DENVER – Freshman defenseman
Zeev Buium and junior forwards
Jack Devine and
Massimo Rizzo of the University of Denver hockey team have named All-Americans for the 2023-24 campaign by the American Hockey Coaches Association. Buium and Devine were selected to the West First Team while Rizzo was chosen as a Second-Team member.
This is the second-straight season where Denver had three players honored after Rizzo,
Mike Benning and
Carter Mazur picked up All-America accolades in 2022-23. Rizzo was one of three players of this year's group of 25 to repeat as an All-American after also picking up Second-Team honors last season.
Denver now has 54 All-American players in the program's 75-season history, and this is the third straight campaign where the program has had at least one.
Buium has cemented his name in the program record book during his freshman campaign and became the first DU rookie to pick up All-American accolades since Henrik Borgstrom (first team) in 2017. He is fifth among all freshmen and is tied for first among all defensemen in the nation with 49 points, ranking tied for 10th overall in scoring. His 38 assists lead DU and are tied for third overall in the NCAA while also being tied for the highest among all D-men and third-most by a freshman player.
The San Diego, California, native paces the Pioneer defensive corps with 11 goals this season, the most by a frosh blueliner since Joey LaLeggia also had 11 in 2011-12. Overall, his 49 points are the 10th most by a freshman player in school history and the third highest by a first-year defenseman, with only Craig Redmond's 54 in 1982-83 and Greg Woods' 52 in 1975-76 being higher. Buium's 38 helpers are tied with Craig Redmond (1982-83) for the most by a freshman defenseman and the second-most ever by a rookie (forward Dallas Gaume owns the record with 47 assists in his rookie campaign in 1982-83).
A member of the All-NCHC First Team, Buium was also chosen as the conference's Rookie of the Year and Offensive Defenseman of the Year. He was named the National Co-Player of the Month for November.
Devine has recorded career highs this season and leads the Denver with 27 goals and 54 points. He ranks fourth in the nation in tallies and is seventh in points while also adding a person-best 29 assists. Devine has registered nine multi-goal games and 18 multi-point outings in 2023-24 and his 27 total scores are the most by a Pioneers since Ryan Dingle also had 27 in 2005-06.
The Glencoe, Illinois, native was the first player in the country to reach the 20-goal threshold on Jan. 19 at Omaha, and he accomplished the feat in just 23 games to become the quickest Pioneer in recent history to hit the mark. He began the season with a career-long five-game multi-point streak from Oct. 7-27 and matched the stretch with a personal best five-game assist streak from Feb. 3-24.
Devine was selected to the All-NCHC First Team and was a top-10 finalist for this year's Hobey Baker Award.
Rizzo repeats as an All-American after being among the nation's leaders in assists and points for most of the season. He missed 14 games with a lower-body injury beginning on Feb. 23 before returning to the lineup on Wednesday in the Frozen Four Semifinals versus Boston University. Despite missing the final weeks of the season, Rizzo is still tied for eighth the nation with 34 assists and tied for 22nd with 44 points.
The Burnaby, British Columbia, native recorded at least a point in 22-of-29 games he's played this season, and he began the year on an eight-game point streak from Oct. 7-Nov. 4 (5g/12a), the longest season-opening point stretch since Jarid Lukosevicius had points in each of his first nine contests in 2018-19. Rizzo became the 102nd member of the DU's 100-point club on Nov. 11 at Arizona State and owns a 1.20 career points-per-game average—tied for 31st all-time among DU's 100-point scorers and the most by a Pioneer in the modern era.
Rizzo was selected to the All-NCHC Second Team and joined Buium and Devine as Denver players on the Hobey Baker Award watch list. Rizzo is just the 12th Pioneer to repeat as an All-American the first since Henrik Borgstrom in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Overall, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference at seven players named to All-American teams, including four to the West First Team.
The All-American Teams were announced on Friday night at the St. Paul River Centre in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part of the annual awards show at the NCAA Frozen Four.
