DENVER – The No. 5-ranked University of Denver hockey team hosts Nebraska Omaha this weekend in two games at Magness Arena in the squads' first matchup since the Pioneers defeated the Mavericks to win the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship last March.
Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT and Saturday's start time is at 6 p.m. MT. Both games will be broadcast on NCHC.tv. Limited tickets are available.
On the heels of the National Western Stock Show in Denver, this weekend's theme is "More Cowbell Country Weekend." A mechanical bull will be set up outside the south entrance of Magness Arena/Ritchie Center (near Coors Fitness Center) for fans to ride before the game from 5-6:30 p.m. and there will be student giveaways each night as well. Friday features cowbells while students can snag a special-edition "Country Roads" T-shirt on Saturday.
DU and UNO will be facing off in their only two outings of the regular season, as the Pioneers won't visit Omaha or St. Cloud State this year. DU went 4-1-0 against UNO in 2023-24, including sweeping the series in Omaha on Jan. 19-20, 2024 before winning 4-1 in the conference title game on March 23 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Denver has a 23-5-2 all-time record against Omaha on home ice and is 9-3-0 overall in the past 12 meetings the series.
The Pioneers are 3-1-0 in their last four games and sport a 6-3-0 mark in their last nine outings. Denver is coming off a series split at Minnesota Duluth, losing 4-3 last Friday and winning 2-1 on Saturday. DU nearly erased a three-goal deficit on Friday night but UMD goalie Klayton Knapp made a career-high 42 saves. On Saturday, Samu Salminen and Sam Harris scored and DU netminder Matt Davis stopped 29 shots in the victory.
After starting the season 3-7-0, the Mavericks are 11-3-0 in their last 14 games and are on a season-long six-game winning streak. Omaha is coming off sweeps this month against Colorado College (Nov. 10-11), at Miami (Jan. 17-18) and St. Cloud State last weekend (Jan. 24-25). UNO won 6-3 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday at Baxter Arena against the SCSU Huskies.
Denver is aiming to catch up to the Mavs on the conference leaderboard as the Pios are in a battle to secure home-ice advantage for the league quarterfinals.
Omaha is currently in second place in the NCHC standings with 29 points and a 10-4-0 conference record and is just one point behind leader Western Michigan—though the Broncos have two games in hand. The Pioneers are nine points behind the Mavs with 20 points and a 7-5-0 conference mark, but they have also played two fewer games in league play.
LAST TIME OUT: Denver split its only series of the season with Minnesota Duluth last weekend, losing 4-3 on Friday before winning 2-1 on Saturday. DU nearly erased a three-goal deficit in the third period on Friday night, but UMD goaltender Klayton Knapp made a career-high 42 saves.
The Pioneers had five different goal scorers on the weekend—Sam Harris, Jared Wright, Jack Devine, Samu Salminen and Carter King—with Salminen and King tallying in a matter of 3:53 at the end of the first period and beginning of the second period on Saturday. Goaltender Freddie Halyk made 27 saves on Friday and Matt Davis stopped 29 shots on Saturday.
CARLE COACHES 250: Denver head coach David Carle guided the Pioneers' bench in his 250th career game on Saturday at Minnesota Duluth. He is the fourth DU bench boss to reach the milestone, joining 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. Carle's current winning percentage is the highest among all Denver coaches in program history.
DEVINE CLIMBING DU SCORING LISTS: Senior forward Jack Devine is one goal away from becoming the 61st player in school history to score 50 career goals and the first since Cole Guttman on Feb. 11, 2022 against Minnesota Duluth.
Overall, he ranks tied for 29th on the school's all-time scoring list with Jim Wiste (1965-68) with 139 points (49 goals, 90 assists) in 142 career games. The Glencoe, Illinois, native is two points from tying Daryn McBride (1986-89) for 28th place and three from sharing 27th place with Erik Andersson (1993-97). Devine became the 103rd Pioneer to reach 100 career points after scoring in his 109th contest on March 8, 2024 at Colorado College.
If Devine reaches 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in his career, he will become just the 10th player in DU's 50-100-150 club and the first since Dave Shields from 1986-1990.
POHLKAMP PICKING UP POINTS: Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp recorded assists in both games at Minnesota Duluth and recorded his fourth multi-point game of the year with two helpers in Saturday's game. He is on a four-game point streak (2g/3a) and has eight points in his last seven outings (2g/6a).
Pohlkamp leads all Denver D-men with six goals and 86 shots, ranking tied for fifth and second overall on the team, respectively. His 21 points are tied for fifth on the squad.
The Baxter, Minn., native recorded a career-high three assists on Nov. 8 vs. Lindenwood, his third three-point game of his career and his second in a three-game span after totaling two goals and an assist on Nov. 1 at Yale—his first multi-point contest as a Pioneer after joining the program as a transfer in the offseason.
