DENVER – The University of Denver celebrated 75 years of Pioneers hockey throughout the 2024-25 campaign, culminating in its fourth-straight season with 30 or more wins and reached its 20th NCAA Frozen Four in program history.
 
DU faced fellow NCHC-foe Western Michigan in the National Semifinals on April 10 in St. Louis, as the Pioneers made their second-straight final four and third trip in the past four seasons.  The WMU Broncos went on to win the national championship, giving the NCHC its seventh NCAA title in the past 10 years.
 
HONORING MR. RITCHIE
Denver hockey players wore special ‘DR’ decals on their helmets and patches on their jerseys for the remainder of the 2024-25 season to honor Chancellor Emeritus Daniel L. Ritchie, who passed away on Jan. 30 at the age of 93.
 
Ritchie was immense supporter of DU Athletics during his time as the school’s “Cowboy Chancellor” beginning in 1989, and his support for all 18 D-I programs continued after he left the position in 2005.  Among his accomplishments as Chancellor was leading the University to new success academically and moving the school to full Division-I status in 1999—the same year the Daniel L. Ritchie Center of Sports and Wellness opened on campus.
 
The University hosted a memorial for Mr. Ritchie on Feb. 13 at Magness Arena to celebrate his remarkable life and legacy.
 
75 YEARS OF PIONEER HOCKEY
Denver commemorated 75 years of Pioneer hockey throughout 2024-25 to recognize its diamond jubilee as a program.  DU hosted its 75th Anniversary reunion on Nov. 8-9 when Lindenwood visited Magness Arena.  Among the activities were pre and post-game receptions for alums, alumni games and family skates and an on-ice recognition of approximately 150 former players in attendance during Saturday’s first intermission, with each of the team’s NCAA-record 10 championship trophies being presented as well.
 
The 2024-25 season was actually the 76th in DU hockey history, but the team’s 75th anniversary of its first game was in December.  The Pioneers’ first ever contests were at home on Dec. 19-20, 1949 against Saskatchewan, with the squad losing 17-0 and 9-1 in the series.  Denver’s first win was Jan. 27, 1950 at Wyoming (8-7), and the program’s first home victory came against that same Wyoming squad on Feb. 18, 1950 (10-6) at the old DU Arena.
 
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
The Pioneers and several individual players wrote their name in the program record book during the 2024-25 season:

• The team’s 2.14 goals-against per game was the seventh-lowest mark in program history and the best GAA since DU posted a 1.98 mark in 2018-19.
• DU had its 10th season of 30 or more wins, with its 31 victories in 2024-25 ranking tied for seventh-most in a campaign.
• Denver’s 12-game win streak to begin the year from Oct. 5-Nov. 16, 2024 was sixth-longest in program history and the seventh-longest unbeaten streak. It was the longest such streak since DU won 13 in a row in 2016-17.
• Conor Caponi set a school record with 185 career games played while Jack Devine finished his career with 162 contests, tied for eighth-most by a Pioneer.
• Jack Devine ranks ninth all-time in career assists (106) and 12th in points (163).
• Devine’s 44 assists are tied for the ninth most in a season (Mark Davidson, 1977-78) and were the most by a DU player since Dallas Gaume had 67 and Dwight Mathiasen had 49 in 1985-86.
• Zeev Buium ranks 10th in both points (98) and assists (74) by a DU defenseman in school history.
• Buium’ 48 points on the campaign were the seventh-best by a Pioneer D-man, while his 13 goals were tied for ninth-most.
• Matt Davis’ 40 games played tied the DU record for a goaltender in a single -season (fourth time), while his 29 wins ranked second behind George Kirkwood’s 30 in 1960-61. He had two games with 10 saves (both wins) in 2024-25, tied for the eighth-fewest in a game in program history.
• Davis finishes top five in all-time wins by a Pioneer netminder (63-tied).
• Carter King finishes his career among the most prolific short-handed goal scorers in Denver history.
• Sam Harris’ seven game-winning goals were tied for the fourth-most in a single campaign.

PIONEERS MAKE FROZEN FOUR RETURN TRIP
Denver reached its 20th Frozen Four and has won 10 national championships, the most in the NCAA.
 
The Pioneers own a 13-7 all-time record in the national semifinals and is 10-3 in title games.  The Pios played in four third-place games (when that was a thing) from 1966-1986 and went 2-2 in such contests.
 
