ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 3-seed University of Denver hockey team aims to defend its NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship this weekend beginning with a semifinal matchup versus the No. 2-seed Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.
 
Following a 2-1 series win in the NCHC Quarterfinals last weekend at home against Colorado College, the Pioneers continue the conference tournament at the site where they won both the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and NCAA National Championship a season ago.
 
Friday's game begins at 3 p.m. MDT and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network. The radio broadcast can be heard locally and online at Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan HD3.
 
Denver improved to 3-0 all-time in Game 3s after defeating CC 9-2 in the decisive contest of the best-of-three series on Sunday night at Magness Arena. The Tigers won 3-1 on Friday in Game 1 before the Pioneers evened the series with a 6-3 victory on Saturday. Overall, DU's 15 goals scored in the two wins were its most in consecutive games in the conference tournament since the 1972 WCHA Second Round against Michigan State.
 
Arizona State was one of a few teams that had DU's number during the regular season, with the Pioneers going 1-3-0 in the four-game regular season series against Arizona State. The teams split their previous meetings last month in Tempe with each outing going to overtime. Aidan Thompson tallied the game-winner for Denver in a 5-4 win on Feb. 7 before ASU earned 6-5 extra time victory the next night.
 
This will be the first-ever meeting between the Pioneers and Sun Devils in the conference tournament as Arizona State is in its inaugural season in the NCHC. DU and ASU have met in nearly every full season since 2019-20 and the Pioneers own a 10-5-1 all-time record in the series that dates back to 2017.
 
The Sun Devils earned a berth into the semifinals after sweeping their quarterfinal series at home versus Minnesota Duluth. ASU earned a pair of one-goal victories in their first-ever conference tournament contests by winning 4-3 on Friday and 6-5 in overtime on Saturday.
 
The Pioneers are the only program in conference history to reach the semifinals in each of the 11-held NCHC Tournaments and won its third Frozen Faceoff title and 18th overall conference tournament championship last year. DU beat St. Cloud State in overtime in the semifinals before dispatching Omaha the next day in the final to secure the trophy.
 
This weekend is the final time that the Frozen Faceoff will be held at the Xcel Energy Center as the conference tournament will move entirely to campus sites in 2026. The Pioneers won the first-ever Frozen Faceoff in 2014 at Target Center in Minneapolis and won the first iteration of the event at Xcel Energy Center in 2018.
 
Denver's three Frozen Faceoff championships are tied with Minnesota Duluth for the most in the conference.
 
 
LAST TIME OUT: The No. 3-seed Pioneers came back to win the best-of-three quarterfinal series 2-1 against the Colorado College to open the NCHC Tournament on home ice.  No. 6 seed CC won 3-1 on Friday night in Game 1 after Brady Cleveland tallied the go-ahead goal with 3:43 remaining in the third period and the Tigers added an empty-netter minutes later.
 
DU evened the series on Saturday as Zeev Buium scored twice and Hagen Burrows, Connor Caponi and Aidan Thompson all finished the game with a goal and an assist.  The Pioneers went 3-for-9 on the power play and eight different players recorded at least a point in the contest.
 
The Pioneers won the decisive Game 3 by a 9-3 score on Sunday.  They led 2-1 after the first period before scoring three times in the second and four times in the third en route to the series win. Cale Ashcroft recorded a career-high three points and Jack Devine joined his teammate with three assists as well.  Senior captain Carter King scored twice in his final game at Magness Arena.
 
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER TAMES THE TIGERS: Denver's 9-2 win in Game 3 of the conference quarterfinals on Sunday marked the most goals the program has scored and its largest margin of victory in NCHC Tournament history.
 
It was the most goals that the Pioneers have tallied in a conference tournament since winning 9-3 against Michigan State on March 11, 1972 in Game 2 of the WCHA Second Round.  The last time DU won by seven goals in a conference tournament was an 8-1 victory in Game 2 vs. Michigan Tech in the WCHA First Round on March 9, 2002.
 
