MANCHESTER, N.H. – The University of Denver hockey team aims to secure a second-straight trip to NCAA Frozen Four on Sunday as the Pioneers face the No. 1-overall seed Boston College Eagles in the Northeast Regional Final at SNHU Arena.
 
Sunday's game will be the final contest of the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Regionals and begins at 5 p.m. MT. It will be nationally televised on ESPN2, and the radio broadcast can be heard on Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan HD3.
 
Denver and Boston College will be meeting for the second-straight year in the NCAA Tournament in what will also be a rematch fromoflast year's national championship game. The Pioneers won 2-0 in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 13, 2024 to claim their NCAA-record 10th title.
 
The Pioneers, who are a No. 3 seed in the region, will be facing a team from the Hockey East Association in their fourth-straight tournament game dating back to last year's Frozen Four semifinals against Boston University.
 
Denver beat HEA's Providence College Friars 5-1 on Friday night in the regional semifinals in Manchester. After scoring just two goals in each of its four games in last year's title run, the Pioneers' five tallies against the Northeast's No. 2 seed were their most in a tournament game since winning by the same 5-1 score against Minnesota State in the 2022 title contest in Boston, Massachusetts.
 
Sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium had his fifth three-point game of the season, and senior captain Carter King joined his teammate with a goal and two assists as well—with his marker being the 50th goal of his career. Junior forward Aidan Thompson had a goal and an assist and goaltender Matt Davis made 30 saves.
 
Boston College won 3-1 against Bentley in the first semifinal in Manchester on Friday in a contest that wasn't decided until the closing minutes. James Hagens tallied the go-ahead goal to break a 1-1 tie with 1:17 left in the third period. The meeting with the Boston-foe BU Falcons was the Eagles' first game in two weeks and marked just their third game in the past 28 days.
 
DU owns a 21-16-0 all-time record against BC, and the squads will be facing off in their fourth game in the last four years. In the national tournament, the Pioneers are 4-1 against the Eagles.
 
The last time Denver played a team in back-to-back NCAA tournaments was last year against Cornell.  They won 2-1 against the Big Red in the Regional Final in Springfield, revenging a 2-0 defeat from 2023 in Manchester. DU has never had a championship rematch in the national tournament the following season after playing in the national title game.
 
The Pioneers are looking to make the NCAA Frozen Four for the 20th time in program history and their sixth trip to the national semifinals in the last nine seasons.

 
LAST TIME OUT: Defenseman Zeev Buium and forward Carter King each had three-point efforts with a goal and two assists to lead No. 3-seed Denver to a 5-1 victory over No. 2 Providence in the Northeast Regional Semifinals on Friday in Manchester.
 
Junior Aidan Thompson also had multiple points (goal and assist) to reach the 20-goal threshold and sophomore Sam Harris tallied on the power play for his 23rd overall marker of the season.  Goaltender Matt Davis made 30-of-31 saves, with the only shot to get past him coming on a PC man advantage in the third period.

DU led 1-0 after the first period on Connor Caponi's tally into an open net after the Friars goalie misplayed the puck behind his own net, and the Pios had a 3-0 advantage after the first 40 minutes of play following tallies from Buium and Harris in a matter of 2:44.
 
ANOTHER 30-WIN CAMPAIGN: Denver became the second NCAA squad this season to reach the 30-win mark (Western Michigan) after defeating Providence in the Regional Semifinals on Friday, extending the program's record run of 30 victories or more to four consecutive seasons.
 
Overall, the Pioneers have now reached the 30-win threshold 10 times, with their 34 victories in 1985-86 setting the school record.  DU's 32 wins a year ago were tied for the fourth-most in a season in program history; the Pioneers had 30 victories in 2022-23 and 31 in 2021-22.
 
NOTABLES

• DU is now 45-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is 16-3 in the last 19 tournament games.
• The Pioneers earned their first-ever victory in Manchester. DU lost in 2013 to host-New Hampshire and 2023 against Cornell in its previous visits to the Regional Semifinals at SNHU Arena.
• Denver became the second team in the NCAA to reach the 30-win mark this season (Western Michigan, 31), extending its program-record streak to four straight seasons.
• Aidan Thompson became DU's third 20-goal scorer of the season, the team's most since also having three in 2004-05.
• Carter King had his second short-handed goal of the season and the seventh of his career, moving into a tie with Dwight Mathiasen for second place on the school's all-time shorthanded list.
• King's scored his 50th career goal, becoming the 62nd Pioneer to reach the threshold. He is the second Pioneer to reach the mark, joining Jack Devine.
• Boston Buckberger missed his first game of the season on Friday due to an upper-body injury. He had played in each of the first 85 games of his career before getting hurt in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game on March 22 vs. Western Michigan.
• Denver had eight players make their debuts in the national tournament on Friday: Garrett Brown, Hagen Burrows, Jake Fisher, Tory Pitner, Eric Pohlkamp, James Reeder, Samu Salminen and Alec Whipple.
• Zeev Buium recorded his fifth career game-winning goal and fourth of the season.
• The Pioneers' five goals scored were their most in a national tournament game since DU won by the same 5-1 score in the 2022 NCAA Championship Game vs. Minnesota State on April 9, 2022 in Boston.

