Sometimes a team plays an overall great game, but the puck just doesn't go its way and the opposing goaltender is stopping just about everything he faces.
 
That was the Denver Pioneers hockey team on Friday in the series opener at Minnesota Duluth, as the squad fired 45 shots on goal—its second-most in a game this year—but Bulldogs netminder Klayton Knapp had a career night with 42 saves as DU fell 4-3.
 
"Tip your hat to the goaltender; he played extremely well," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle after Friday's loss. "I thought their team played very desperate as well. You look at the shot map, 45 on goal and they blocked 21 as well… We had a lot of time in the O-zone. I think another big factor, besides some execution, [Knapp] made some big saves, we missed the net a few times."
 
Minnesota Duluth scored twice on the power play on Friday and led 4-1 in the third period before the Pioneers rallied with a pair of goals and had their chances to erase the deficit in the final minutes.
 
After playing well but suffering a loss in the series opener, the test for Denver was to play with that same intensity the next night to force a two-game split. The Bulldogs were also likely going to play better themselves after the Pios controlled offensive-zone time for most of the contest.
 
That was exactly what happened on Saturday, but the Pioneers won 2-1. Samu Salminen scored late in the first period, Carter King tallied early in the second and goaltender Matt Davis stopped 29-of-30 shots—with the only one to get past him being a redirection with traffic in front of the net.
 
"That is the challenge of weekends and playing teams back-to-back is that you know each team is going to make changes and try and play a better game the next night," said King after Saturday's win. "We thought if we played our game and stuck with what our strengths are, we knew we were going to have success, and I thought that is what happened tonight."
 
For UMD, Knapp had another consistent night in goal and kept the Bulldogs within striking distance while denying several quality chances by Denver. He earned NCHC Rookie of the Week honors on Monday.
 
"Their goaltender again played well. I thought they as a team played better. It was just a little more tighter checking, not a lot of time or space out there for either team," Carle said. "Actually, I'm probably a little surprised that we both ended up with 30 shots on the night. Proud of the effort. It's our first time where we felt like we played well enough to win in a loss (on Friday), probably, and then how do you respond from that.
 
"Nothing is given in this league. Just because you played well on Friday doesn't mean you're automatically come out and be allowed to win on Saturday. I thought they played extremely well, made it really difficult on us."
 
Minnesota Duluth is one of the youngest squads in the NCHC with a large freshmen class, and the Bulldogs have been playing better as of late. UMD is 4-2-0 in its last six, which includes a home sweep at St. Cloud State, road victory at Colorado College and Friday's win against DU—all of whom were ranked in the top 20 at the time.
 
Any team is capable of winning any given night in the NCHC and the league standings are tight and feature several of the usual suspects battling for home-ice advantage for the playoff quarterfinals. Six teams are within 11 points of first-place Western Michigan and four of them in the middle of the pack are separated by just one point, including Denver (20) and Minnesota Duluth (19).
 
The Pioneers have six weekends remaining in the regular season, and that is six chance to continue to fine-tune the details of their game before postseason play.
 
"It's the final stretch here and weekend-to-weekend, we're just trying to get better, work on our game," King said. "Understand the challenges of that weekend, fix them and then move on to the next one. We're just looking to build our game in time for playoffs, and I think this is another step in the right direction for us."
 
MAGNIFICENT MILESTONES
 
Forward Aidan Thompson played in his 100th career game on Saturday in Duluth while head coach David Carle guided the Denver bench for the 250th time the same night.
 
Thompson is the third member of DU's junior class to reach the century mark in games played this season, joining classmates Rieger Lorenz (Jan. 3 at Maine) and Jared Wright (Jan. 11 vs. Miami).
 
Carle is the fourth Pioneers head coach to reach the 250-game mark along with Murray Armstrong, Ralph Backstrom and George Gwozdecky. Carle has a .696 winning percentage through his first 250 games (166-68-16), with only Armstrong posting a better mark in that time frame at .728. Overall, Carle's current winning percentage is the highest among all Denver coaches in program history.
 
There are also two other Denver players that are close to reaching significant milestones of their own. Senior Jack Devine is one goal away from 50 in his career, which would make him the 61st player to reach the mark in program history and first since Cole Guttman on Feb. 11, 2022 against Minnesota Duluth. Graduate student Connor Caponi has appeared in 165 career games and is four outings away from setting a program record. One of Caponi's former teammates, Ryan Barrow (2017-2022), owns the current mark at 168 games played.
 
HALYK IN NET
 
Goaltender Freddie Halyk made his second start of the season on Friday at Minnesota Duluth and made 26 saves in the loss. Despite the defeat, Halyk was overall solid as two of the goals he allowed came while the Pioneers were killing a penalty.
 
"I'm happy for Fred. He definitely made some saves," said head coach David Carle postgame. "I'm sure he would want the third one back, but it was a great release by the kid, quick attack off the wall. I thought he made a couple big saves there in the second, especially at the start of it when they were moving their feet, winning races. Makes a huge save when it was 4-1 on a 2-on-1 we gave up on the back door. He did keep us within range and that is all you can ask from a goaltender. Happy for him; he earned the start and gave us a chance."
 
It was Halyk's first start since making 21-of-22 saves on Nov. 2 at Yale and first game since entering in relief on Dec. 6 at Western Michigan. Matt Davis had started the previous 14 games dating back to Nov. 8, going 9-5-0 in those outings.
 
MORE NOTABLES

• The Pioneers are now 137-90-13 all-time versus the Bulldogs and sport a 51-45-8 mark in Duluth. Denver is 9-2-0 in the last 11 meetings against Minnesota Duluth.
• DU skated in its fourth 2-1 hockey game of the season on Saturday night at Minnesota Duluth and owns a 3-1 record in such contests this year. 
• Denver had its stretch of scoring a power-play goal end at five games after going 0-for-1 on Saturday. Denver's one power-play opportunity tied for its fewest of the season (third time).
• Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp recorded assists in both games at Minnesota Duluth and recorded his fourth multi-point game of the year with two helpers on Saturday.  
• The Pioneers' 45 shots on goal on Friday were the second-most in a game this season (46, Nov. 8 vs. Lindenwood).  The Pios recorded double-digit shot totals in each of the three periods.
• Sam Harris scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season on Friday.
• Jack Devine scored on Friday while DU had the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, the team's third such pulled-goalie goal of the season and first since Dec. 13 at Colorado College (also by Devine).
• Jared Wright and Devine's tallies on Friday came in a matter of 1:40, the fastest two goals scored by the Pioneers this season.
• Jack Devine is on a five-game point streak (3g/3a); Eric Pohlkamp is on a four-game point streak (2g/3a); Sam Harris is on a three-game point streak (2g/1a).
• The Pioneers' 2025 senior class (111 wins) is on pace to be the winningest group in school history and is one win shy of tying the 2005 seniors for the program record of 112 victories in their tenure.
• Denver has a 4-2-0 record in through six games in January, guaranteeing the team its 27th straight month where it has posted at least a .500 record dating back to January 2021.

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