Overall, it was just the seventh time in program history that Denver had scored at least nine goals in a conference tournament matchup, with the other six occurring between 1960-1972; DU also beat CC by a 9-2 score on March 11, 1960 in Game 1 of the WCHA First Round.
 
The Pioneers won Game 2 on Saturday by a 6-3 score, with the team's 15 goals scored being their most in a two-game stretch in the conference tournament since winning 8-3 and 7-2 vs. North Dakota on March 9-10, 1977 in the WCHA First Round.
 
QUICK STRIKES: The Pios scored their fastest four (7:40), five (12:45) and six (14:16) goals in a game this season at the end of the second and the start of the third periods on Sunday vs. Colorado college.  The last time Denver tallied faster four and six goals was on Jan. 13, 2023 vs. Miami.
 
The squad's previous fastest four (8:11), five (13:22) and six goals (18:21) this year occurred on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha as DU scored 11 unanswered in an 11-2 victory; DU tallied nine of its goals in that contest in a matter of 27:26 from 0:25 of the second period to 7:51 of the third period, which also included the Pios' fastest two (0:16) and three markers (2:46).
 
HOBEY BAKER AWARD FINALIST: Sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium and senior forward Jack Devine were both named on Wednesday a top-10 finalist for the 2025 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top men's college hockey player in the country.  Devine was also a top-10 finalist a year ago.
 
A second round of fan voting is underway and takes into account a percentage of the total ballot.  Three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be named on April 3, and the award will be presented on April 11 at the Frozen Four.
 
Junior forward Aidan Thompson was also a nominee for this year's award. The Pioneers trio were among 21 players from the NCHC and 91 nationally up for this year's honor.  DU has had two previous winners: Matt Carle (2006) and Will Butcher (2017).
 
20-20 VISION: Forward Carter King became the second player on the Pioneers to reach the 20-goal threshold with a pair of tallies on Sunday vs. Colorado College, joining Sam Harris (21). This is the second-straight season and third time in the last four year that Denver has had multiple players reach the mark
 
DU is one of two schools in the country with two 20-goal scorers, as Boston University is the other with Cole Eiserman (21) and Quinn Hutson (20).
 
The Pios are close to having a third player reach that mark as Aidan Thompson owns a career-high 18 markers. The last time Denver had three skaters score 20 goals in a campaign was 2004-05 when Gabe Gauthier (26), Luke Fulghum (23) and Jonathan Foster (21) reached the mark.
 
PIONEERS IN THE NCHC FROZEN FACEOFF TOURNAMENT: Denver has a 30-10-1 all-time record in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and is the only squad to reach the conference's semifinals in each of the 11-held tournament. 
 
DU has a 3-7 record in the semifinals of the bracket and defeated St. Cloud State in overtime last year in the round of four.
 
The Pioneers had won 11 straight quarterfinal games before their loss in Game 1 to Colorado College this year. Denver had swept Minnesota Duluth (2024), Miami twice (2023, 2022) and North Dakota (2019) and won a one-game quarterfinal matchup against Omaha (2021) in the previous five-held tournaments.  Overall, the Pios are 21-3 all-time in the opening round of the NCHC Tournament and own seven series sweeps.
 
DU won last year's NCHC Frozen Faceoff to claim its third such title and 18th overall conference tournament championship (15 with WCHA).  The Pioneers have won each of their three appearances in the NCHC Final, as they also won the inaugural tournament in 2014 over Miami at Target Center in Minneapolis; 2018 vs. St. Cloud State at the first iteration of the event at Xcel Energy Center and 2024 vs. Omaha at the X.
 
