tournament as a No. 5 seed and dispatched No. 4 Colorado College in three games in the quarterfinals last weekend to reach its first Frozen Faceoff in Minnesota. The Mavericks defeated Penrose Cup champion North Dakota 6-3 in the first semifinal on Friday.
 
DU freshmen Zeev Buium and Miko Matikka both scored twice against the Huskies, with Buium tallying the game-winner at 6:21 of the overtime period. Senior captain McKade Webster also tallied and goaltender Matt Davis made 21 saves and stopped all five shots that came his way in the third and OT stanzas.
 
The Mavericks were led by a four-point performance by Zach Urdahl, who recorded his first career hat trick while also adding an assist in the victory versus the Fighting Hawks. Griffin Ludtke and Jesse Lansdell had three assists each, and goalie Simon Latkoczy made 36-of-39 saves.
 
Denver won the regular-season series versus Omaha, going 3-1-0 in four games and swept the set in Nebraska in their last meeting on Jan. 19-20.
 
The Pioneers are 5-1 all-time against the Mavericks in the NCHC Tournament and have won each of the last five contests—the teams never met in the WCHA Playoffs. UNO won Game 1 of the quarterfinal series in 2014 before DU rallied for four straight victories to be crowned the inaugural NCHC Frozen Faceoff Champion and earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Denver also picked up a quarterfinal sweep in 2016 and won 5-4 in the single-game quarterfinals in 2021 at a neutral site in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
 
DU is aiming for its 18th conference tournament championship in program history. The Pios have reached the NCHC title contest twice, winning each time as they also picked up the Frozen Faceoff trophy in 2018.  Denver earned 15 championships in the WCHA from 1960-2008.
 
LAST TIME OUT: No. 2-seed Denver tied the game four times before winning in overtime on Friday night, defeating No. 3-seed St. Cloud State 5-4 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals at Xcel Energy Center.
 
Each time the Huskies took the lead, the Pioneers matched the score, as the squads were tied 2-2 after the first period and 4-4 after 40 minutes of play.  Zeev Buium led DU with three points, recording his first career multi-goal game and scoring his first game-winner at 6:21 of overtime.
 
Miko Matikka notched two markers in the middle frame, while Shai Buium and Aidan Thompson both had multi-point nights as well with two assists each.  McKade Webster also scored and goaltender Matt Davis made 21 saves.
 
NOTABLES

• Denver is now 3-7 all-time in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals.
• DU picked up its first overtime win in the conference semifinals since March 16, 2012 vs. Minnesota Duluth when it won 4-3 in double-overtime during the WCHA Final Five.
• Zeev Buium recorded his first multi-goal game and tallied his first career game/overtime-winning goal.
• Denver improved to 4-1-3 in overtime games this season, with four different players scoring game-winners (Carter King, Dec. 2 vs. UND; Massimo Rizzo, Dec. 9 at WMU; Aidan Thompson, Feb. 16 at UMD; Zeev Buium, March 22 vs. SCSU).
• The Pioneers five goals scored on Friday were their most in a conference semifinal or final game since winning 6-2 vs. Bemidji State on March 18, 2011 in the WCHA Final Five Semifinals at Xcel Energy Center.
• Denver tied a season low with two penalty minutes in the game (also Feb. 2 vs. Western Michigan).
• Carter King returned to the lineup after missing seven games with an upper-body injury (Feb. 24-March 16).
• Zeev Buium (six), Sam Harris (five) and Boston Buckberger (four) all matched career highs for shots on goal.
• Sam Harris is on a four-game point streak and three-game assist streak (2g/4a).
• Aidan Thompson is on a three-game point streak (1g/3a).
• Jack Devine had his five-game point streak end on Friday (5g/2a).

PIONEERS IN THE NCHC TOURNAMENT: The Pioneers have advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game for the third time in program history.  DU has won each of the previous two trips to the title contest, winning the inaugural tournament in 2014 over Miami at Target Center in Minneapolis and 2018 against St. Cloud State at the first iteration of the event at Xcel Energy Center.
 