Denver has made six of the last nine Frozen Fours dating back to 2016 (was not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), winning the championship in 2017, 2022 and 2024.  DU’s participation in the 1973 Frozen Four was officially vacated by the NCAA Committee on infractions; those results are still being counted in the above totals.
 
TOURNAMENT HONORS
Denver defenseman Zeev Buium was named to the NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team, as he played 51:41 in the 80:26 semifinal matchup vs. Western Michigan.  After the season, he was named the USCHO.com Player of the Year.
 
Buium was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H., after combining for five points (2g/3a) in the wins vs. Providence and Boston College on March 28-30.
 
Joining Buium on the Regional All-Tournament Team were defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, forwards Carter King and Aidan Thompson and goaltender Matt Davis.  Pohlkamp scored the game-opening goal vs. BC, King had three points (1g/2a) vs. PC, Thompson totaled three points (1g/2a) on the weekend and Davis stopped 65-of-67 total shots faced.
 
RECORD START
DU won its first 12 games of the season, marking the best start in school history.  The previous record was TR in the first nine contests that was set by the 2001-02 squad (counting exhibition outings, DU actually won 11 consecutive games that year). 
 
The Pioneers’ 12 wins to start the season were the most by a defending national champion since 2000.  In fact, it was more than double the previous best start by a reigning champ as North Dakota in 2016-17 and Union in 2014-15 both won their first five contests before suffering their first losses.
 
WHAT A WIN STREAK
The Pioneers went on a 21-games win streak that began on March 9, 2024 against Colorado College and went through Nov. 16, 2024 at North Dakota.  It was the longest win streak across multiple seasons in program history, as the previous DU record was 19 straight victories that was accomplished twice: Feb. 13-Dec. 13, 1960 and Jan. 13-Dec. 2, 1961.
 
Overall, the 21-game stretch fell one game shy of tying the longest overall winning streak in school history, as the Pioneers won 22 contests in a row from Jan. 5-March 16, 1968 en route to the team’s fourth national championship. DU went 9-1-0 in its last 10 games of 2023-24 and 27-2-1 in 30 contests from Feb. 2-Nov. 16.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Jack Devine led the country with 57 points and was also first in assists (44).
• Aidan Thompson ranked second in the NCAA in points (55), third in assists (34) and tied for 14th in goals (21).
• Sam Harris led the NCAA in power-play goals (11), tied for fourth in game-winning goals (7) and tied for ninth in goals overall (23).
• Matt Davis was first in the nation in wins (29). 15th in goals-against average (2.07) and tied for 16th in save percentage (.923).
• Zeev Buium was first among all defensemen in points (48-tied) and assists (35) and was third at his position in goals (13).  He ranked second among all skaters in assists and tied for 11th in scoring.
• Carter King tied for 14th in goals (21) and tied for 17th in points (43).
• Eric Pohlkamp was fourth among NCAA defensemen in scoring with 35 points and tied for fifth at his position in goals (11).

PIONEERS PACING THE COUNTRY
As a team, Denver tied for first in the country in goals for per game (4.0) and ranked near the top in the NCAA in goals against per game (2.1, T-5th), shots per game (32.6, T-11th), shots against per game (27.2, T-16th), faceoffs (53.9, T-8th), power play (28.8%, 3rd), shooting percentage (.121, T-3rd) and save percentage (.921, T-7th).
 
STRONG FINISHES

• Zeev Buium had 16 points (7g/9a) in his last 14 games he’s played.
• Jack Devine registered 16 points (5g/11a) in his last 14 games.
• Aidan Thompson totaled 10 points (4g/6a) in his last nine games and 24 points (7g/17a) in the past 18 games.
• Boston Buckberger recorded 17 points (6g/11a) in the last 17 games he’s played.

DAVIS’ CONSISTENCY IN GOAL
Goaltender Matt Davis won 20 straight games beginning from March 9, 2024 vs. Colorado College to Nov. 14, 2024 at North Dakota.  He posted several long shutouts streaks during that time, including setting a new career best of 154:45 that began in the first period on Oct. 26 vs. Wisconsin and went until the third period on Nov. 9 vs. Lindenwood.  It was his third career shutout streak of at least 120 minutes, going along with his other two previous personal bests of 136:53 from April 11-Oct. 4, 2024 and 127:19 from March 9-16, 2024.
 
