DENVER – The No. 7 University of Denver hockey team concludes the 2024-25 regular season this weekend as the Pioneers take on the No. 20 Colorado College Tigers in a home-and-home set that will also wrap up the annual Gold Pan series.
 
The two-game matchup between the in-state rivals begins on Friday at 7 p.m. MT at Magness Arena and concludes on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. Both games will be available on NCHC.tv, while Friday's contest will also be broadcast on Altitude 2 and Saturday's outing will be televised in the Denver metro area on CW2 (KWGN-TV).
 
Friday's home game is sold out, but tickets are available on the secondary market on SeatGeek, DU's official marketplace partner.
 
DU aims to earn its sixth-straight Gold Pan over Colorado College this weekend. With the season series tied at 1-1 and with the Pioneers having previously held the trophy, they only need one regulation victory or three points in the two games to retain the hardware for another year. Denver has won the trophy 18 times since it began its circulation in 1993-94, while Colorado College has taken it home 13 times.
 
Denver and CC are presently the second-most played rivalry in college hockey with 343 previous meetings (DU leads series 198-124-21), only four less than the 347 games that Michigan and Michigan State have played.
 
The Pioneers and Tigers met for the first time this season prior to the Holiday Break on Dec. 13-14, with Denver falling 5-4 in Colorado Springs before winning 2-1 at home.
 
DU is 7-3-1 in its last 11 games and 4-2-0 in their past six contests. Denver split its series last weekend against St. Cloud State, winning 3-1 on Friday before losing 2-1 on Saturday.
 
Colorado College is coming off its final bye weekend of the season and last played on Feb. 21-22 at St. Cloud, winning 4-3 and losing 4-2 in the two-game set.
 
The Tigers (17-14-1 overall) are fairly secure in sixth place in the NCHC standings with 32 points and a 11-10-1 conference mark.
 
Denver (24-9-1) is tied for fourth with North Dakota with 39 points and a 13-8-1 conference record, but the Pios own the tiebreaker over the Fighting Hawks by winning the four-game regular season series (3-1-0).
 
The Pioneers can secure home-ice advantage for next week's best-of three NCHC Quarterfinals with a regulation win and a regulation loss by North Dakota on Friday or by earning four total points in the series against Colorado College. North Dakota is hosting third-place Omaha, which is just two points up on both DU and UND.
 
Prior to Friday's game, Denver will also honor its four-member senior class of Connor Caponi, Matt Davis, Jack Devine and Carter King, who will be playing their final home regular-season contest at Magness Arena. This year's seniors are the winningest group in program history with 117 victories in their career in crimson and gold.
 
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers split their series with St. Cloud State at home last weekend, winning 3-1 on Friday before falling 2-1 on Saturday.  DU outshot SCSU 80-45 overall in the two-game set, which marked the only meeting of the regular season between the two programs.
 
Carter King scored twice on Friday night and was joined with multi-point outings with Boston Buckberger (0g/2a), Aidan Thompson (0g/2a) and Jack Devine (1g/1a).  Devine scored on both nights, including DU's lone goal on Saturday to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period.  DU goaltender Matt Davis made 20 saves on Friday and 23 on Saturday.
 
STREAKING

• Aidan Thompson is on a nine-game point streak (4g/10a).
• Jack Devine is on a four-game point streak (3g/4a).
• Zeev Buium has assists/points in each of the last four games he's played (1g/4a).

DEVINE NAMED NCHC PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Senior Jack Devine picked up the second monthly honor of the season and of his career on Tuesday as he was named the 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 (more below).
 
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).
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver went a combined 7-for-7 on the penalty kill in the two games last weekend vs. St. Cloud State, including going 5-for-5 in Saturday's game.  It was the third time this season that DU has killed at least five infractions in a game: Oct. 6 at Alaska Anchorage (5/5) and Oct. 25 vs. Wisconsin (6/6).
 
The Pioneers have killed off nine straight penalties dating back to Feb. 21 at Miami and has an 83.3-percent success rate on the penalty kill.  The team hasn't allowed a power-play goal in 21 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. 
 