Denver is 27-9-1 all-time in the NCHC Tournament and is the only squad to reach the conference's final four in all 10-held tournaments.  The Pios earned their seventh quarterfinal sweep last weekend after dispatching Minnesota Duluth in two games; DU has won 11th straight quarterfinal games and improved to 19-2 all-time in the opening round.  The Pioneers defeated St. Cloud State in the semifinals on Friday night to improve to 3-7 all-time in the NCHC round of four.
 
DU VS. OMAHA IN THE TOURNAMENT: Denver is 5-1 all-time against Omaha in the NCHC Tournament and has won five straight meetings.  DU lost the first game of the 2014 quarterfinals in Omaha before rallying to win the best-of-three series in three games en route a Frozen Faceoff Championship.  The Pioneers swept a quarterfinal series in two games Denver in 2016.  The teams last met in a single-game quarterfinal at a neutral site in Grand Forks, N.D., in 2021 and won 5-4.  Denver and Omaha never met in the WCHA Playoffs.
 
MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS: Denver has two Minnesota natives on its roster in Tristan Broz (Bloomington) and Jared Wright (Burnsville) … Broz spent the 2021-22 season with the University of Minnesota before transferring to DU in the following summer … 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 … DU head coach David Carle also attended Shattuck as a prep player in his playing day … Rieger Lorenz was drafted No. 56 overall in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild … Denver Athletic Director Josh Berlo served nine seasons in the same role with Minnesota Duluth (2013-2022).
 
PIONEERING TOWARD THE POSTSEASON: The Pioneers are on a four-game winning streak (March 15-present), matching their season-long stretch from Dec. 9-Jan. 12.  Overall, Denver is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and 10-2-1 in the 13 contests since the start of February.  DU finished its home slate on a four-game winning streak (Feb. 24-March 16), tying a season long (Dec. 2-Jan. 12).
 
IN OVERTIME: Denver won its third NCHC Tournament overtime game with its 5-4 victory on Friday vs. St. Cloud.  DU improved to 2-1 all-time in extra-time contests in the league and picked up its first such win in the NCHC Semifinals after previously losing 2-1 in its last instance at North Dakota on March 15, 2021.
 
The Pioneers improved to 11-8 all-time in OT games in the conference tournament, as they went 9-7 in such contests in the WCHA Playoffs.  Denver is also now 4-1 in school history in conference semifinal games that go past regulation: 1-1 in the NCHC and 3-0 in the WCHA.
 
FRESHMEN PHENOMS: Denver rookies combined for seven of the team's 13 points recorded on Friday in the Frozen Faceoff Semifinals vs. St. Cloud State.  Zeev Buium led DU with three points (2g/1a) while Miko Matikka had two goals.  Kieran Cebrian and Sam Harris both recorded an assist each.
 
ZEEV IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Defenseman Zeev Buium has produced one of the best rookie campaigns in Denver program history as he leads the team with 36 assists and is second in scoring with 47 points.
 
His 47 points are the most by a freshman since forward Dylan Gambrell also had 47 in 2015-16 and are the seventh most by a defenseman in school history.  Overall, only two freshmen blueliners have recorded more points in a single campaign: Craig Redmond's 54 (1982-83) and Greg Woods' 52 in 1975-76.
 
The San Diego, California, native's 36 assists are tied with Vic Venasky (1970-71) for the third-highest by a freshman and are the second-most by a frosh D-man behind Redmond's 38 in 1982-83 (forward Dallas Gaume had 47 assists in his rookie campaign in 1982-83).  Among defensemen, Buium's 36 helpers are tied with Brett Skinner (2004-05) for fifth most in a season in Pioneer history.
 
AUTO-MATIKKA: Forward Miko Matikka registered his fourth multi-goal game of the season and eighth multi-point outing on Friday in the NCHC Semifinals vs. St. Cloud State.  Both of his goals came in the second period, the ninth time this year that a Pioneer has scored twice in the same frame and his second instance (third period, Nov. 10 at Arizona State).
 
