Friday, October 16
Denver, Colo.
7 p.m. MT
University of Denver
2-1-0
1
vs
4
Michigan
5-0-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Denver | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Photo by: Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative Photography
No. 1 Denver Falls 4-1 to No. 2 Michigan
10/16/2026 10:42:00 PM | (1) Ice Hockey
Pioneers raise 2026 national championship banner to the rafters pregame
DENVER – The No. 1 University of Denver hockey team lost 4-1 to the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines on Friday night in a 2026 Frozen Four rematch at Magness Arena.
"I thought it was a really good hockey game," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "They're very dangerous, they are an excellent team, their commitment to blocking shots, their defending is extremely high. They made life hard on us. There needs to be a winner and a loser; both teams walked away thinking they played pretty well. They had a couple more plays than we did. Our power play let us down a little bit, especially on that 5-on-3. They executed some of their chances. Full credit to them, congratulate them. That's hockey."
DU and Michigan will wrap up their two-game weekend set and first regular-season series against one another since 1981 on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. The contest will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and televised regionally on Altitude Sports.
Sophomore forward Kyle Chyzowski scored for the Pioneers with 3:41 remaining in the third period and just seconds after a faceoff win by Clarke Caswell. Freshman Jack Pridham also had an assist on Chyzowski's first goal of the season that came after he drove to the crease from the right side, beat the goalie's poke check and flipped the puck blocker-side and into the net.
Junior Tyler Krivtsov made his second consecutive start in goal for Denver and finished with 16 saves.
Michigan's first three goals all came from taking advantage of the puck finding opportune sticks. Jayden Perron tallied into an open net on a rebound at 8:25 of the first period, Malcolm Spence tapped in the puck while all alone on the backside after receiving a slick pass from Henry Mews at 10:18 of the second and Cole McKinney buried a rebound in front at 7:47 of the third.
Spence added a second marker into an empty net with 99 seconds left to play.
Wolverines netminder Jack Ivankovic made 27 saves as the Pioneers finished with a 28-20 edge in shots on goal.
DU outshot UM 25-9 in the last 40 minutes of play, including holding Michigan to just one shot on goal in the middle period, which ultimately found the back of the net on Spence first of two tallies.
The Wolverines went 0-for-2 on the power play and didn't have a shot on goal during the man advantages. The Pioneers finished 1-for-6 on the power play, which included 1:06 of a 5-on-3 early in the third period.
Denver raised its 2026 national championship banner to the rafters in a ceremony prior to puck drop in front of a record crowd of 7,099 in attendance at Magness Arena. The Pioneers and Wolverines met on Apri 9 in the national semifinals in Las Vegas, with Denver winning 4-3 in double-overtime before beating Wisconsin two days later.
DU also beat Michigan in overtime in the 2022 Frozen Four semifinals in Boston.
UP NEXT: Denver and Michigan face off on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT to conclude the weekend series. DU takes on another college hockey blue blood next week as it hosts Boston College on Oct. 23-24.
POSTGAME NOTES
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
8:25 UM (0-1) – Jayden Perron threw the puck into an open net after the Dakota Rheaume-Mullen's shot rebounded off Tyler Krivtsov and right to his teammate on the left side.
2nd Period
10:18 UM (0-2) – Henry Mews found Malcolm Spence alone on the backside for a tap-in goal.
3rd Period
7:47 UM (0-3) – Cole McKinney scored off a rebound at the top of the crease following a kick save by Tyler Krivtsov.
16:19 DU (1-3) – PPG, EA, Off a faceoff win at the right circle, Kyle Chyzowski drove to the net from the wall and lifted the puck past the right blocker of the Michigan goalie after a failed poke check.
18:21 UM (1-4) – ENG, Malcolm Spence tallied into an open net from near the blue line.
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On how his group played: "I'm proud of my group for how we competed and played. We didn't go away, we didn't back down from the fight, the battle. I think it is all encouraging, that's why you play these games early in the year. It's a great test for us. I feel like there's a lot of good takeaways from the loss."