BOO-YAH BUIUM: Defenseman Zeev Buium had a three-game point streak (1g/4a) end on Saturday night in Duluth, but the sophomore still has 14 points (4g/10a) in the last 12 games he's played. In addition to leading all Pioneer blueliners, he is tied for third overall on the team in scoring with 25 points (5g/20a) and has recorded at least a point in 16-of-22 contests this year.
Buium recorded his third three-point game of the season and the eighth of his career with a goal and two assists on Jan. 10 against Miami. The San Diego, California, native previously had three-point outings this year with three assists in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage and three goals on Nov. 15 at North Dakota.
PLAYING CLOSE: Denver 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. The Pioneers played one-goal contests in each outing in Duluth and in eight of the last 10 outings of their schedule. Overall, DU has played in 10 one-goal hockey games, going 5-5 in those contests.
MONTH BY MONTH: 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.
NOTABLES:
- Denver is now 9-2-0 in the last 11 meetings against Minnesota Duluth. The Pioneers have an all-time record of 137-90-13 vs. the Bulldogs and sport a 51 45-8 mark in Duluth.
- Denver had its stretch of scoring a power-play goal end at five games. Denver had one power-play opportunity on Saturday, tying for its fewest of the season (third time).
- Boston Buckberger matched a career high with four shots on goal on Saturday (sixth time overall, second this season), and Jared Wright's six shots on goal on Saturday were a personal best (Previous: 5, Nov. 12, 2022 at North Dakota).
- Kent Anderson tied a career best with four blocked shots on Saturday (third time).
- 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.
- Goaltender Freddie Halyk made his second start of the season on Friday and first since Nov. 2 at Yale. Matt Davis had started the previous 14 straight contests from Nov. 8-Jan. 11 (9-5-0).
- 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.
STREAKING
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: 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. The Pios' upper class this year became the 16th group to win at least 100 games when it accomplished the feat on Nov. 1 at Yale.
Among the 2025 seniors' accomplishments have been three Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, two Penrose Cups as conference regular-season champions, an NCHC Frozen Faceoff title and two national championships.
Last year's senior class (2024) is tied for fifth all-time with 103 victories and registered a .708 winning percentage (103-41-5).
CAPONI CHASING SCHOOL RECORD: Graduate student forward
Connor Caponi is set to break the school's all-time games played mark in the coming weeks as he has suited up in 165 career contests since the 2020-21 campaign and is four games away from setting the record.
Caponi presently holds sole possession of third place in the program's record book and is two games shy of tying
Ed Cristofoli (1985-1989) for second place with 167 career games. One of Caponi's former teammates,
Ryan Barrow (2017-2022), owns the record at 168 games played—a mark he set in the 2022 NCAA National Championship Game where he also scored the game-tying goal that sparked DU to a 5-1 victory against Minnesota State.
MILESTONE MEN: Junior forward
Aidan Thompson became the third member of DU's junior class to play in their 100th career game this season when he skated in his milestone contest on Saturday at Minnesota Duluth. He joined classmates
Rieger Lorenz (Jan. 3 at Maine) and
Jared Wright (Jan. 11 vs. Miami) on reaching the century mark this season.
Graduate student
Connor Caponi and senior
Jack Devine each played in a milestone game on Nov. 1 at Yale. Caponi became the 70th player in program history and the first since
Kyle Mayhew on March 10, 2023 vs. Miami to play in 150 career contests, while Devine skated in his 125th career outing that night as well. Senior
Carter King skated in his 125th game on Nov. 9 against Lindenwood.
HISTORY VS. OMAHA: The Pioneers get set to face the Mavericks for the first time since winning 4-1 in the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game on March 23 at Xcel Energy Center. Denver has won three games in a row in the series and is 5-1-0 in the last six matchups. The Pios went 3-1-0 in the four-game regular-season series in 2023-24, with their only defeat coming on Nov. 19 at home in a game that was suspended from the previous night due to ice conditions at the end of the first period—the score was 0-0 at the time. The Pioneers sport a 41-14-5 overall record against Omaha in a series that dates back to 1997. DU is 23-5-2 all-time on home ice against Omaha and is 28-11-5 in regular-season conference games in the NCHC and WCHA. Denver is also 9-3-0 in the past 12 meetings of the series.