Matikka's 18 goals this year rank second on the Pioneers and are tied for fifth among all freshmen in the NCAA.  His 18 scores are the most by a Denver freshman since 2016-17 when Henrik Borgstrom had 22 tallies.
 
CONSISTENCY IN THE PIPES: Goaltender Matt Davis is on a four-game winning streak, the longest such stretch of the season by a DU netminder.  He has started 21 straight games since returning from injury following the holiday break, going 15-4-2 in those contests (since Jan. 5).  It is the longest consecutive games-started stretch by a Pioneer goalie since Magnus Chrona started 25 outings in a row from Nov. 5, 2021-Feb. 25, 2022.
 
Davis has posted two career-long shutout streaks over the last four weeks and recorded a new high of 127:19 across three games from the second period on March 9 vs. Colorado College to the third period on Saturday, March 16 vs. Minnesota Duluth.  His previous personal best was 105:44 across three contests from Feb. 23-March 1.
 
AWARD SEASON: The Pioneers picked up three awards on Thursday, March 21 at the annual NCHC awards celebration prior to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul.

• Rookie of the Year: Zeev Buium
• Offensive Defenseman of the Year: Zeev Buium
• Defensive Defenseman of the Year: Sean Behrens

DU had four finalists for additional awards: Jack Devine for both Player and Forward of the Year, Shai Buium for both the Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards, Carter King for Defensive Forward of the Year and David Carle for Coach of the Year.
 
HOBEY BAKER AWARD FINALIST: Junior forward Jack Devine was named on Wednesday a top-10 finalist for the 2024 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top men's college hockey player in the country.  A second round of fan voting is underway and takes into account a percentage of the total ballot.  Three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be named on April 4, and the award will be presented on April 12 at the Frozen Four.
 
Devine, junior forward Massimo Rizzo and freshman defenseman Zeev Buium were Denver's three nominees for this year's awards.  The Pioneers trio were among 17 players from the NCHC and 84 nationally up for his year's honor.
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: The Pioneers have killed off 90.9 percent of their penalties over the last seven games dating back to Feb. 25 vs. Miami, going 20-for-22 in that stretch.  DU has been perfect in five of those games, including going 4-for-4 on the PK on three occasions.
 
HISTORY VS. OMAHA: Denver is 4-1-0 in the last five meetings, 7-3-0 in the last 10 matchups and 9-2-3 in the past 14 contests against UNO.  The Pioneers sport a 40-14-5 all-time record vs. the Mavericks and are 1-0-0 in neutral-site games, with DU winning in the 2021 NCHC Quarterfinals in Grand Forks, N.D. Denver won the four-game regular-season series, going 3-1-0.  DU outscored Omaha 12-5 in the teams' last series on Jan. 19-20 in Nebraska, winning 6-3 and 6-2.  The teams split the set earlier in the year at Magness Arena on Nov. 17-19.  DU won 8-4 on Nov. 17 before the teams played again the next night, but that contest was s­uspended and resumed on Nov. 19 due to ice conditions prior to the second period.  The game was paused at 0-0 and UNO went on to win 4-3. 
 
