PREVIEW: No. 3 Denver Begins Conference Play vs. Omaha

Friday, October 30

Denver, Colo.

7 p.m. MT

University of Denver

Omaha

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Omaha Athletics

10/29/2026 8:08:00 PM | #3 Ice Hockey

Game Notes Watch: NCHC.tv Listen Live What To Know: Fan Experience Hockey Tickets

Pioneers start their NCHC schedule and wrap up a six-game homestand on Halloween Weekend

By: Ron Knabenbauer & Christopher Kae

DENVER – The No. 3 University of Denver hockey team begins National Collegiate Hockey Conference play this weekend as the Pioneers welcome the Omaha Mavericks for a two-game series at Magness Arena.

Friday's puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT, and Saturday's contest is set for 6 p.m. MT. Both games will be broadcast on NCHC.tv, with Saturday's outing being televised regionally on Altitude 2. The NCHC matchup closes DU's season-long, six-game homestand.

The Pioneers (3-2-1) enter Halloween weekend looking to build on their success following an unbeaten series against then-No. 18 Boston College. Denver surged late in last Friday's 5-2 victory, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period. Freshman defenseman Daxon Rudolph broke the 2-2 stalemate early in the final frame with his first power-play and game-winning goal, and captain Kieran Cebrian added to his breakaway goal in the second period with an empty-netter at the end to record his first career multi-goal game. Three other Pios had multi-point performances in the outing.

The following night, Denver played to a 2-2 tie. The Pioneers failed to cash in on any of their five opportunities with a man advantage. Sophomore Kristian Epperson scored in the second period before rookie blueliner Blake Fiddler tallied his first-career goal just eight minutes later. BC rallied from the two-goal deficit, including netting the tying marker in the last minute of regulation. Boston College won the end-of-game shootout 1-0, but the game officially goes down as a tie by the NCAA.

Sophomore Clarke Caswell posted multiple assists in both games against the Eagles, extending his assist/point streak (0g/6a) to four games, dating back to Oct. 16 versus Michigan. Junior goaltender Tyler Krivtsov has started each of the last five contests and made 26 and 23 saves, respectively, in each game against BC.

Omaha (2-2-0) travels to Denver with some momentum of its own following a sweep of Lindenwood last weekend, which featured a 7-4 win on Friday and a multi-goal comeback in Saturday's 4-3 overtime victory.

The Pioneers claimed victories in both games last season against the Mavericks in Nebraska, and Omaha is making its first visit to Denver since Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2025. DU is 6-0-1 in the last seven meetings against UNO, which includes an 11-2 victory in the last game that was played in the Mile High City.

DU finished second overall in last season's NCHC regular-season standings (17-6-1, 52 points) but went on to claim the Frozen Faceoff conference tournament championship, which included overtime victories in the semifinal and final on campus.

The Pioneers have won each of their last four conference openers dating back to 2022-23.

A HANDFUL OF HELPERS: Forward Clarke Caswell leads the team in scoring through six games with eight points—all of which are assists. He recorded multi-assist games in both contests last weekend against Boston College and owns three altogether on the campaign after also recording two helpers in the season opener on Oct. 2 at Alaska Anchorage. The sophomore now owns five multi-assist and eight multi-point outings in his career.

Caswell is also on a four-game assist streak, which ties his career long from last year's postseason from March 21-April 9 (3g/4a). He is one game shy of matching his career-long point streak of five games, which occurred in his first five career outings as a freshman from Oct. 10-24, 2025 (2g/4a).

The Brandon, Manitoba, native's eight assists on the year presently rank fifth in the country. Last season, he led the Pioneers in helpers (26) and ranked first among rookies in scoring with 34 points.

DEFENDING DENVER: The Pioneers presently rank sixth in the nation by allowing just 21.7 shots against per game after six contests. DU has yet to allow 30 shots on goal in any of its six contests and is outshooting opponents by a 10.2 margin per outing.

Last season, Denver tied for fourth in the nation by allowing 2.1 goals per game, and the team held opponents to one goal or fewer in 19-of-43 contests during the year. Of DU's 25 losses since 2024-25, 16 have been by a single goal while five other games featured empty-net markers by the opponent.

ON HALLOWEEN: Denver gets set to play a game on Halloween for the second consecutive season after the team lost 4-3 in overtime at home to Alaska Anchorage last Oct. 31. UAA was led by a 46-save performance by goalie Tyler Krivtsov, who is now with the Pioneers after transferring in the offseason.

Last season marked the first time that the Pios had ever hosted a game on Oct. 31. DU has a 4-8-2 all-time record on Halloween.