NOTABLES

• Sunday marked the 348th all-time meeting between Denver and Colorado College, surpassing the Michigan-Michigan State series (347 games) for the most-played rivalry in college hockey history.
• The Pioneer scored three power-play goals in the third period on Sunday, their most in a single stanza this season.
• Samu Salminen's goal at 2:20 of the first period on Sunday marked the fastest goal to begin a game this season. Salminen also had the previous fastest this year at 2:57 of the first last weekend on March 7 vs. CC.
• Garrett Brown scored on Sunday during a delayed penalty for DU's fourth pulled-goalie goal of the season and second during a delayed infraction. Brown finished with two points (1g/1a) for his first career multi-point game.
• Cale Ashcroft recorded three assists for a career high in both assists and points. It was his second career multi-point outing.
• Carter King scored his sixth career short-handed goal, tied for the third-most in program history and the most by a Pioneer since Ryan Dingle also had six from 2004-2007. It was Denver's third short-handed goal of the season, with the previous two coming by Samu Salminen vs. Colorado College on Dec. 13.
• Denver and Colorado played five straight games against one another dating back to last weekend's regular-season finale series. This is the first time in the 75-year history of the rivalry that the programs have faced off five consecutive times
• DU was playing its second Sunday game of the season (Oct. 6 at Alaska Anchorage) and its first at home since Nov. 19, 2023 vs. Omaha.
• The Pioneers are now 5-3 in best-of-three series in the conference tournament after winning Game 2. DU is 5-5 all-time in Game 3s and 3-0 in those outings in the NCHC Tournament.
• Denver scored three power-play goals in both Game 2 and 3 and has tallied multiple times with the man advantage in 11 outings this year. DU has tallied at least three power-play markers in four games in 2024-25.
• Zeev Buium recorded his third career multi-goal game and second of the season on Saturday, as he scored three times on Nov. 15 at North Dakota.
• Hagen Burrows scored his first career goal, becoming the fourth Pioneer this season to tally their first NCAA marker.
• Kent Anderson played in his 100th career game on Friday, while Samu Salminen skated in his 100th career NCAA contest on Saturday.
• Last Friday marked the 2,800th game in Denver hockey history.

HISTORY VS. ASU: Denver went 1-3-0 against Arizona State this season, with the teams last meeting on Feb. 7-8 in Tempe.  The Pioneers earned a 5-4 overtime victory in that series opener with Aidan Thompson tallying the game-winner before the Sun Devils won 6-5 in OT the next night.  ASU won both games in Denver on Nov. 22-23, defeating the Pioneers 3-2 and 5-2.  It was the first time that DU suffered consecutive home losses on the same weekend since Jan. 31-Feb 1, 2020 vs. Minnesota Duluth, ending a run of 34 straight home series without getting swept.  Denver and Arizona State have faced off in four consecutive regular seasons, including the previous three years as non-conference foes.  ASU is in its first year in the NCHC and is in a three-team pod with Denver and Colorado College, meaning the squads will play each other four times during the year with two-game series at home and on the road.  DU and ASU have met in eight series and have faced off in 16 games since first meeting on Jan. 6-7, 2017, with the Pioneers owning a 10-5-1 all-time record.  This will be the squads' first official meeting at a neutral site, though they did play at Gila River Arena, the former home of the NHL Arizona Coyotes, on Dec. 7, 2019, with the teams playing to a 2-2 tie.  DU played ASU four times during the 2021-22 campaign, marking the most contests for the Pioneers against a then-non-conference opponent in a single season since also playing four games against U.S. International University (San Diego, California) in 1983-84.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (FEB. 8, 2024): No. 6-ranked Denver split its weekend series with the No. 12 Arizona State Sun Devils as the Pioneers lost 6-5 in overtime at Mullett Arena.  Denver and Arizona State played a back-and-forth game that needed overtime for the second consecutive night after the Pios won 5-4 in extra time and in similar fashion on Friday.  Bennett Schimek scored the game-tying goal for ASU at 13:44 of the third period and then buried the overtime-winner 86 seconds into the extra frame. Sophomore forward Sam Harris recorded his first career hat trick in the game for DU with a trio of goals, while senior Jack Devine produced three assists. Senior Carter King and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium also recorded multiple points with a pair of helpers apiece.  Junior Aidan Thompson and sophomore Kieran Cebrian scored the other two markers for Denver while goaltender Matt Davis made a career-high 49 saves in net.
 
