DENVER – The No. 6 Denver Pioneers hockey team faces the No. 17 North Dakota Fighting Hawks this weekend at Magness Arena in a two-game series between squads battling for home-ice advantage against one another for the upcoming NCHC Frozen Faceoff Tournament.
 
The weekend set begins with a nationally-televised broadcast on Friday at 7 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network. Saturday's start time is at 6 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and regionally on Altitude 2. Fans are encouraged to wear red as part of the Denver's "Red Out Weekend" theme. Limited tickets are available.
 
Both DU and UND have matching 9-6-1 conference records, but the Fighting Hawks are one point ahead of the Pioneers in the NCHC standings (28-27). The teams will be meeting for the final time this season after Denver won both games in Grand Forks to begin conference play; picking up 5-2 and 3-2 victories on Nov. 15-16.
 
The Pioneers are coming off a weekend series where they played two overtime games at then-No. 12 Arizona State. Aidan Thompson scored his third career overtime goal to lift DU to a 5-4 win on Friday, but the team fell 6-4 on Saturday in extra time despite Sam Harris tallying three times for his first career hat trick.
 
DU's win on Friday was its 20th of the season, extending its "Tenzer" Streak of producing 20 or more victories to 23 straight full seasons. The Pios are one of six teams in the NCAA with at least 20 wins and became the first NCHC squad to reach that mark (Western Michigan accomplished the feat on Saturday).
 
North Dakota has a 14-11-12 overall record this season and is 3-4-1 since the Holiday Break. The Fighting Hawks split their home series last weekend against Colorado College, losing 6-4 on Friday before winning 3-1 on Saturday. 
 
Denver has an 80-56-5 all-time record at home against North Dakota and is 7-3-0 in the past 10 matchups. Each team picked up a win last season at Magness Arena, with UND rallying for a 7-5 win on Dec. 1, 2023 before Carter King scored in overtime to lift DU to a 3-2 victory the next night.
 
North Dakota is Denver second-most common opponent behind in-state foe Colorado College, as DU and UND have played 312 games previously.
 
The series with the Fighting Hawks begins a stretch where the Pioneers will play five of their next seven games on home ice before wrapping up the regular season on March 8 at Colorado College.
 

LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers played two high-scoring overtime affairs last weekend as they wrapped up their season series against the No. 12-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe.  No. 6 DU won 5-4 in extra time on Friday after Aidan Thompson tallied the game-winner before falling 6-5 in OT in the finale on Saturday.
 
Thompson scored twice on Friday and recorded his third career overtime goal, while teammate Rieger Lorenz contributed two assists.  On Saturday, Sam Harris scored three goals for his first career hat trick while Jack Devine contributed three assists.  Carter King and Zeev Buium also finished with multi-point nights with a pair of helpers each.
 
SAMMY STREAKING & SCORING: Sophomore Sam Harris scored three goals on Saturday at Arizona State for his first career hat trick and the second by a Pioneer this season (Zeev Buium, Nov. 15 at North Dakota.  It was also Harris' first career three-point contest, and his sixth career multi-goal game and the 13th time that has registered multiple points.  His three markers came in a matter of 27:43, the fastest three goals scored by a Pioneer since Tristan Broz tallied a trio in 6:57 on Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Miami.
 
He finished the weekend with five points (4g/1a) after contributing two points (1g/1a) and an assist on the overtime-winning tally on Friday.  Harris is on a seven-game point streak (7g/3a), his second such stretch of the season behind his career-long nine-game run from Oct. 18-Nov. 16 (8g/6a).  His current seven-game run is the longest consecutive games point streak of his career as he missed the Nov. 2 contest at Yale due to injury.  He has also scored a goal in each of the last three outings.
 
Harris, who recorded points in 11 of his first 13 games he played this year, leads the team with 19 goals and six game-winning tallies.  He is one game-winner away from joining a five-way tie for fourth place in the program record book for the most in a single season.  Three of Harris' game-winners came in consecutive games: Nov. 8-9 vs. Lindenwood and Nov. 15 at North Dakota—the first time that a Pioneer has notched the winning tally in three consecutive outings in the last four years (since 2021-22).
 