NOTABLES

• The Pioneers outshot the Huskies 20-7 in the third period on Saturday for their most shots in a single period this season.  DU tied its then-season best with 19 shots in the first period on Friday.
• Friday marked the seventh time this season that DU fired 40 or more shots in a game (5-1-1 record).
• Graduate student Connor Caponi played in his 175th career game on Saturday, becoming the 53rd player in NCAA history to reach that milestone.
• Aidan Thompson recorded multiple points in three straight games from Feb. 21-28 (1g/5a).
• Carter King's goal at 4:34 of the first period on Friday marked Denver's fastest to begin a game this season.
• King's two goals on Friday marked his fifth multi-goal game of his career and third of the season. He last scored twice in a game on Nov. 25 vs. Arizona State.
• Boston Buckberger had his sixth multi-point game of the season on Friday and now has seven points (1g/6a) in his last six contests.
• Buckberger recorded his 50th career point on Friday.
• Carter King's six-game point streak (5g/3a) and Boston Buckberger's three-game run (0g/4a) each came to an end on Saturday night.
• Kieran Cebrian appeared in his 70th game with Denver on Saturday after Cale Ashcroft played in his 70th on Friday.
• Radio broadcaster Jay Stickney called his 1,000th DU hockey game on Friday night. He is in his 25th year broadcasting Pioneer contests and has called each of Denver's five national championships this century.
• Denver had won three straight games before losing on Friday, its longest winning streak of the season since its 12-game run to open the campaign.
• The Pioneers are now 5-1-1 in their last seven games against the SCSU Huskies.
• DU and SCSU will only play in one series this season, as the Pios won't make the trip to St. Cloud in 2024-25.

HISTORY VS. CC: Friday's game between Denver and Colorado College is set to be the 344th all-time meeting between the teams, as the rivalry is the second-most played series in college hockey history behind Michigan and Michigan State (347 games).  DU is two wins shy of 200 all-time against CC as the Pioneers own a 198-124-21 all-time record over the Tigers.  Denver is 7-3-0 in the last 10 contests against its in-state foe and sports a 19-4-1 mark in the last 24 games versus the Tigers since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.  The teams split their first series of the season on Dec. 13-14, with Colorado College erasing a three-goal deficit in a 5-4 win in Colorado Springs in the opener before the Pioneers won 2-1 on home ice in the finale.  The Pioneers have won the Gold Pan in each of the last five seasons and just needs to split this weekend's series to retain trophy for another year.  At home, the Pios have a 115-54-11 mark against the Tigers and have won 11 straight "home" outings dating back to Dec. 13, 2019, which includes 2-0 victory at Ball Arena in downtown Denver on Jan. 27, 2023.  The Pioneers own a 77-66-10 record in road games and is 167-98-21 all-time against the Tigers in conference play.  The teams could meet again the following week on Marc 14-16 for the NCHC Quarterfinals, which would be the first time that DU and CC will have play at least four straight games against one another since March 5-13, 2004; the teams were supposed to play four straight games to conclude the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign but the last two on March 4-6 were cancelled.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (DEC. 14, 2024): The No. 4-ranked Denver hockey team secured a 2-1 win at Magness Arena to wrap up the first of two series this season against the No. 10 Colorado College Tigers.  Junior forward Aidan Thompson scored the equalizer 2:35 into the middle stanza, and sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft registered his second game-winning goal of the season at 5:28 of the third period.  Freshman forward Hagen Burrows and sophomore defender Eric Pohlkamp had assists on Ashcroft's marker.  Senior goaltender Matt Davis led a strong defensive push for the Pioneers, making 20-of-21 saves that the Tigers sent his way.  The only puck to get past him was one that he didn't see as Ty Gallagher's shot midway through the opening stanza was the result of a screen.  After Thompson scored unassisted off his own rebound late in the second period, the two rival teams stayed tied for almost 23 minutes throughout the second and third periods until Ashcroft buried his shot from the right circle off a pass from Burrows.
 
CONNECTIONS: Denver Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane spent two seasons in the same role for Colorado College (2019-2021) ... Tigers assistant coach Peter Mannino is a former DU goaltender that won the 2005 National Championship and took home the MVP award at that year's Frozen Four ... Garrett Brown and Philippe Blais-Savoie are both from San Jose, Calif. … Brown played with Gavin Lindberg with the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks at the end of the 2022-23 season … Ethan Straky played with Kent Anderson at the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2021-22 and was teammates for two seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program with Jack Devine from 2019-2021 … Devine also played with goalie Kaiden Mbereko at the program from 2019-2021 … Mbereko and Stanley Cooley were teammates of Aidan Thompson with the USHL Lincoln Stars in 2021-22, while Thompson skated two seasons at Lincoln with CC's Noah Laba and Gleb Veremyev from 2020-2022 … Boston Buckberger was a teammate with Tyler Dunbar in Lincoln at the end of the 2022-23 campaign … Cooley played with Matt Davis on the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints from 2018-2020 … DU's Kieran Cebrian (2020-2023) and Cale Ashcroft (2022-2023) were teammates with Drew Montgomery (2020-2023) and Philippe Blais-Savoie (2022-23) with the USHL Tri-City Storm … Paxton Geisel was teammates on the Dubuque Fighting Saints with Ryan Beck (2021-22), Max Burkholder (2021-2023), Fisher Scott (2022-23) and Riley Stuart (2021-2023) … Geisel played with Ryan Koering on USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks to start 2023-24 … CC has two players from Colorado on its roster in Kaiden Mbereko (Aspen) and Fisher Scott (Carbondale), while DU has three in Kieran Cebrian (Denver), Peter LaJoy (Evergreen) and Aidan Thompson (Fort Collins).
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Colorado College ranks tied for 20th in the USCHO.com poll and has an 17-14-1 overall record, and the Tigers presently rank sixth in the NCHC standings with 32 points and a 11-10-1 conference mark.  CC is 5-2-0 in its last seven games and is coming off its final bye weekend of the regular season.  The Tigers last played on Feb. 21-22 at St. Cloud State, winning 4-3 and losing 4-2.  Colorado College is 11-5-0 at home this season but has a 6-9-1 mark in road contests.  Max Burkholder leads the team in scoring with 25 points and is also first with 19 assists. Drew Montgomery is the squad's leader in goals with 10 and has also added seven assists. Nine players have scored six or more goals this season, with Owen Beckner (6g/18a) and Ty Gallagher (6g/17a) ranking second and third respectively in scoring as well.  Goaltender and 2024 All-American Kaidan Mbereko has started 27 games and owns a 14-12-1 record, 2.52 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
DU VS. CC, WE'VE BEEN EVERYWHERE: Denver and Colorado College have faced off in 14 different venues in their history, with DU owning a winning record in 11 of them. The latest rink the teams played in came last season on Jan. 27, 2023 when the Pioneers won 2-0 at Ball Arena, which also marked the program's first-ever regular-season contest at the home of the NHL Colorado Avalanche.
 