Davis won each of his first 11 starts this past year, tied for the longest in-season win streak in the last 10 years by a Denver goaltender since Tanner Jaillet also won 11 straight from Jan. 21-March 10, 2017.
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native started 33 straight games from Jan. 5, 2024 vs. Niagara `1=-098ya to Nov. 1, 2024 at Yale before he was given a night off.  He posted a 27-4-2 record, 2.02 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and three shutouts during the streak that stretched across two seasons.
 
SWEET 16-HUNDRED
Denver hockey won its 1,600th all-time game in its victory on Nov 2 at Yale, becoming just the sixth program in college hockey history to reach the mark.  Only Minnesota (1927), Michigan (1805), Boston College (1720), Boston University (1671) and North Dakota (1640) have more wins, but the Pioneers are the newest of the programs to reach the milestone (began 1949) as the other five squads started play in 1922-23 or earlier.
 
The Pios’ all-time winning percentage as of Nov. 3 was .609, which is the fourth-highest among the six programs and higher than both North Dakota and Michigan at the time (both were at .604). 
 
DU played its 2,800th game on March 14 in Game 1 of the NCHC Quarterfinals against Colorado College.
 
ALL-AMERICAN MEN
Senior forward Jack Devine and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium repeated as first-team All-Americans in 2025 after also picking up the honor the 2024.
 
The Pioneers’ duo were two-of-six players in this year’s group of 24 that have made the national list multiple times.  Denver has now garnered 56 All-American awards in program history.
 
ANOTHER 30-WIN CAMPAIGN
Denver became the second NCAA squad during the season to reach the 30-win mark (Western Michigan) after defeating Providence in the Regional Semifinals on March 28.  The squad finished with 31 wins overall, extending the program’s record run of 30 victories or more to four consecutive seasons.
 
Overall, the Pioneers have reached the 30-win threshold 10 times, with their 34 victories in 1985-86 being the school record.  DU’s 32 wins in 2023-24 were tied for the fourth-most in a season in program history, while the Pioneers had 30 victories in 2022-23 and 31 in 2021-22.
 
DU has won 30 games in each year of assistant coach Ryan Massa and Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane‘s time at DU (since 2021-22).
 
TENZER” STREAK EXTENDED TO 23 SEASONS
DU won its 20th game of the season on Feb. 7 at Arizona State, extending its “Tenzer” Streak of winning 20 or more games to 23 consecutive full seasons dating back to 2001-02.
 
The longest active streak in the country, the stretch is named after former DU Director of Hockey Operations David Tenzer, who spent 16 seasons with the program from 2001-02—the start of the streak—until retiring in 2017.  The program only played 24 total contests in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
 
GOLD PAN WON
Denver won the Gold Pan trophy over Colorado College for the sixth straight year after going 3-1-0 in the four-game regular season series.  Each team won in its own barn to split the initial home-and-home set on Dec. 13-14 before DU swept the series to close the regular season on March 7-8. The Pios finished 5-2-0 overall against the Tigers after the squads met in a three-game quarterfinal series during the NCHC Playoffs.
 
In circulation since 1993-94, the Gold Pan is given to the team that wins the season series between the in-state rivals.  DU has now captured it 19 times compared to CC’s 13.
 
The Denver and Colorado College rivalry is the most-played series in college hockey history, as the programs have played 348 all-times games and surpassed Michigan and Michigan State for the top spot last season (347 games).
 
CAPONI SETS GAMES PLAYED RECORD
Graduate student forward Connor Caponi concluded his DU career as the school record holder with 185 career games played, setting the new mark on Feb. 8 at Arizona State by skating in his 169th contest.  Caponi only missed seven games in his five-year career at DU and played in 62 straight outings before missing the Dec. 6 outing at Western Michigan due to a lower-body injury.
 
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native broke the DU hockey games played record that was previously held by former teammate Ryan Barrow (2017-2022), who skated in his 168th career game during the 2022 NCAA National Championship Game where he also scored the game-tying goal that sparked DU to a 5-1 victory against Minnesota State.  Ed Cristofoli (1985-1989) owned the mark before Barrow at 167 games.
 