Overall, the San Diego, California, native ranks fifth in the nation in goals, third in game-winners and his nine power-play markers are tied for first in the country with Bowling Green's Brody Waters.
 
WEEKEND NOTABLES

• Two of Sam Harris' three goals came on the power play, marking the fourth time that a DU player tallied multiple times with the man advantage in a game this season.
• Harris also scored twice in the second period, tied for the most goals in a period this season (fifth time)
• Matt Davis had his second 40-plus save effort of the season with a career-high 49 saves. It was tied for the 10th most saves in a game in program history and the most by a Pioneer since Sam Brittain's DU-record 67 saves on March 16, 2012 vs. Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA Final Five Semifinals.
• DU allowed 50 or more shots on goal on Saturday (55) for the first time since Omaha had 54 on the Pioneers on March 12, 2016.
• Cale Ashcroft tied a career high with three blocked shots on Saturday (Oct. 8, 2023 at Alaska Fairbanks).

CAPONI SETS GAMES PLAYED RECORD: Graduate student forward Connor Caponi set the school record for career games played on Saturday as he suited up in his 169th contest as a Pioneer.  Caponi has only missed seven games in his four-plus year career at DU and played in 62 straight outings before missing the Dec. 6 outing at Western Michigan due to a lower-body injury.
 
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native broke the DU hockey games played record that was previously held by former teammate Ryan Barrow (2017-2022), who skated in his 168th career game during 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.  Ed Cristofoli (1985-1989) owned the mark at 167 games before Barrow.
 
SENIOR CLASS SETS WINS RECORD: The Pioneers' 2025 senior class is the winningest group in program history after winning its 113th career game on Friday at Arizona State, surpassing the 2005 seniors' previous record of 112 wins.  This year's seniors became the 16th class to win at least 100 games when it accomplished that 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 seniors (2024) are tied for fifth all-time with 103 victories and registered a .708 winning percentage (103-41-5).
 
"TENZER" STREAK EXTENDED: Denver won its 20th game of the season on Friday at Arizona State, extending its "Tenzer" Streak of winning 20 or more games to 23 consecutive full seasons dating back to 2001-02.
 
The longest active streak in the country, the stretch is named after former DU Director of Hockey Operations David Tenzer, who spent 16 seasons with the program from 2001-02—the start of the streak—until retiring in 2017.  The program only played 24 total contests in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver leads the NCAA in scoring at 4.1 goals per game and its 114 total goals scored rank second behind the 121 of Minnesota (4.0 average), which has played two more games.  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 17 such games overall this season.  The Pioneers have had 15 different players score this year and 20 of the 22 skaters have registered at least one point.  Denver also already has 13 skaters that have reached double-digits in points.
 
DEVINE CLIMBING DU'S SCORING LISTS: Senior forward Jack Devine owns 145 points (50 goals, 95 assists) in 146 career games and ranks 25th in on the school's all-time scoring list.  He is two points from tying for 23rd and is five away from tying for the top 20.  Devine became the 103rd Pioneer to reach 100 career points after scoring in his 109th contest on March 8, 2024 at Colorado College.
145
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is five assists from 100 and five points from 150 in his career—he will be the 12th player with 100 assists and 22nd with 150 points should he grab each milestone.  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.
 
Devine scored his 50th career goal on Feb. 1 against Omaha to become the 61st player in school history to reach the half-century mark.  Devine's former teammate Cole Guttman was the last Pioneer to tally 50 career goals on Feb. 11, 2022 against Minnesota Duluth.
 
EXTRA GOOD IN EXTRA TIME: Denver is 2-1-1 in overtime this season after playing in extra time in both games last weekend at Arizona State.  The last time Denver played two overtime games against the same opponent in a weekend series was Dec. 9-10, 2022 at Minnesota Duluth, winning 3-2 and 4-3.
 
The Pioneers went unbeaten in 11 straight outings (8-0-3) that went beyond regulation before losing the series finale in OT on Saturday at ASU.  It was DU's first overtime loss since the Sun Devils also beat them in Tempe on Nov. 10, 2023; the Pios went 6-1-3 overall in OT games in 2023-24.
 