The teams have played in five different rinks in the Denver area, including Coors Field in 2016 for the Battle on Blake and at McNichols Arena, the former home of the Avalanche (also at Magness Arena, DU Arena, Denver Coliseum).  DU and CC have squared off in four arenas out of state, with three in Minnesota (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul Civic Center and Target Center) and the other in Columbus, Ohio, at Ohio State's Value City Arena in April 2005 in the Frozen Four national semifinals (the Pioneers won en route to their second consecutive national title). 
 
The teams have also faced each other at the Air Force Academy's Cadet Ice Arena, Broadmoor Ice Palace, World Arena and Ed Robson Arena in the Colorado Springs area.
 
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver has sold out each of its 17 home games season, averaging 6,600 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. ACHA 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, 2024, 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.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 7 nationally in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls that were both released on Monday.  DU is presently No. 10 in the Pairwise computer rankings that determines the NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC has the second-most teams ranked in the USCHO.com poll with five and has four teams in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live list.  Joining DU is Western Michigan at No. 4/4, Arizona State at No. 12/13, North Dakota at No. 18/18 and Colorado College at No. 20/RV.  Omaha also received votes in each poll.
 
DEVINE CLIMBING DU'S SCORING LISTS: Senior forward Jack Devine owns 154 points (55 goals, 99 assists) in 152 career games and is tied with Jason Elders (1991-95) for 17th place on the school's all-time scoring list. He is one point from a tie for 16th with Gabe Gauthier (2002-06)—the highest scoring Pioneer player since 1999.
 
Overall, Devine ranks second among active NCAA players in scoring, with only Arizona State graduate student Lukas Sillinger having more with 158 points.
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is one assist away from 100 in his career, where he'll be the 12th player in DU history to reach the century mark in helpers and the first since John McMillan and Dwight Mathiasen both did it in 1986.  If Devine reaches 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in his career, he will become just the 10th player in Denver'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, the 61st player in school history to reach the half-century mark in tallies.  Devine's former teammate Cole Guttman was the last Pioneer to tally 50 career goals on Feb. 11, 2022 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
BUCKING THE TREND: Defenseman Boston Buckberger has recorded 11 points in the last 10 games (3g/8a), and his six goals this season have already surpassed his total as a rookie from a year ago (five).  He tied a career high with three points (1g/2a) on Feb. 14 vs. North Dakota, marking his second career three-point game: Feb. 24, 2024 vs. Miami (0g/3a).
 
Buckberger was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week on Feb. 24, marking his second career top defender honor and becoming the third Denver D-man to pick up the award this season (3x, Zeev Buium; 2x, Eric Pohlkamp).
 
DOMINANT AT THE DOT: The Pioneers rank second in the nation by winning 55.4 percent of their faceoffs this season, trailing only Quinnipiac (55.5).  They posted a season-high winning percentage of .656 on Jan. 10 against Miami (42/64).
 
Carter King leads Denver in faceoff wins (422) while Samu Salminen paces the Pios with a .594 winning percentage (265/446); King is second in percentage (.565).  Kieran Cebrian ranks second on the squad in draw victories (294/531) and third in percentage (.554).  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.
 
SENIOR CLASS SETS WINS RECORD: The Pioneers' 2025 senior class is the winningest group in program history with 117 victories.  The class picked up its 113th career victory on Feb. 7 at Arizona State to surpass 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).
 

DENVER'S HOME FOR COLLEGE SPORTS  
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Hockey on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_Hockey on X
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_Hockey on Instagram