SENIOR CLASS SETS WINS RECORD
The Pioneers’ 2025 senior class finished as the winningest group in program history with 124 victories. The class won its 113th career game on Feb. 7 at Arizona State, surpassing the 2005 seniors’ previous record of 112 wins.  This year’s seniors became the 16th class to win at least 100 games when they accomplished that feat on Nov. 1 at Yale.
 
Among the 2025 seniors’ accomplishments have been four Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, two Penrose Cups as conference regular-season champions, an NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, three Frozen Four trips and two national championships. They went 67-14-5 in home games at Magness Arena during their career.
 
BUCKBERGER EARNS ELITE 90 AWARD
Defenseman Boston Buckberger became the fourth member of the DU hockey program and the second in as many years to earn the NCAA Elite 90 Award, picking up the honor at the 2025 Frozen Four in St. Louis.  Kent Anderson also earned the accolade in 2024 for the Pioneers, while Gabe Levin was honored in 2016 and Erich Fear in 2019. 
 
Buckberger, an accounting major, is the eighth overall Denver student-athlete to be named the Elite 90 winner and picked up the award by having the highest grade-point average (4.0) at the men’s ice hockey national championship weekend.
 
FINE NINE: ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS
DU had nine players named National All-American scholars for posting a 3.75 grade-point average in each of the school’s three quarters during the 2024-25 academic year.  Seniors Matt Davis and Carter King earned the honor for the fourth straight season, while junior Kent Anderson made the list for the third time and Boston Buckberger repeated with the accolade.  Graduate student Connor Caponi, senior Jack Devine, sophomore Sam Harris and freshmen Tory Pitner and James Reeder were recognized as first-time winners.
 
Additionally, Davis was named to the College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-American Second Team, while Devine was selected to the CSC’s Academic Third Team. The two seniors joined Anderson and Buckberger as members of the CSC Academic All-District Team as well.
 
PIOS POWER UP
Denver finished the season ranked third in the nation on the power play with a 28.8-percent success rate and has tallied on the power play in 30-of-44 games this year.  The team scored at least one power-play goal during an 11-game stretch from Oct. 19-Nov. 23—the team’s longest run in the last decade (since 2015-16). 
 
The Pioneers recorded multiple man-advantage goals in 11 outings this year, including tallying three times in both Game 2 (3/9) and Game 3 (3/7) of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Colorado College on March 15-16.  Those were the third and fourth instances this year that DU scored at least three power-play markers in a contest.
 
Jack Devine led the team with 27 power-play points (5g/22a), while Sam Harris was first on the squad and in the country with 11 man-advantage goals. 
 
The Pios opened the season by going 4-for-9 on the PP on opening night at Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 5—the most power-play goals scored in a game by the squad since Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State (4-of-6).  Five of Devine’s six assists in Alaska on Oct. 5-6 came while DU was a man-up on the ice, while all four of Zeev Buium’s assists in that series were from power-play goals.
 
DOMINANT AT THE DOT
The Pioneers ended the year ranked tied for eighth in the nation in faceoffs by winning 53.9 percent of their draws.  DU posted a season-high winning percentage of .656 on Jan. 10 against Miami (42/64).
 
Carter King led Denver in faceoff wins (539) while Connor Caponi paced the Pios with a .564 winning percentage (133/236); Kieran Cebrian ranked second on the squad in draw victories (386/725), and Samu Salminen was second in winning percentage (.555).  King set a personal best by winning 20-of-34 faceoffs on Oct. 19 vs. Northeastern for the most wins by a Pioneer since Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts.  King tied his career high by going 20-for-30 in the double-overtime, NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game vs. Western Michigan on March 22.
 
DOMINANT DAVIS
Senior goaltender Matt Davis recorded his 50th career victory on Jan. 11 against Miami, becoming the fifth active NCAA goaltender to reach the half-century milestone.  Overall, Davis is the 13th Denver goalie to win 50 career games and finished his career tied for fifth on DU’s all-time list with 63 victories with Peter Mannino (2004-08).
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native’s 29 victories in 2024-25 were the second-most in a single season in program history and one shy George Kirkwood record of 30 in 1960-61.
 
Davis stopped 73-of-76 shots he faced in the two games at Maine on Jan. 3-4, helping him earn his second of three NCHC Goaltender of the Week awards.  His 44 saves on Jan. 4 were at the time the most in a regulation game in his career.
 
