COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 7 University of Denver hockey team concluded the regular season on Saturday night by closing out the No. 20 Colorado College Tigers with a 4-3 victory at Ed Robson Arena.
 
Denver (26-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) secured the No. 3-overall seed in the 2025 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Tournament and will face Colorado College again next weekend in the conference quarterfinals at Magness Arena. The best-of-three series begins on Friday at 7 p.m. MT and continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. If necessary, Game 3 will take place on Sunday, March 16 at 6 p.m. MT at DU.
 
Tickets for the quarterfinals are on sale now at DenverPioneers.com.
 
"It's obviously a big rivalry, the team we've played more than anybody," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "I think it's the second-oldest rivalry in college hockey, so there's a lot of passion and emotion that goes into the series. Obviously since Kris [Mayotte] and their staff has taken over, the intensity has probably gone up as the quality of their team has risen. I think they're as good of a team as anyone in the country."
 
Four different DU players recorded multiple points in Saturday night's matchup, as senior Jack Devine (1g/1a), junior Aidan Thompson (0g/2a), sophomore Sam Harris (0g/2a) and freshman James Reeder (1g/1a) all had two points. Reeder also had two points in a 4-1 win in the series opener on Friday in Denver.
 
Sophomore Boston Buckberger tallied late in the second period to give DU a 2-1 lead heading into the third and momentum. Reeder won the puck off of the boards before sliding it over to the defenseman, who tossed it toward the net from the blue line.
 
Fellow rear guard Zeev Buium also found the back of the net in the contest, as he recorded the eventual game-winning marker at 6:12 of the third period to stretch Denver's lead to 4-1. Devine contributed the primary assist on the blueliner's eighth goal of the season in what was also his 100th career helper.
 
Devine is the 12th Pioneer with 100 career assists and the first to reach the mark since John McMillan and Dwight Mathiasen both did it in 1986. 
 
CC got within one goal midway through the third period as Zaccharya Wisdom and Owen Beckner each tallied less than two minutes of one another, but DU didn't allow another marker for the final 10:33 of the contest.
 
Pioneers senior goaltender Matt Davis secured the DU win by saving 32-of-35 shots. During the third period, he stopped 25 of the shots the Tigers tried to get past him.
 
After a 0-0 first period, Devine's power-play tally opened the scoring of the game at 3:29 in the second. The lead was short-lived as the Tigers' Gleb Veremyev tied the game less than four minutes later.
 
Colorado College goaltender Kaidan Mbereko saw 35 shots from Denver and made 31 saves.
 
The second period was penalty-filled, as each team had three power plays in the stanza. DU finished 1-for-6 overall on the man advantage while CC went 1-for-4 with the extra man on the ice on Saturday.
 
UP NEXT: The Gold Pan rivalry continues next weekend as the Pioneers host the Tigers in the best-of-three series in the NCHC Quarterfinals at Magness Arena beginning on Friday.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU improved 9-3-1 in its last 13 games and finished the regular season series against Colorado College with a 3-1-0 record.
• Denver last faced Colorado College in the NCHC Quarterfinals in 2018 (won series 2-1) and will play the Tigers for the first time in the Frozen Faceoff since the squads met in the 2023 Semifinals at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• The last time that DU and CC faced off in four or more consecutive games at the end of the regular season and at the start of the postseason was in 2004. The Pios lost that WCHA quarterfinal series but went on to win the national championship.
• The Pios are now 6-2-0 in the last eight meetings against the CC Tigers and picked up their 200th victory in program history against their rivals from the south. Denver owns a 200-124-21 all-time record over Colorado College.
• In addition to becoming the 12th player with 100 career assists, Jack Devine is now one of 10 members of the school's 50-goal, 100-assist and 150-point club.
• Matt Davis surpassed George Kirkwood on Denver's all-time wins list by a goaltender and is now tied for seventh place with Rodney Schneck (1956-59) with 58 career victories.
• Defenseman Boston Buckberger appeared in his 80th career game and scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has 14 points in the last 15 games.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
 
2nd Period
3:29 DU (1-0) – PPG, Jack Devine took a give-and-go pass from Aidan Thompson and scored on a shot that went far-side from the low right circle.
7:21 CC (1-1) – PPG, Gleb Veremyev knocked the puck out of midair and into the net after an initial shot by Colorado College caromed off the end boards and back to the front of the crease.
14:05 DU (2-1) – Boston Buckberger scored on a shot from the left point.
 
3rd Period
2:53 DU (3-1) – Samu Salminen intercepted the puck on a failed clear to keep it in the zone and James Reeder tapped in the puck in the crease off a feed by Sam Harris.
6:12 DU (4-1) – Zeev Buium tallied with a wrister from the slot after taking a pass by Jack Devine.
7:31 CC (4-2) – Zaccharya Wisdom knocked the puck into the cage near the crease.
9:27 CC (4-3) – Owen Beckner scored in a scramble in front.
 

QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On takeaways from the game: "We go up 4-1, so that was excellent. Obviously, when they got their first goal, they responded quickly after and then they started to pour it on. The last 13 minutes got a little chaotic, certainly for us, but loved our first two periods. Our message at the TV timeout was the same point as we started the period, 'we're up a goal, let's take a breath and communicate, defend how we need to, and close the thing down.' I think you look at the positive of it is, you're going to have to defend a lead in a 6-on-5 situation. You could argue for us that for us to grow, that was better for us to see that than for us to get 5-1, 5-2 or 6-2 and just kind of have the clock tick off for the battle level and the engagement of the game to stay at a high level. You know, not happy that we got to that, but that's a positive." 
 
On CC challenging for a major penalty that was unsuccessful on an apparent high hit by DU: "You never know, I mean, they get a lot of looks at it. I think the standard all year has been direct contact (to the head), we've had a lot of videos sent to us and conversations around it that if it's not the principal point, even if you end there, it's probably a two-minute. I'm sure that's what they're watching, they can't come out of it with a two (minute penalty). They have to come out with a five or nothing on a challenge, and I'm sure they thought long and hard about it, and obviously came out with nothing on the play."
 

TICKETS: Tickets for the NCHC Quarterfinals best-of-three series against Colorado College are on sale now partial season-ticket packages are available. Click here to purchase.