SCOUTING THE MAVS: Omaha is in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the first time in program history.  The Mavs own a 23-11-4 record and finished fifth in the NCHC standings during the regular season with a 13-8-3 mark.  UNO defeated No. 4-seed Colorado College in three games in the quarterfinals before beat No. 1 North Dakota 6-3 in the conference semifinals on Friday at Xcel Energy Center.  Tanner Ludtke leads the team with 28 points (11g/17a) while brother Griffin Ludtke is second with 27 points (4g/23a) and is first in assists. Jack Randl (13g/12a), Zach Urdahl (13g/12a) and Ty Mueller (10g/15a) are all tied for third on the Mavs with 25 points, with Randl and Urdahl leading the squad in goals with 13 each.  Goaltender Simon Latkoczy has started 32 games this season and owns a 19-10-3 record, 2.63 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
OMAHA CONNECTIONS: Assistant Coach Ryan Massa graduated from Nebraska Omaha and spent four years as a goaltender for the Mavericks (2011-2015), helping the program to its first Frozen Four in 2015 … Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Leu is from Nebraska, and he earned his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Creighton University in Omaha in 1995 and picked up his master's degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1996 … Cale Ashcroft (Tri-City Storm, 2022-23), Boston Buckberger (Lincoln Stars, 2022-23), Kieran Cebrian (Tri-City Storm 2020-23), Aidan Thompson (Lincoln Stars, 2020-22) and Jared Wright (Omaha Lancers, 2021-22) played junior hockey in the state of Nebraska … Freddie Halyk and UNO's Ty Mueller are both from Cochrane, Alberta … Tristan Broz and the Mavs' Tyler Rollwagen are both from Bloomington, Minn., and played together in 2020-21 with the USHL Fargo Force … Wright was a teammate with Cam Mitchell in Omaha in 2021-22 … Thompson played with Joaquim Lemay and Tanner Ludtke with Lincoln in 2021-22 … Victor Mancini played on Green Bay with Matt Davis in 2020-21 … Shai Buium played with Griffin Ludtke with the Sioux City Musketeers in 2020-21 … Massimo Rizzo was a teammate of Ray Fust with the BCHL Chilliwack Chiefs in 2020-21.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (JAN. 20, 2024): Then-No. 5 Denver scored four times in the second period for the second consecutive game and defeated the No. 19 Omaha Mavericks 6-2 at Baxter Arena to sweep the weekend series.  DU stretched its season-long unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) and picked up its second road sweep of the season; the squad won 6-3 on Friday.  Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium tied a career best with four points (1g/3a), and junior forward Massimo Rizzo contributed three assists. Junior defenseman Shai Buium and senior forward Connor Caponi both scored and added a helper, while juniors Jack Devine and Carter King and freshman Sam Harris also scored.  Goaltender Matt Davis made 17 saves.
 
EVERY NIGHT: Seven Denver players have skated in all 39 games this season: senior forward Connor Caponi, junior defenseman Sean Behrens, junior forward Jack Devine, sophomore forwards Rieger Lorenz, Aidan Thompson and Jared Wright, and freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger.
 
PIONEERS ON THE ALL-NCHC TEAM: Five Denver players were recognized with All-Conference honors, as forward Jack Devine and defenseman Zeev Buium were named to the First Team, forward Massimo Rizzo and defenseman Shai Buium were selected to the Second Team and defenseman Sean Behrens was chosen as an Honorable Mention.  This is the second time that Rizzo has been recognized on the All-NCHC Team, while the rest of the Pioneers are first-time recipients.
 
DU's two first-team members tied Colorado College for the most and its five total honorees were the second most among all schools.  The Pioneers' four first and second-team players were the most in the NCHC.
 
NO-BRAINER ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Freshmen Zeev Buium and Miko Matikka were named the only unanimous selections to the NCHC All-Rookie Team by earning 15 first-team votes each.  The Pioneers were the only program with multiple players on the freshmen squad.  Buium is among the freshmen leaders in scoring and led all NCHC defensemen and is second overall with 31 points in 24 conference games.  Matikka's 11 goals in NCHC games were the tied for the most for rookies while his 20 points in 23 outings were first among first-year forwards.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver stayed at No. 3 in both nationals polls after the latest USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live rankings were released on Monday.  DU is at its highest ranking since previously being at No. 3 in each poll on Nov. 27.  The Pioneers are No. 4 in the Pairwise Rankings, which determines the NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC's six ranked teams are tied for the most among all conferences with Hockey East, and its five schools in the top 15 lead all leagues.  The other conference squads in the polls are North Dakota at No. 4/4, Omaha at No. 11/11, Colorado College at No. 12/13, Western Michigan at No. 15/15 and St. Cloud State at No. 17/17.
 
MONTH BY MONTH: Denver is 6-1-0 in March, guaranteeing its 22nd 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).