He recorded new career highs by making 49 saves on 55 shots faced on Feb. 8 in an OT loss at Arizona State.
 
EVERY NIGHT
Denver had 11 skaters that played in all 44 games in the season: Kent Anderson, Cale Ashcroft, Kieran Cebrian Jack Devine, Carter King, Rieger Lorenz, Eric Pohlkamp, James Reeder, Samu Salminen, Aidan Thompson, Jared Wright.  In addition, goaltender Matt Davis suited up in all 44 contests as well, starting 40 of them in net.
 
Defenseman Boston Buckberger had skated in each of the first 41 games before suffering a season-ending injury in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Final on March 22 vs. Western Michigan, which also ended a run of playing in 85 straight contests since his NCAA debut as a freshman in 2023-24.
 
NATTY DAVIS
Goaltender Matt Davis made 35-of-36 saves against No. 1 overall seed Boston College in the Northeast Regional Final on March 30 in a rematch of the previous year’s championship game; he also made 35 stops in that last contest vs. the Eagles en route to a shutout victory and the Frozen Four’s Most Outstanding Player honor.
 
Davis only allowed one goal or fewer in six of his seven career NCAA Tournament starts, posting a 6-1 record, 0.99 goals-against average, .969 save percentage and one shutout.  His .857 winning percentage in the NCAA Tournament is tied for eighth-best all-time (minimum two years).
 
PLAYING AHEAD
The Pioneers had the lead or were tied for most of the season, as they didn’t trail in 84.8% of game play in 2024-25 (2284:27/2693:42)—leading for 48.2% (1299:41) or being tied for 36.6% (984:46) of the time.
DU was only down on the scoreboard in 15.2% of game play during the year (409:15) and didn’t trail for the first 244:12 of the season (4+ games).
 
NIFTY 50
Denver was the only program in the country with multiple 50-point scorers, as senior forward Jack Devine led the nation with 57 points while linemate Aidan Thompson tied for third in the NCAA with a career-high 53 points.
 
It was 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.
 
TWENTY SOMETHINGS
Junior forward Aidan Thompson became the third Pioneer to reach the 20-goal threshold after scoring in the Regional Semifinals on March 28 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 was 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 with Cole Eiserman, 25; and Quinn Hutson, 23).
 
GETTING THEIR GAMES IN
The Pioneers played the most games among any team in the country in 2024-25 with 44 contests—tied for the second-most in a season in school history (2003-04, 2016-17, 2023-24).  The program record is 48 games played set by the 1985-86 squad that reached the Frozen Four.
 
DU skated in 36 games during the regular season in 2024-25, as the team had a two-game exemption due to playing at Alaska Anchorage to the start of the campaign on Oct. 5-6.
 
DIVINE DEVINE
Senior Jack Devine led the nation in scoring with 57 points and paced all players in the NCAA with 44 assists in 44 games.  His 57 points were one more than he had in 2024-25 (56) and is just the fourth 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).
 
Devine is just the third Pioneer to finish as the nation’s scoring leader, joining Brink in 2021-22 (14g/43a) and Ed Beers in 1981-82 (50g/34a).
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native produced two career-long point streaks of eight games in 2024-25, doing so to start the season from Oct. 5-Nov. 2 (1g/15a) and again from Nov. 9-Dec. 13 (1g/10a).  He registered at least a point in 34-of-44 contests and multiple points in 17 outings, including in five of the first six games and in three consecutive from Oct. 19-26 and Feb. 21-28.
 
Devine opened the season with a personal-best four assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (all on the power play) and recorded three points on Oct. 26 vs. Wisconsin (1g/2a), Nov. 14 at North Dakota (0g/3a), Feb. 8 at Arizona State (0g/3a) and March 16 vs. Colorado College—he owns 14 career three-point games in his college tenure.
 
The forward was named both the NCHC and National Player of the Month for October after leading all NCAA players with 14 points (1g/13a) in six games—it was his first career monthly honors.  Devine was also recognized as NCHC Player of the Month in February after being first in the league in goals (5-tied), assists (9-tied) and points (14).
 
DEVINE AMONG THE BEST PIONEERS ALL-TIME
Forward Jack Devine finished his career as the highest-scoring Pioneer in the modern era and is part of a select group of players with 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career.
 