PREVIOUS MEETING (MARCH 23, 2024): No. 3 nationally-ranked Denver captured its third NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship in program history on with a 4-1 victory over the No. 11-ranked Omaha Mavericks on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Denver secured the NCHC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win and locked up a No. 1 seed as well. The Pios scored four unanswered goals to close out the conference championship game, as senior captain
McKade Webster tallied twice and sophomore
Rieger Lorenz and freshman
Miko Matikka buried markers as well. Matikka also added an assist to produce consecutive multi-point games. Junior goaltender
Matt Davis made 15 saves in the victory, as the Pioneers outshot the Mavericks 35-16. DU only allowed three shots on goal in the third period.
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 …
Aidan Thompson played with Tanner Ludtke with USHL Lincoln in 2021-22 …
Jared Wright was a teammate with Cam Mitchell in USHL Omaha in 2021-22 … Charlie Lurie played the end of 2022-23 with
Eric Pohlkamp on the USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders … Lurie was also at Shattuck St. Mary's at the same time as
Sam Harris (2018-21),
Peter LaJoy (2017-20) and
Zeev Buium (19-21) … Myles Hillman played two seasons with
Kent Anderson on the AJHL Drumheller Dragons from 2019-2021 and was teammates with
Garrett Brown on the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks at the end of the 2022-23 season … Chase LaPinta played with
Paxton Geisel with the Dallas Stars AAA and Elite teams from 2017-2020.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Omaha has a 14-10-0 overall record this season and is in second place in the NCHC standings with 29 points and a 10-4-0 mark in conference play. UNO has won its last six games and is 8-1-0 in its last nine contests. The Mavericks picked up a home sweep against then-No. 17 St. Cloud State last weekend, winning 6-3 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday. Omaha won the 2024 Ice Breaker Tournament on Oct. 11-12 in Las Vegas with OT wins against then-No. 14-UMass (3-2) and then-No. 5 Minnesota (2-1); UNO is 4-1 in OT games this season. The Mavs also own a 4-4-0 record in true road games and are 7-5-0 in games away from Baxter Arena this year (3-1-0 neutral sites). Sam Strange leads the team with 20 points and is tied for first with 10 goals and 10 assists. Zach Urdahl also has 10 goals and has added five assists to rank second in scoring (15 points). Jacob Geuvin is tied with Strange with 10 assists and is tied third on the squad with 14 points (4g/10a) with Harrison Israels (5g/9a). Goaltender Simon Latkoczy has started 20-of-24 outings this year and has an 11-9-0 record, 2.22 goals-against average and .935 save percentage.
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver ranks second in the nation in scoring, averaging 3.8 goals per game. Minnesota leads the country at 4.0 goals per game. DU ranks tied for fourth in total tallies with 90. The Pios led the NCAA last season with 202 total goals and a 4.59 average.
DU scored at least four goals in each of the first 11 contests and has 14 such games overall this season. The Pioneers have had 15 different players score and 19 of the 22 skaters register at least one point this year. Denver already has 10 skaters that have reached double-digits in points.
PLAYING AHEAD: The Pioneers have had the lead or have been tied for most of the season, as they've not trailed in 84.5% of game play this season (1219:47/1442:11)—leading for 47.8% (689:55) or being tied for 36.7% (529:52) of the time.
DU has only been down on the scoreboard in 15.5% of game play this season (222:24) and didn't trail for the first 244:12 of the season (4+ games).
PIOS POWER UP: Denver has tallied on the power play in 18-of-24 games this year, including in five straight contests from Jan. 3-24. DU's 31.8-percent success rate on the man advantage ranks first overall in the country.
Jack Devine is first on the team with 18 power-play points (2g/16a), while
Sam Harris leads the squad with seven man-advantage goals.
The Pioneers scored at least one power-play goal in an 11-game stretch from Oct. 19-Nov. 23, the team's longest run in the last decade (since 2015-16).
DU has converted multiple times while a man-up in six contests this season. The Pios opened the season by going 4-for-9 on opening night on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage—the most power-play goals scored in a game by the squad since Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State (4-of-6). Five of
Devine's six assists in Alaska on Oct. 5-6 came while DU was a man-up on the ice, while all four of
Zeev Buium's assists in that series came on power-play goals.
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver ranks tied for ninth in the nation with an 85.1-percent penalty kill. DU hasn't allowed a power-play goal against in 15 games this year and didn't allow multiple man-advantage goals against in a contest until Miami did it on Jan. 11.
The Pioneers had a stretch of 17 straight kills that began in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage and ended with Wisconsin tallying on its first power-play chance on Oct. 25 (four games)—the longest such streak since they were successful on 19 consecutive man disadvantages during the 2022 postseason from March 11-April 7, 2022.
Denver was successful in nullifying 89.7 percent of its penalties over the final 13 games in 2023-24, going 26-for-28 in a stretch that began on Feb. 24. DU was perfect in nine of those games, including going 4-for-4 on the PK on three occasions and seven straight in the final five outings of the season en route to the 2024 championship.