Junior forward Aidan Thompson tallied his fifth career game-winning goal and third overtime marker in Friday's victory at Arizona State—with each of the three extra-time tallies coming on the road.
 
STREAKING:

• Sam Harris is on a three-game goal streak (5g/1a) and seven-game point streak (7g/3a).
• Zeev Buium is on a four-game point streak (1g/6a).
• Jack Devine is on a three-game assist/point streak (1g/5a).
• Aidan Thompson is on a three-game point streak (3g/2a).

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 (344), including winning 18-of-30 on Saturday at ASU.  Samu Salminen paces the Pios with a .580 winning percentage (206/355), while King is second in percentage (.575).  Kieran Cebrian ranks second on the squad in draw victories (242/446) and third in percentage (.543).  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.
 
HISTORY VS. NORTH DAKOTA: Denver leads the 2024-25 season series with North Dakota at 2-0-0 after winning both games in Grand Forks on Nov. 15-16.  The Pios went 1-3-0 in last year's four-game series and 1-1-0 at Magness Arena, winning in overtime on Dec. 2, 2023.  The Pioneers are 7-3-0 in the last 10 games against the Fighting Hawks, which includes winning all four games against their rival in 2022-23 for its first sweep since 2009-10.  North Dakota is Denver's second-most common opponent behind Colorado College (341 games) as DU owns a 137-159-16 record in the all-time series that's been played 312 times.  Denver sports an 80-56-5 mark at home against UND and has a 120-134-14 record in conference play. DU defeated UND to win three of its 10 national championships: 1958 in Minneapolis, Minn., 1968 in Duluth, Minn., and 2005 in Columbus, Ohio.

NO LOVE LOSS: Denver gets set to play its 20th all-time game on Valentine's Day on Friday night, as the team will play on Feb. 14 for the first time since the 2020.  DU has an 11-6-2 all-time record on V-Day and has faced rival North Dakota five times on the date, with the Pioneers going 1-2-2 in those matchups.
 
DU last played UND on Valentine's Day in the program's last game on the date in 2020, with the Pios falling 4-1 in Grand Forks.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (NOV. 16, 2024): The No. 1 Pioneers scored two goals in the second period and held off the No. 9 North Dakota Fighting Hawks for the rest of the game to win 3-2 and sweep the weekend series at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.  Denver extended its school-record, season-opening win streak to 12 games and picked up its first sweep at North Dakota since the 2022-23 campaign; the Pioneers won 5-2 in the series opener the previous day.  Junior forward Aidan Thompson, sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger and freshman James Reeder all scored for the Pios.  Senior goaltender Matt Davis finished with 21 saves on 23 shots faced in the win.  North Dakota held a 2-1 lead early in the second period following a short-handed goal by Dylan James, but Thompson buried a power-play marker at 11:36 of frame and Buckberger was able to tap in a loose puck with 2:39 left before the intermission to give Denver its first and only lead of the night.
 
CONNECTIONS: Jake Fisher played junior hockey in North Dakota with the USHL Fargo Force last season in 2023-24 and won a Clark Cup championship on the team with UND's Mac Swanson …. Peter LaJoy skated in four games with the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats in 2020-21 ... Denver's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz and NoDak's Dylan James, Louis Jamernik V and Carter Wilkie are from the same hometown (Calgary, Alberta) … Lorenz played with James on the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers in 2020-21 … Davis was teammates with Fighting Hawks' Jake Schmaltz and Jackson Kunz in 2020-21 with the Green Bay Gamblers … Tory Pitner and Andrew Strathmann skated two seasons together with the USHL Youngstown Phantoms (2022-2024) and won the Clark Cup together in 2023 … Connor Caponi played with UND's Dane Montgomery at the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks in 2019-20 … Paxton Geisel played with Jayden Jubenvill with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints in 2022-23 and was a teammate of UND's Sacha Boisvert to start the 2023-24 campaign on the USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks … Owen McLaughlin briefly played with Jack Devine at the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020-21 … DU's Zeev Buium (San Diego) and Sam Harris (San Diego) and UND's EJ Emery (Compton) are all from Southern California … Buium was at the US NTDP at the same time as Emery in 2022-23.
 