On if the players were distracted by the banner raising ceremony: "Honestly, zero, and I think that was pretty cool on the night. They had a big say on how they partake in that event. I thought it was extremely well done. We tip our hat to the building, our fans, all of our staff who put that together with the videos and the work and time it went into making that really nice and classy, but our guys were very much, I thought, in-tuned to what we needed to do. You know, in the first period the attempts were 14-12 for them. The difference was they got 11 on goal and we had four on goal. Their commitment to blocking shots and our inability to change lanes and find [shots] was the real difference in the lopsided shot clock. I don't think the play was necessarily lopsided in that way. In a maturity stand point that was good to see. I think our guys got to it and got to work and continue to work."
On if Michigan had a sense of revenge after how last season ended: "I think every year is different. I give them (Michigan) credit; they've actually played extremely desperate, extremely well, but that wasn't a part of what our messaging was. I believe we should leave the past in the past, and I think they're doing the same thing, from what I saw. They weren't distracted or overwhelmed. So I didn't think that was much of a factor."
TICKETS: Single-game tickets as well as mini plans and group packages for the DU hockey's championship-defense campaign in 2026-27 are on sale now. Click here for more information.
"I thought it was a really good hockey game," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "They're very dangerous, they are an excellent team, their commitment to blocking shots, their defending is extremely high. They made life hard on us. There needs to be a winner and a loser; both teams walked away thinking they played pretty well. They had a couple more plays than we did. Our power play let us down a little bit, especially on that 5-on-3. They executed some of their chances. Full credit to them, congratulate them. That's hockey."
DU and Michigan will wrap up their two-game weekend set and first regular-season series against one another since 1981 on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. The contest will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and televised regionally on Altitude Sports.
Sophomore forward Kyle Chyzowski scored for the Pioneers with 3:41 remaining in the third period and just seconds after a faceoff win by Clarke Caswell. Freshman Jack Pridham also had an assist on Chyzowski's first goal of the season that came after he drove to the crease from the right side, beat the goalie's poke check and flipped the puck blocker-side and into the net.
Junior Tyler Krivtsov made his second consecutive start in goal for Denver and finished with 16 saves.
Michigan's first three goals all came from taking advantage of the puck finding opportune sticks. Jayden Perron tallied into an open net on a rebound at 8:25 of the first period, Malcolm Spence tapped in the puck while all alone on the backside after receiving a slick pass from Henry Mews at 10:18 of the second and Cole McKinney buried a rebound in front at 7:47 of the third.
Spence added a second marker into an empty net with 99 seconds left to play.
Wolverines netminder Jack Ivankovic made 27 saves as the Pioneers finished with a 28-20 edge in shots on goal.
DU outshot UM 25-9 in the last 40 minutes of play, including holding Michigan to just one shot on goal in the middle period, which ultimately found the back of the net on Spence first of two tallies.
The Wolverines went 0-for-2 on the power play and didn't have a shot on goal during the man advantages. The Pioneers finished 1-for-6 on the power play, which included 1:06 of a 5-on-3 early in the third period.
Denver raised its 2026 national championship banner to the rafters in a ceremony prior to puck drop in front of a record crowd of 7,099 in attendance at Magness Arena. The Pioneers and Wolverines met on Apri 9 in the national semifinals in Las Vegas, with Denver winning 4-3 in double-overtime before beating Wisconsin two days later.
DU also beat Michigan in overtime in the 2022 Frozen Four semifinals in Boston.
UP NEXT: Denver and Michigan face off on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT to conclude the weekend series. DU takes on another college hockey blue blood next week as it hosts Boston College on Oct. 23-24.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Denver now has a 48-37-1 all-time record against Michigan and is 27-13-0 at home in the series.
- The teams were meeting in a non-national tournament game for the first time since March 5-7, 1981 when they faced off in the WCHA Playoffs at the old DU Arena. Their previous regular-season series against one another was Feb. 20-21, 1981 in Ann Arbor.
- DU is now 54-19-5 all-time in home openers and owns a 20-6-2 record on opening nights at Magness Arena. The Pios had gone unbeaten in each of their last nine home openers (7-0-2).