THREE-POINT ZEEV: Sophomore Zeev Buium recorded his fifth three-point contest of the season in the Regional Semifinals vs. Providence with a goal and two assists and now owns 10 such games in his career; he owns three multi-point outings during the 2025 postseason.  He also had a three points on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (0g/3a), Nov. 15 at North Dakota (3g/0a), Jan. 10 vs. Miami (1g/2a) and Feb. 1 vs. Omaha.
 
Buium registered 28 points (8g/20a) in the last 23 games of the regular season and has recorded at least a point in 28-of-37 games this year.  The San Diego, California, native leads all NCAA defensemen with 46 points and leads his position group with 34 assists this season.
 
TWENTY SOMETHINGS: Junior forward Aidan Thompson became the third Pioneer to reach the 20-goal threshold after scoring in the Regional Semifinals on Friday vs. Providence, joining teammates Sam Harris (23) and Carter King (21).  This is the second-straight season and third time in the last four years that Denver has had multiple players reach the mark.
 
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) all accomplished the feat.
 
DU is the only school in the country with three players with 20 or more tallies, and one of two programs with multiple 20-goal scorers; Boston University is the other with Cole Eiserman (23) and Quinn Hutson (22).
 
KING GOES SHORTY: Captain Carter King scored his second short-handed goal of the season on Friday against Providence, with each of his man-disadvantage markers coming during the 2025 postseason. He tallied his first shorty of the year in Game 3 of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Colorado College on March 16.
 
King now owns seven career short-handed goals, tying for second place on Denver's all-time list with Dwight Mathiasen (1983-86).  Daryl Seltenreich (1986-88) owns the record with eight career shorties.
 
For King, the goal in the regional semifinal was his 50th of his career. He is the 62nd player in program history to reach the half-century mark and the second this season as Jack Devine reached the mark on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha.
 
DENVER VS. BC IN NATIONAL TOURNAMENT: The Pioneers and Eagles are set to meet in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season in what will also be a meeting of last year's national championship game. Denver won 2-0 in the 2024 NCAA Title contest in St. Paul, Minnesota, with goals from Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz and a 26-save shutout performance from goaltender Matt Davis.
 
Denver is 4-1 all-time against the BC Eagles in the NCAA Tournament and have won each of the last two meetings dating back to a 5-2 victory in the 2015 East Regional Semifinals in Providence, R.I.  The teams also met in 2014 in Worcester, Mass., with the Eagles winning that contest 6-2.  
 
DU and BC have faced off in the Frozen Four three times overall.  The Pioneers also won 4-1 in the semifinals in 1968 en route to a championship in Duluth, Minn., and 10-4 in the 1973 semifinals in Boston.
 
HISTORY VS. BOSTON COLLEGE: Denver and Boston College are meeting for the second straight season in the NCAA Tournament and will be playing their fourth contest against one another in the last four years.  DU won 2-0 in the national championship game last season and won 4-3 in Chestnut Hill earlier in the campaign on Oct. 21, 2023; the Pios lost 5-1 at BC in October 2021.  Denver is 5-1 in the last six meetings against Boston College since 2017 and is 7-3 in the last 10 contests against one another.  The Pioneers own an all-time record of 21-16-0 against Eagles in a series that dates back to 1968.  Denver is 6-5 on the road against BC and 11-10 as the home team.  The schools have met five times at neutral sites, with DU owning a 4-1 mark in those outings that have all come in the national tournament.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (APRIL 13, 2024): Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz scored second-period goals, Matt Davis had 35 saves and Denver beat No. 1 overall seed Boston College 2-0 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., to win the 10th national championship in program history.  No. 3 overall seed Denver (32-9-3), which finished the season on a nine-game win streak, moved past Michigan (nine) for most titles all-time.  Davis had 23 third-period saves in his third shutout of the season.  The junior made his 26th consecutive start, the longest streak of his career, and stopped 68 of the 69 shots he faced at the Frozen Four. Davis had 33 saves in the Pioneers' 2-1 double-overtime win over Boston University in the semifinals.
 