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS: Arizona State ranks No. 11 and 12 in the two national polls and owns a 21-13-2 overall record this season.  The Sun Devils finished second in the NCHC during the regular season with 47 points and a 14-9-1 conference record.  ASU swept its conference quarterfinal series against Minnesota Duluth, winning 4-3 on Friday and 6-5 in overtime on Saturday to secure a spot in the Frozen Faceoff Semifinals.  Arizona State ranks third in the NCAA in power play at 29.2%, with DU in second place at 29.5%.  Ryan Kirwan leads the team with 25 goals and 38 points, while three players are tied with 37 points apiece.  Lukas Sillinger is first in assists with 29 and has added eight goals, while Bennett Schimek (15g/22a) and Artem Shlaine (16g/21a) also have 37 points.  Goaltender Luke Pavicich has played 22 games and owns a 13-8-0 record, 2.61 goals-against average and .909 save percentage.  Gibson Homer has seen action in 11 contests in net and sports an 8-5-2 mark, two shutouts, 2.56 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.
 
CONNECTIONS: DU Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Leu worked at the Sports Medicine Institute Physical Therapy Clinic and Arizona Boys Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1996-1999 … ASU's Cole Gordon is from Windsor, Colorado … Boston Buckberger and Chase Hamm are both from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan … DU's Zeev Buium (San Diego) and Sam Harris (San Diego) and ASU's Ty Murchison (Corona) and are all from Southern California … Jack Devine was teammates with the Sun Devils' Ty Murchison for two seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2019-2021 and was also at the NTDP at the same time as Cruz Lucius in 2020-21 … Jake Fisher won a USHL Clark Cup Championship with ASU's Brasen Boser with the Fargo Force last season … Connor Caponi and Ethan Szmagaj were teammates on the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks from 2018-2020 … Matt Davis played with Ryan Kirwan at the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2020-21 … Hagen Burrows and Sam Court played with the USHL Sioux City Musketeers in 2023-24 … Garrett Brown was a teammate with Bennett Schimek and Charlie Schoen with USHL Sioux City in 2021-22 … Eric Pohlkamp played with Joel Kjellberg with the USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in 2022-23 … Paxton Geisel was a teammate with Cole Helm with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints for two seasons from 2021-2023 and played with Ryan Alexander in Dubuque in 2020-21.
 
AND THE AWARD GOES TO: The Pioneers are finalists for six end-of-season awards from the NCHC, which will be announced at the awards celebration on Thursday prior to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minnesota.

• Player of the Year: Zeev Buium
• Senior Scholar Athlete Award: Matt Davis
• Forward of the Year: Jack Devine
• Offensive Defenseman of the Year: Zeev Buium
• Defensive Forward of the Year: Carter King
• Sportsmanship Award: Jared Wright 

PIONEERS ON THE ALL-NCHC TEAM: Six Denver players were recognized with All-Conference honors, as defenseman Zeev Buium (unanimous) and forward Jack Devine were named to the First Team, forward Aidan Thompson was selected to the Second Team and forwards Sam Harris and Carter King and defenseman Eric Pohlkamp were chosen to the Third Team. 
 
DU's two first-team members and six total honorees were each the most by any squad in the entire conference. Both Buium and Devine repeated as First-Team members, while the rest of the Pioneers were first-time recipients from the NCHC (Pohlkamp, First Team All-CCHA in 2023-24).
 
FIVE IN A ROW VS. CC: Denver and Colorado College faced off in five straight games from March 7-16, with the teams meeting in a home-and-home series to close the regular season before playing in three games in the NCHC Quarterfinals.  This was the first time in the rivalry that dates back to 1949 that the two programs played five consecutive contests against one another.
 
DU and CC were playing series on back-to-back weeks for the first time since March 5-13, 2004.  DU won both of regular-season contests in that home-and-home set before CC swept the Pios at Magness Arena in the WCHA first round—though Denver went on to win the national championship.  DU last faced a team in back-to-back weeks in 2015-16 when the Pios swept Omaha at home to close the main campaign before winning the NCHC Quarterfinals in two games.
 