HISTORY VS. OMAHA: Denver leads the all-time series against Omaha at 44-14-6, including a mark of 24-5-3 at home and 18-9-3 on the road in Nebraska. The Pioneers are 6-0-1 (SOL) in their last seven meetings against the Mavericks and have not officially lost to Omaha since Nov. 18-19, 2023, when the Mavericks beat Denver 6-3 in a game that had to be played across two days due to ice conditions. The teams only met in one series last year, with the Pioneers winning 5-2 and 3-1 on Feb. 13-14 in Omaha. The Mavs are making their first visit to DU since Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2025 when the teams tied 3-3 before UNO earned the extra NCHC point following a 16-round shootout and an 11-2 win by the Pios after they scored 11 unanswered after getting down 2-0 early. Nine different Denver players tallied in a game that featured the team's most goals since Dec. 27, 1995 and tied the NCHC record for the most in a league game. Denver is 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings against Omaha and is 12-3-1 in the past 16 matchups dating back to the 2021 NCHC Semifinals in Grand Forks, N.D., during the COVID-shortened season.

CONNECTIONS: Assistant Coach Ryan Massa graduated from Omaha and spent four years as a goaltender for the Mavericks (2011-2015), helping the program to its first Frozen Four in 2015 … Director of Skill Development Angelo Ricci played his junior hockey in Omaha with the USHL Lancers (1989-1991) and is in the Omaha Lancers and Omaha Hockey Hall of Fame … Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Leu is from Nebraska, and he earned his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Creighton University in Omaha in 1995 and picked up his master's degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1996 … Cale Ashcroft (2022-23) and Kieran Cebrian (2020-2023) played junior hockey in the state of Nebraska with the Tri-City Storm in Kearney … Denver's Eric Jamieson, Max Heise and Ben MacBeath and Omaha's Aiden Oiring and Marcus Nguyen are all from Calgary, Alberta … DU's Ashcroft and UNO's Marc Lajoie are both from St. Albert, Alberta … Oiring played on the WHL Prince Albert Raiders at the same time as Denver's Daxon Rudolph (2024-2026) and Max Heise (2025-26) … Kyle Chyzowski and Ryan Miller were teammates on the WHL Portland Winterhawks with Joel Plante in 2024-25, and Carter Sotheran also spent several seasons as a teammate on Portland with both Chyzowski (2022-25) and Miller (2023-2026) … Chyzowski also played two seasons with Ryan McCleary in Portland (2021-2023) … Blake Fiddler played three seasons on the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings with Gaven Hodnett from 2023-2026 and was a teammate with Sotheran with Edmonton at the end of 2025-26 … McCleary also played with Clarke Caswell on the WHL Swift Current Broncos in 2023-24 … Parker Berge played the end of the 2023-24 WHL season with Eric Jamieson and the Everett Silvertips … Reid Varkonyi and Marcus Broberg were teammates in 2023-24 with the BCHL Salmon Arm Silverbacks … Omaha Hockey Communications Director Emma Goldstein is a 2024 graduate of the University of Denver and was a student assistant in the school's athletic communications department in 2023-24.

PREVIOUS MEETING (FEB. 14, 2026): Senior forward Rieger Lorenz scored early in the third period to break a tie and the No. 8 Denver Pioneers stretched their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 3-1 victory at the Omaha Mavericks at Baxter Arena in Omaha. DU, which won 5-2 on Friday, picked up its fifth weekend sweep of the season. Lorenz tallied off a face-off win by classmate Samu Salminen 1:22 into the final frame, and sophomore Jake Fisher sealed the contest with an empty-net marker with 31 seconds left to play. The tally by Lorenz stretched his career-long goal streak to five games, the longest of the season by a Pioneer. Sophomore Hagen Burrows opened the game's scoring for Denver by burying his own rebound midway through the second stanza. Denver goaltender Johnny Hicks stopped 26-of-27 shots faced to remain unbeaten to start his collegiate career at 6-0-1. He stopped all 13 shots that the Mavericks fired his way in the third frame. Omaha outshot DU 27-24 in the game, with Jeremy Loranger netting the only marker during one of UNO's three power-play opportunities with 7:49 left in the second period to knot the contest at 1-1.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Omaha is 2-2-0 on the season and is coming off a weekend sweep at Lindenwood as it won 7-4 and 4-3 in overtime last week. UNO erased a 3-1 deficit last Saturday at LU, with Luke Woodworth scoring the game-tying marker midway through the third period and Sean Tschigerl netting the OT-winner at 2:29 of the extra session. After going 2-0 in exhibition play, the Mavericks dropped both games in their season-opening series vs. No. 15 Augustana, losing 2-1 in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Oct. 15 and 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 17 on home ice. Former pro player Parker Berge leads the team in scoring with two goals, four assists and six points. Mael Lavigne (2g/1a) and Maxime Pellerin (2g/0a) also have multiple goals this year. Will Lacelle has started three of the four games this year in net and has a 1-2-0 record, 2.58 goals-against average and .928 save percentage. Dawson Cowen started last Friday's game at Lindenwood and made 30-of-34 saves in the win.

PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved up one spot to No. 3 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey media polls that were released on Monday. DU was the top team in the country in each of the first three polls after winning the national title last season.

The NCHC's five ranked teams are the second-most among all conferences behind Hockey East (6), but the league has each of its squads in the top 10. Joining Denver in the polls are Western Michigan (6/5), Minnesota Duluth (7/7), North Dakota (8/8) and Colorado College (10/9). Miami and Arizona State also received votes in each ranking while St. Cloud State also picked up tallies from the USA Hockey electorate.

NOTABLES

The Pioneers played their first overtime game of the season on Saturday against Boston College, and the teams skated to their first tie in their series history.
DU now owns an overall record of 24-16-1 and a 12-10-1 mark at home in the all-time series vs. the Eagles.
Denver is 8-1-1 in the last 10 games vs. BC and is unbeaten in the last six contests (5-0-1), the longest such stretch by either squad in the all-time series.
The Pios and Eagles were playing for the fourth straight season, as Boston College made its first visit to Denver since a two-game set on Oct. 18-19, 2019.
Denver improved to 11-2-1 in its last 14 home games dating back to Jan. 24 of last season against St. Cloud State.
Blake Fiddler recorded his first collegiate point by scoring his first goal on Saturday.
Kyle Chyzowski had his four-game point streak come to an end on Saturday (1g/3a).
Junior goaltender Tyler Krivtsov started for the fifth straight game.
Sam Harris has scored in four of the six games this season.
Kieran Cebrian recorded his first career multi-goal game on Friday vs. BC and recorded his 50th career point in the contest.

Daxon Rudolph tallied his first career game-winning and power-play goals on Friday.
Rudolph blocked a personal-best four shots in both games, which marked the most by a Pioneer this season.
Denver blocked a season-high shots on both Friday (10) and Saturday (12).
DU matched a season high with 39 faceoff wins on Friday and posted season-high winning percentages in the circle on both Friday (.577) and Saturday (.650).
Kieran Cebrian tied a career high with 16 faceoff wins on Friday, matching his total from the double-overtime game in the 2025 Frozen Four Semifinals vs. Western Michigan on April 10, 2025.
Jack Pridham recorded two assists on Friday for his first career multi-point game.
Denver scored its second pulled-goalie goal of the season on Friday as James Reeder's marker at 7:26 of the third period came on a delayed penalty on BC.

JOHNNY BE GOOD, JOHNNY BE GREAT: Goaltender Johnny Hicks capped off a historic season by helping lead the Pioneers to the national title as a freshman in 2025-26. He became the first DU goaltender to go unbeaten in his first 17 career decisions, posting a 16-0-1 record in 2025-26 after entering early in the first period on Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State following an injury to starter Quentin Miller.

The Kamloops, British Columbia, native appeared in 21 total games during the year and started each of the final 16 contests, with his .957 save percentage setting an NCAA record and his 1.19 goals-against average tied with Jimmy Howard for second-best all-time in a single season. He recorded his third individual shutout in the NCAA West Regional Semifinals on March 27 against Cornell before two memorable performances in the 2026 Frozen Four in Las Vegas.

Hicks made a career-high 49 saves on 52 shots in a 4-3 double-overtime win vs. No. 1 Michigan in the semifinals on April 9 before stopping 29-of-30 shots faced, including all 20 in the final two periods of play, in a 2-1 victory against Wisconsin in the national championship game on April 11.

A GOLDEN AGE OF PIONEER HOCKEY: The Pioneers are big fans of even years, as they won their third national championship in the past five years, with 2026 joining their recent title runs in 2022 and 2024.

DU dispatched a pair of Big Ten Conference foes in last year's NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas and earned comeback victories in each game. Senior captain Kent Anderson scored in double-overtime on April 9 in a 4-3 win against No. 1 Michigan before senior Rieger Lorenz and freshman Kyle Chyzowski netted third-period markers and goaltender Johnny Hicks didn't allow a goal after the first period, making 29 saves overall in the 2-1 victory on April 11.

Denver has reached the national semifinals four times in the past five years and has made seven trips to the Frozen Four in the previous 10-held tournaments dating back to 2016. This is the third time in their history that the Pios have made the final weekend seven times in 10 years (also 1960-1969 and 1964-1973), and they are the only program to reach the national semifinals seven times in a decade during the current 16-team format of the NCAA Tournament that began in 2003.

The Pios are the first program since Boston College (2008-2012) to win three titles in a five-year span ('08, '10, '12), and counting Denver's win in the 2017 title game, DU (1960-1969) itself was the last program to win four championships in a 10-year span ('60, '61, '68, '69).

Denver's six national championships since 2000 is the most in college hockey (also 2004 and 2005) while its nine trips to the Frozen Four since 2004 are tied for first in the nation with Boston College and North Dakota.

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
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Hockey on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_Hockey on X
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_Hockey on Instagram