DOMINANT AT THE DOT: The Pioneers rank third in the nation by winning 55.0 percent of their faceoffs this season. They posted a season-high winning percentage of .656 on Jan. 10 against Miami (42/64).
Carter King leads Denver in faceoff wins (282) while
Samu Salminen paces the Pios with a .597 winning percentage (178/298). King is second in percentage (.570) and
Kieran Cebrian is second in draw victories (209/382) and third in percentage (.547). King set a personal best by winning 20-of-34 faceoffs on Oct. 19 against Northeastern for the most wins by a Pioneer since
Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts; he won 18 faceoffs on Dec. 7 at Western Michigan.
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD
- Jack Devine leads the country in assists (28) and is sixth in points (33).
- Aidan Thompson ranks tied for ninth in the NCAA in points (30), tied for 17th in goals (14) and is tied for 11th in power-play goals (6).
- Sam Harris is tied for third in the nation in game-winning goals (7), tied for fourth in power-play goals (7) and ranks tied for 10th in goals overall (14).
- Matt Davis is tied for first in the nation in wins (17), eighth in goals-against average (1.91) and tied for 14th in save percentage (.926).
- Carter King is tied for 17th in the nation in goals (13).
- Zeev Buium is tied for second among all defensemen in the NCAA in points (25) and leads his position in assists (20). His 20 assists are tied for the fourth-most among all skaters.
- Eric Pohlkamp is tied for fifth among NCAA defensemen in scoring with 21 points and is tied for the seventh-most goals by a D-man (6).
- As a team, Denver is tied for second in the country in goals for per game (3.8) and ranks in the top 10 in the NCAA in goals against per game (2.0, T-6th), shots per game (32.4, 8th), shots against per game (25.4, 9th) power play (31.8%, 1st), penalty kill (85.1, 9th), shooting percentage (.116, 4th) and save percentage (.923, 9th).
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver stayed at No. 5 in the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live nationals polls after the new lists were release on Monday. DU is presently No. 7 in the Pairwise computer rankings, which determines the NCAA Tournament field.
The NCHC has four teams ranked, led by Western Michigan at No. 3/3. Arizona State is at No. 12/13 and North Dakota at No 16/17 are also in the polls. Colorado College, St. Cloud State and Omaha received votes in each poll as well.
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver has sold out each of its 11 home games season, averaging 6,640 fans. The Pioneers set attendance records on Oct. 18-19 during homecoming weekend against Northeastern, including a new single-game high with a crowd 7,051 on Saturday for its banner-raising ceremony and series finale. Overall, 13,888 people watched the series sweep of NU—the most for a two-game weekend in school history and breaking the previous mark by more than 1,200 fans. Denver had 6,455 in attendance for its exhibition vs. UNLV on Dec. 28.
In 2023-24, DU set a home attendance record by averaging 6,130 fans at Magness Arena across 20 games, besting their previous high mark of 6,022 over the course of 24 contests in 2006-07. Denver had a sold-out crowd of 7,033 for its regular-season finale against Colorado College on March 9, which at the time was the highest-attended hockey game at Magness Arena in program history. DU had set its last high mark for attendance in its previous game against CC on Nov. 3 at Magness with a crowd of 7,021.
Overall, 122,594 people watched the Pioneers at Magness Arena in 2023-24 (20 games) after 133,117 people visited DU's home rink in 23 games in 2022-23 (the second-highest attended season in the rink's history). If the 17,952 that witnessed Denver defeat Colorado College at Ball Arena on Jan. 27, 2023 are included in the data (it officially counted as a DU home game), then 151,069 people watched Pioneer home games in 2022-23—the highest total attendance for the team since 1999.
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PIONEERS: Denver is commemorating 75 years of Pioneer hockey throughout 2024-25 to recognize its diamond jubilee as a program. DU hosted its 75th Anniversary reunion on Nov. 8-9 when Lindenwood visited Magness Arena. Among the activities were pre and post-game receptions for alums, alumni games and family skates and an on-ice recognition of approximately 150 former players in attendance during Saturday's first intermission, with each of the team's NCAA-record 10 championship trophies being presented as well.
The 2024-25 season is actually the 76th in DU hockey history, but the team's 75th anniversary of its first game was in December. The Pioneers' first-ever contests were at home on Dec. 19-20, 1949 against Saskatchewan, with the squad losing 17-0 and 9-1 in the series. Denver's first win was Jan. 27, 1950 at Wyoming (8-7), and the program's first home victory came against that same Wyoming squad on Feb. 18, 1950 (10-6) at the old DU Arena.
TICKETS: Limited tickets for Denver hockey's 75th anniversary in 2024-25 are still available. Click here to purchase and for more information.
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