Devine reached 100 career assists on March 8 at Colorado College, becoming the 12th Denver player to reach the mark.  By hitting the milestone, he also became just the 10th Pioneer in the school’s 50-100-150 club and the first to join that group since Dave Shields from 1986-1990 (71g/108a).
 
He is 12th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 163 points (57g/106a), the most by a DU player since Rick Berens had 180 points (94g/86a) from 1987-1991.
 
Devine scored his 50th career goal on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha to become the 61st player in school history to reach the half-century mark.  Devine’s former teammate Cole Guttman was the previous Pioneer to tally 50 career goals on Feb. 11, 2022 vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
BUIUM IN THE (RECORD) BOOK
Sophomore Zeev Buium recorded 98 points in his two-year career at Denver and the 10th-most all-time by a DU defenseman.
 
Buium’s 98 points were the most in the first two seasons by a Pioneer blueliner since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point campaigns as a freshman in 1975-76 and sophomore in 1976-77.  He also owns the most points in any two-year period by a Denver rear guard since Woods’ combined 104 points as an underclassmen (1975-77).
 
The San Diego, Calif., native, who signed his NHL entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild after the season, ranks 10th in program history with 74 career assists.  His 48 points this past year are tied for the seventh-most in a campaign and comes after he tied for the fifth-most points in a season as a freshman with 50 in 2023-24.
 
ZEEV A HOBEY HAT TRICK FINALIST
Sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium was named a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist this past season as the top men’s college hockey player in the nation.  Buium was Denver’s first Hobey Hat Trick finalist since Bobby Brink in 2022 and was looking to join Matt Carle (2006) and Will Butcher (2017) as Pioneers to win the award.
 
Joining Buium as “Hat Trick” finalists are forwards Ryan Leonard of Boston College and Isaac Howard of Michigan State, with Howard being named this year’s winner during the awards ceremony on April 11 in St. Louis.
 
Denver was the only program in the country to have two players recognized as top-10 finalists for the Hobey, as senior forward Jack Devine joined Buium by earning top-10 honor for the second straight year.  Buium and Devine were the only finalists from the NCHC.
 
Denver junior forward Aidan Thompson was also a nominee for this year’s award, and the trio of Pioneers were among 21 players from the NCHC and 91 nationally that were initially up for this year’s top honor.
 
CARLE FINALIST FOR COACH OF THE YEAR
Denver head coach David Carle was a finalist for the 2025 Spencer Penrose Award, which is given annually to the Men’s D-I Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association.  This year’s winner was Western Michigan’s Pat Ferschweiler, who was selected in a vote by the nation’s 64 Division-I head coaches.
 
For Carle, this is his fourth time up for the accolade, as he was also a finalist in 2019, 2022 and 2024 during DU’s previous three trips to the Frozen Four.  Pioneers have won the award four times in history: Murray Armstrong (1961), Ralph Backstrom (1986), George Gwozdecky (2005) and Jim Montgomery (2017).
 
PIONEERS LEAD THE LEAGUE ON ALL-NCHC TEAM
Six Denver players were recognized with All-Conference honors, as defenseman Zeev Buium (unanimous) and forward Jack Devine were named to the First Team, forward Aidan Thompson was selected to the Second Team and forwards Sam Harris and Carter King and defenseman Eric Pohlkamp were chosen to the Third Team. 
 
DU’s two first-team members and six total honorees were each the most by any squad in the entire conference.  Both Buium and Devine repeated as First-Team selections, while the rest of the Pioneers were first-time recipients from the NCHC (Pohlkamp, First Team All-CCHA in 2023-24).
 
AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
The Pioneers picked up three individual conference honors at the annual NCHC awards celebration on March 20 prior to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul: Zeev Buium as both Player and Offensive Defenseman of the Year and Matt Davis as the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award winner.
 
Buium repeats as the top offensive defenseman in the league and becomes the fifth Pioneer and third DU defenseman to be named NCHC Player of the Year.  Forward Bobby Brink was the last DU skater to win the award in 2022.  Davis is the first Denver player to pick up the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award since Gabe Levin in 2016.
 
DU had three finalists for additional awards: Jack Devine for Forward of the Year, Carter King for Defensive Forward of the Year and Jared Wright for the Sportsmanship Award.
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE
Denver tied with Western Michigan for first in the NCAA in scoring at 4.0 goals per game, and DU led the nation in total goals scored at 174.  The Pios also led the country in 2023-24 with 202 total goals and a 4.59 average. 
 