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS: North Dakota is one point ahead of Denver in the NCHC standings with 28 points but has the same 9-6-1 conference mark as the Pios.  UND is 14-11-2 overall and is 3-4-1 since the Holiday Break.  The Fighting Hawks split their home series last weekend against Colorado College, losing 6-4 on Friday before winning 3-1 on Saturday.  NoDak began the campaign with a tough schedule as it faced ranked opponents in each of first seven games.  The Hawks hosted the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game once again on Oct. 12 and beat then-No. 13 Providence 3-2.  Sophomore defenseman Jake Livanavage leads the team in scoring with 21 points and also ranks first in assists with 18.  Sacha Boisvert is the top-scoring forward in second place with 20 points (9g/11a) and ranks second in goals with nine behind team-leader Dylan James (10g/8a).  T.J. Semptimphelter has started 19 games and has an 11-7-2 record, 2.70 goals-against average, .901 save percentage and one shutout this year.
 
PIOS POWER UP: Denver leads the nation in the power play with a 32.0-percent success rate and has tallied on the power play in 20-of-28 games this year.  The Pioneers scored twice with the extra man on Saturday at Arizona State, marking the seventh time this year they have recorded multiple man-advantage goals in a game.
 
The Pioneers scored at least one power-play goal during an 11-game stretch from Oct. 19-Nov. 23, the team's longest run in the last decade (since 2015-16).
 
Jack Devine is first on the team with 21 power-play points (2g/19a), while Sam Harris leads the squad and is tied for first in the country with nine man-advantage goals. 
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver has an 83.2-percent success rate on the penalty kill, and the team hasn't allowed a power-play goal in 16 games this year and went 5-for-6 on the PK last weekend at ASU.  DU didn't allow multiple man-advantage goals against in a contest in 2024-25 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. 
 
LORENZ'S HEATING UP: Junior forward Rieger Lorenz recorded multiple points in three straight games beginning on Jan. 31 against Omaha and going through Friday's outing at Arizona State.  It was the longest multi-point streak of his career while the three-game streak tied a personal long from Jan. 7-14, 2023.
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native totaled six points (2g/4a) in the two games against Omaha on Jan. 31-Feb. 1, including producing a career-high four points (2g/2a) on Feb. 1, helping him earn his first career NCHC Forward of the Week award.
 
POHLKAMP PICKING UP POINTS: Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp recorded assists in each game at Arizona State and now has 12 points (3g/9a) in his last 11 games.
 
Pohlkamp leads all Denver D-men with seven goals and 99 shots, ranking tied for sixth and second overall on the team, respectively.  His 25 points are sixth on the squad ad second-most by a blueliner behind Zeev Buium (32).
 
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.
 
THREE-POINT ZEEV: Sophomore Zeev Buium has recorded four three-point contests this season and has nine such games in his career.  He had three assists on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha and also recorded a trio of points on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (0g/3a), Nov. 15 at North Dakota (3g/0a) and Jan. 10 vs. Miami (1g/2a).
 
Buium has registered 21 points (5g/16a) in the last 16 games he's played and has recorded at least a point in 18-of-24 games this year.  The San Diego, California, native leads all NCAA defensemen with 32 points and 26 assists this season.
 
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: Denver is 67-12-5 in its last 84 contests at Magness Arena and sport a 74-16-6 record on the DU hilltop since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.  The Pios lost back-to-back home games on Nov 22-23 vs. Arizona State, ending a run of 34 straight home series without getting swept.  It was their first consecutive losses over a weekend at Magness Arena since March 31-Feb. 1, 2020 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
The Pioneers finished their 20-game home schedule last season with a 14-3-3 record and ended the home campaign on a four-game winning streak from Feb. 24-March 16, matching a season-best stretch (Dec. 2-Jan. 12).
 
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver has sold out each of its 13 home games season, averaging 6,630 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 a sold-out crowd of 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.
 
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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