CONNECTIONS: Denver Athletics Director Josh Berlo did his undergraduate in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (UMass '99) … Director of Sports Performance Matt Shaw used to work at Boston University and Harvard and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from BU … Aidan Thompson played prep school hockey at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass., for two seasons from 2018-2020 … Pioneers freshman Jake Fisher and the Eagles' rookies Jake Sondreal and Will Skahan are all from Woodbury, Minn., with Fisher and Sondreal also playing Minnesota High School together hockey from 2019-2022 with Cretin-Derham Hall … Sondreal played with Paxton Geisel in 2022-23 and two seasons with James Reeder from 2022-2024 with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints … Tory Pitner won a USHL Clark Cup championship with Jacob Fowler on the Youngstown Phantoms in 2022-23 … Boston College has 10 players from the U.S. National Team Development Program on its team, with Denver's Jack Devine playing with Adam Hreshuk from 2019-2021 and with Eamon Powell in 2019-20 … Zeev Buium was a teammate for two seasons from 2021-2023 at the U.S. NTDP with Drew Fortescue, Ryan Leonard, Aram Minnetian, Gabe Perreault and Will Vote, and Buium was also at the NTDP in 2022-23 at the same time as James Hagens, Will Skahan and Teddy Stiga … Buium won a gold medal for the United States at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship team that was coached by David Carle with Hagens, Leonard, Perreault, Stiga, Fortescue and Minnetian … Buium had the primary assist on Stiga's overtime-winning goal in the 2025 WJC Gold Medal Game … Buium and Eric Pohlkamp also played with BC's Fortescue, Leonard, Minnetian, Fowler and Perreault on the 2024 U.S. World Junior Team that won the first of back-to-back golds in Sweden and was also led by Carle as head coach … DU's Devine (Glencoe) and Reeder (Glenview) and BC's Perreault (Hinsdale) are all from the Chicago area … Denver's Buium (San Deigo) and Boston College's Andre Gasseau (Garden Grove) and Hreshuk (Long Beach) are from Southern California.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Boston College won the regular-season championship in Hockey East after going 18-4-2 in league play.  The Eagles own a 27-7-2 overall record this season and is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament despite ranking second in the most recent USCHO.com and The Rink Live/USA Hockey media polls.  The Eagles had a two-week break before the Regional Semifinals against Bentley on Friday as they had last played on March 15 against cross-town rival Northeastern, losing 3-1 in the conference quarterfinals.  Overall, BC had played just two games in a four-week span prior to facing Bentley, which they won 3-1 after breaking a 1-1 tie with a marker from James Hagens with 1:17 left in the third period.  Hobey Baker Award Top-10 Finalist Ryan Leonard tallied into an empty net with 33 seconds left for his 30th goal of the season and leads the team with 49 points (30g/19a).  Gabe Perreault is second on the squad with 48 points and 16 goals and paces the Eagles with 32 assists.  Hagens, a 2025 NHL Draft eligible player, is third in scoring with 37 points (11g/26a).  Goaltender Jacob Fowler has started 34-of-36 games this season and owns a 25-6-2 record, 1.62 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and seven shutouts.  BC allows the second-fewest goals against per game in the NCAA (1.7) and rank second on the penalty kill (89.6%).
 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: The Pios are 12-1-0 against non-NCHC opponents this season and are 4-1-0 against squads from Hockey East.  DU defeated three HEA squad in the 2024 NCAA Tournament en route to the national championship (UMass, BU and BC).
 
Denver went 11-1-0 in non-conference play during the regular season, including winning each of the first 11 contests.  The team concluded its non-NCHC games on Jan. 3-4 at Maine, splitting the series in its second of two trips to the northeast this year after playing at Yale on Nov. 1-2.  DU began the season on Oct. 5-6 at independent Alaska Anchorage.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE: Denver had eight players make their debuts in the national tournament on Friday: Garrett Brown, Hagen Burrows, Jake Fisher, Tory Pitner, Eric Pohlkamp, James Reeder, Samu Salminen and Alec Whipple.
 
The Pioneers had 13 players on their roster with previous NCAA Tournament experience, with seniors Jack Devine and Carter King tied for the third-most with among active tournament players 10 games each over the past four years.  DU has seven players on its roster that made their debuts in last year's tourney, including NCAA Regionals and Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player Matt Davis.
 
Overall, DU has four players that were members of both the 2022 and 2024 national championship squads: Davis, Devine, King and graduate student Connor Caponi.
 
NIFTY FIFTY: Denver is the only program in the country with multiple 50-point scorers, as senior forward Jack Devine leads the nation with 56 points while linemate Aidan Thompson is tied for third in the NCAA with a career-high 53 points.
 
This is the second straight season that DU has had multiple players reach 50 points after Devine (56) and Zeev Buium (50) each reached the mark in 2023-24.
 
Devine's 56 points in 2024-25 ties his career high from a season ago (27g/29a), which marked just the third 50-point campaign by a Pioneer since 2012: Henrik Borgstrom in 2017-18 (52) and Bobby Brink in 2021-22 (57).  The last time DU had a player record consecutive 50-point seasons was nearly 35 years ago when Daryn McBride accomplished the feat in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51).
 
MEETINGS IN MANCHESTER: The Pioneers picked up their first-ever victory in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday with the 5-1 win over Providence in the Regional Semifinals.  DU was playing at SNHU Arena for the third time in program history and is making it second visit in three years to the state's largest city.
 
Denver's first visit came on March 29, 2013 when it lost 5-2 to host New Hampshire in the Northeast Regional Semifinals, and the squad lost 2-0 to Cornell in the semifinals on March 23, 2023 in its previous trip.
 
 

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