OXFORD, Ohio – The No. 6 Denver Pioneers hockey team beat the Miami RedHawks 5-2 on Saturday night to sweep the two-game series at Steve "Coach" Cady Arena in the Goggin Ice Center.
Denver (23-8-1, 12-7-1 NCHC) had five different players score for the second-straight night, with junior forward
Aidan Thompson and sophomore defenseman
Zeev Buium both finishing with a goal and an assist. Senior
Carter King, sophomore
Kieran Cebrian and freshman
Jake Fisher also scored.
Senior forward
Jack Devine had two assists to surpass 150 career points. He reached the milestone with the primary helper on Buium's seventh goal of the season with 1:27 left in the second period, giving DU a 3-1 lead at the time.
Devine is the 22nd player with at least 150 career points and is the first Pioneer to reach the milestone since
Rhett Rakhshani in 2010. His second assist came on Thompson's empty-net goal with 2:13 left to play, and he is now tied with Rakhshani (2006-2010) and
Bill Abbott (1951-55) for 18th place on the school's all-time scoring list.
"I'm just fortunate," Devine said. "I couldn't have done it without all of my teammates currently and before. I know how much history is in this program, so I couldn't have done it without my teammates."
Denver outshot Miami 31-23 in the contest, with DU goaltender
Freddie Halyk making 21 saves in his fourth victory of the year.
The Pioneers led 2-0 after the first period with goals from King and Cebrian and were up 3-2 at the second intermission. Miami scored with 41 seconds left in the middle stanza to cut its deficit to one after Buium's marker.
Fisher tallied his second goal in as many nights at 10:30 of the third to push the Pioneers' lead back to two goals and give them insurance en route to their eighth series sweep of the season. DU's last sweep came against Miami at home on Jan. 10-11, and its last on the road was Nov. 15-16 at North Dakota.
Hampus Rydqvist and Conner Hutchison scored for the RedHawks (3-25-2, 0-20-0 NCHC) while MU netminder Ethan Dahlmeir made 26 stops.
Neither team scored on its lone power-play opportunity in the game.
UP NEXT: The Pioneers have two weeks left in the regular season and open a three-game homestand next weekend with a series versus St. Cloud State on Feb. 28-March 1. DU then hosts in-state rival Colorado College on March 7 before finishing the regular season the next night in Colorado Springs at CC.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The Pioneers have now won each of their last nine games at Cady Arena and improved to 14-5-0 all-time at Miami.
- DU has won five straight games against MU and is unbeaten in the last 18 meetings (17-0-1) of the series.
- Jack Devine became the 22nd Pioneer to record 150 career points and the first since Rhett Rakhshani in 2010.
- Devine's two assists in the game now give him 151 career points and ties him with Rakhshani (2006-2010) and Bill Abbott (1951-55) for 18th place on the school's all-time scoring list.
- Devine also played in his 150th career game, becoming the 71st Pioneer in school history to reach the milestone.
- Aidan Thompson extended his point streak to seven games (4g/7a) while Carter King is now on a five-game point streak (3g/3a).
- Garrett Brown recorded points in back-to-back games for the second time this season and fourth time in his career.
- Jake Fisher scored and recorded points in consecutive contests for the first time in his career.
- Boston Buckberger had an assist and now has nine points (3g/6a) in his last eight games.
- Jared Wright had an assist for his 50th career point.
- Goaltender Freddie Halyk made his fourth start of the season. He took his first penalty of his career in the second period (two minutes for tripping at 10:28).
- Denver had just one power play in a game for the fourth time this season.
- The Pioneers blocked 17 shots, the second-most in a game this season (18, Nov. 16 at North Dakota).
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
9:55 DU (1-0) –
Carter King cleaned up a rebound at the top of the crease after
Boston Buckberger's shot from the slot was stopped initially.
16:41 DU (2-0) –
Kieran Cebrian knocked in
Jared Wright's centering pass while driving to the front of the net on a rush.
2nd Period
5:33 MU (2-1) – Hampus Rydqvist scored on a wraparound during 4-on-4 play.
18:33 DU (3-1) –
Zeev Buium fired a shot from the high slot that got through traffic and ended in the back of the net.
19:19 MU (3-2) – Conner Hutchison tallied for the RedHawks.
3rd Period
10:30 DU (4-2) –
Jake Fisher shoveled the puck into the cage from the slot after
Zeev Buium's shot from the point was blocked in front.
17:47 DU (5-2) –
ENG,
Aidan Thompson fired the puck into the open net from the left boards
QUOTABLES
Senior Forward Jack Devine
On the weekend sweep: "I think we've shown a lot of growth. That was a really big third period there. Great goal by
Jake Fisher and the fourth line. I think for us it's staying composed and not being frustrated, and it resulted in a really big series sweep."
On becoming a well-rounded offensive player at Denver: "I've just been fortunate enough to play with some really good players. Last year with
Massimo Rizzo and
McKade Webster, and this year with
Carter King and
Aidan Thompson. I just think it's just finding my game within those guys and seeing what works. Those guys (King and Thompson) are obviously really good at finding the net, so it's just trying to find them and put them into positions to have success."
On getting 150 points the same weekend as linemates Carter King and Aidan Thompson recorded 100 career points: "It's pretty incredible. I don't know if that's ever happened for a program to have two guys with 100 points one game and then something like this (another milestone, 150 points). It's pretty crazy, but we know the job's not finished and it doesn't really matter unless we can finish this off with a national championship."
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