DEVINE AMONG THE PIONEERS' BEST ALL-TIME: Senior Jack Devine is the highest-scoring Pioneer in the modern era is part of a select group of players with 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career.
 
Devine reached 100 career assists on March 8 at Colorado College, becoming the 12th Denver player to reach the mark.  By hitting the milestone, he also became just the 10th Pioneer in the school's 50-100-150 point club and the first to join that group since Dave Shields from 1986-1990 (71g/108a).
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is 14th on the school's all-time scoring list with 160 points (57g/103a) and the most by a DU player since Paul Comrie had 161 from 1995-99 and the most by all active NCAA players. He is one point from tying Comrie and Angelo Ricci (1991-95) for 12th place.
 
GOING 50-50: Senior Jack Devine leads the nation in scoring with 54 points and has reached the 50-point threshold in back-to-back years.  Devine had a career-high 56 points (27g/29a) last season in what was just the third 50-point campaign since 2012: Henrik Borgstrom in 2017-18 (52) and Bobby Brink in 2021-22 (57).
 
This is the first time that a Denver player has recorded consecutive 50-point seasons in nearly 35 years Daryn McBride was the last Pioneer to do it in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51).
 
BUIUM IN THE BOOK: Sophomore Zeev Buium owns 92 career points and is tied with Jack Wilson (1961-63) for the 11th-most points in a career by a DU defenseman. He is three points from tying Nolan Zajac (2012-16) for a tie for 10th place and is seven points from cracking the top 10.
 
Buium's 92 points are the most in the first two seasons by a Pioneer blueliner since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point campaigns as a freshman and sophomore in 1975-76 and 1977-77.  The second-year player from San Diego also owns has the most points in a two-year period by a Denver rear guard since Matt Carle combined for 97 total points as a sophomore in 2004-05 (44) and as a junior in 2005-06 (53).
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver went a combined 8-for-10 on the penalty kill in the three games last weekend vs. Colorado College in the NCHC Quarterfinals and has an 82.3-percent success rate on PK this season  The team hasn't allowed a power-play goal in 22 games this year, and Denver didn't allow multiple man-advantage goals against this season until Miami did it on Jan. 11.
 
DU 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. 
 
PIOS POWER UP: Denver ranks second in the nation on the power play with a 29.5-percent success rate and has tallied on the power play in 28-of-39 games this year.  The team 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). 
 
The Pioneers have recorded multiple man-advantage goals in 11 outings this year, including tallying three times in both Games 2 (3/9) and Games 3 (3/7) of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Colorado College on March 15-16.  Those marked the third and fourth time this year that DU scored at least three power-play markers in a contest.
 
Jack Devine is first on the team with 27 power-play points (5g/22a), while Sam Harris leads the squad and is tied for second in the country with nine man-advantage goals. 
 
EVERY NIGHT: Denver had 12 skaters that played in all 39 games during the regular season: Kent Anderson, Cale Ashcroft, Boston Buckberger, Kieran Cebrian Jack Devine, Carter King, Rieger Lorenz, Eric Pohlkamp, James Reeder, Samu Salminen, Aidan Thompson, Jared Wright.  In addition, goaltender Matt Davis suited up in all 39 contests as well, starting 35 of them in net.
 
DEVINE NAMED NCHC PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Senior Jack Devine picked up the second monthly honor of the season and of his career as NCHC Player of the Month for February.  Devine led all conference players in the month with 14 points and also tied for first goals (5) and assists (9).
 
The forward had points in seven of the eight games and recorded multiple points in six of the outings, including in the final three of the month. He also reached several major milestones in February as well.
 
Devine was previously named both NCHC Player of the Month in October and went on to earn national monthly honors as well. He is the first DU player to earn NCHC top players honors multiple times in the same season since defenseman Mike Benning in 2022-23 (December, February).

 

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