- The Pioneers have a 3-3-0 record in No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups since 1999. DU was playing its first 1-versus-2 series since Dec. 9-10, 2016 at home against then No. 1 Minnesota Duluth. The last time DU was the No. 1 squad and played the No. 2 program was Feb. 22-23, 2002 vs. St. Cloud State at Magness Arena.
- Denver owns a 9-2-0 mark in games against Big Ten Conference opponents since 2018-19.
- DU's 19-game unbeaten streak (18-0-1) dating back to Jan. 24 and 15-game winning streak since Feb. 7 both came to an end. The Pios' unbeaten stretch was the fifth-longest overall in program history and the longest since the program went 21-0-1 to end 2023-24 and begin 2024-25. The win streak was the sixth-longest overall in school history.
- Denver began a season-long six-game homestand. The team hosts Boston College next weekend on Oct. 23-24 before beginning NCHC play on home ice against Omaha on Oct. 30-31.
- The attendance of 7,099 set a new single-game high for the Pioneers at Magness Arena, surpassing the previous record of 7,082 on Feb. 7, 2026 vs. Colorado College.
- Sophomore goaltender Johnny Hicks missed his first game of the season and is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
8:25 UM (0-1) – Jayden Perron threw the puck into an open net after the Dakota Rheaume-Mullen's shot rebounded off Tyler Krivtsov and right to his teammate on the left side.
2nd Period
10:18 UM (0-2) – Henry Mews found Malcolm Spence alone on the backside for a tap-in goal.
3rd Period
7:47 UM (0-3) – Cole McKinney scored off a rebound at the top of the crease following a kick save by Tyler Krivtsov.
16:19 DU (1-3) – PPG, EA, Off a faceoff win at the right circle, Kyle Chyzowski drove to the net from the wall and lifted the puck past the right blocker of the Michigan goalie after a failed poke check.
18:21 UM (1-4) – ENG, Malcolm Spence tallied into an open net from near the blue line.
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On how his group played: "I'm proud of my group for how we competed and played. We didn't go away, we didn't back down from the fight, the battle. I think it is all encouraging, that's why you play these games early in the year. It's a great test for us. I feel like there's a lot of good takeaways from the loss."
On if the players were distracted by the banner raising ceremony: "Honestly, zero, and I think that was pretty cool on the night. They had a big say on how they partake in that event. I thought it was extremely well done. We tip our hat to the building, our fans, all of our staff who put that together with the videos and the work and time it went into making that really nice and classy, but our guys were very much, I thought, in-tuned to what we needed to do. You know, in the first period the attempts were 14-12 for them. The difference was they got 11 on goal and we had four on goal. Their commitment to blocking shots and our inability to change lanes and find [shots] was the real difference in the lopsided shot clock. I don't think the play was necessarily lopsided in that way. In a maturity stand point that was good to see. I think our guys got to it and got to work and continue to work."
On if Michigan had a sense of revenge after how last season ended: "I think every year is different. I give them (Michigan) credit; they've actually played extremely desperate, extremely well, but that wasn't a part of what our messaging was. I believe we should leave the past in the past, and I think they're doing the same thing, from what I saw. They weren't distracted or overwhelmed. So I didn't think that was much of a factor."
TICKETS: Single-game tickets as well as mini plans and group packages for the DU hockey's championship-defense campaign in 2026-27 are on sale now. Click here for more information.
DENVER'S HOME FOR COLLEGE SPORTS
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
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Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_Hockey on X
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_Hockey on Instagram
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
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ (1) Ice Hockey
Forward
/ (1) Ice Hockey
Goaltender
/ (1) Ice Hockey
Goaltender
/ (1) Ice Hockey
Forward
/ (1) Ice HockeyTeam Stats
MIC
DEN
Shots
20
28
PPG
0
1
SHG
0
0
Penalties
8
4
Penalty Mins
16
8
Faceoffs Won
30
33
Game Leaders
+/-
-3
Goals
1
Sh
4
A
0
+/-
-2
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
-3
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
-1
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
0
Friday, October 16
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