The Pioneers scored at least four goals in each of the first 11 contests and had 26 such games overall this past season.
 
BALANCED SCORING
The Pioneers had 18 different players score a goal this year and 20 of the 22 skaters have registered at least one point.  Denver also has 14 skaters that reached double-digits in points.
 
Denver tied for first in the NCAA with the most players with 10-plus goals (8 players, Quinnipiac) and 20-goal scorers (2, Boston University).  The Pioneers also had the most players with at least 20 points (10-tied, Western Michigan), 30 points (7), 40 points (4) and 50 points (2) in the NCAA this season.
 
CARLE COMMITS TO DU, SIGNS EXTENSION
Denver head coach David Carle furthered his commitment to the Pioneers hockey program by signing a multi-year contract extension following the season on May 5.
 
In addition to the extension, Carle also committed to a multi-year major gift pledge to support current and new initiatives within the hockey program.  Carle was the first DU Athletics head coach to join the department’s Gold Standard Society, and his gift directly supports the Murray Armstrong Hockey Student-Athlete Enhancement Fund and the Athletics Excellence Fund.
 
NHL SUMMER PROSPECT CAMPS
Denver had 14 current or former or incoming players attend 2025 NHL summer development camps in July, including three with the Colorado Avalanche: Jake Fisher, Tory Pitner and alum Sean Behrens.  The Minnesota Wild (Zeev Buium, Rieger Lorenz), San Jose Sharks (Eric Pohlkamp, Matt Davis), Los Angeles Kings (James Reeder, Jared Wright) also had multiple Pioneers from the 2024-25 roster attend their respective camps.
 
NHL Draft picks Garrett Brown (Winnipeg), Hagen Burrows (Tampa Bay) and Sam Harris (Montreal) as well as recently signed Carter King (Calgary) also attended 2025 prospect camps this past summer.  Additionally, sophomore Boston Buckberger took part in the Columbus Blue Jackets camp as a free-agent invitee.
 
BACK-TO-BACK WORLD JUNIOR GOLD FOR PIONEERS
Denver hockey was once again well-represented on Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship with head coach David Carle leading the Americans’ bench for the second-straight year and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium serving as an alternate captain on this year’s team.
 
Team USA defeated Finland in overtime in the Gold Medal Game on Jan. 5 to give the Americans their first-ever back-to-back World Junior titles.  Buium played the second-most minutes among all players at the tournament at 25:13 per game and totaled six points on two goals and four assists, including registering helpers on both the U.S.’s game-tying and game-winning goals in the overtime victory against Finland in the final.
 
Carle and Buium were joined on the United States team with Denver director of hockey operations/video coach Travis Culhane and equipment manager Nick Meldrum, who also served in the same roles in on Team USA 2024.  Also on Carle’s staff were former Pioneer assistants Steve Miller (Minnesota) and David Lassonde (USA Hockey).
 
DU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Denver was in the national tournament for the 34th time in program history and reached the Big Dance in 16 consecutive full seasons since 2008.  DU has a 46-26 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, and the program is 17-4 in its last 21 tournament games dating back to 2017 and is 20-6 in its last 26 national contests since 2015. 
 
The Pioneers’ improved to 22-12 all-time in opening-round games after defeating Providence on March 28 in the Regional Semifinals.
 
DU has now reached the Frozen Four in six (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025) of its previous eight tries in the national tourney (across nine years)––winning titles in 2017, 2022 and 2024.
 
The Pioneers, whose 10 national titles are the most in college hockey history, were looking this past season to become the first program to win back-to-back championships since Minnesota Duluth in 2018 and 2019 and was looking to repeat as national champs for the fourth time in its history (2004-05, 1960-61, 1968-69). 
 
DU was also aiming to be the first NCAA squad to win three titles in a four-year span since the Pios did it themselves in 1958, 1960 and 1961.  Michigan is the only other program to accomplish the feat, winning five championships in six years (1951-53, 1955-56).
 
NOTABLES FROM THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

• Denver fell 3-2 in double-overtime to Western Michigan in the NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals, the same result from three weeks earlier when they faced off in the NCHC Final.
• DU played WMU in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time (2011 Midwest Regional Semifinals), with that outing also going into double-OT.
• The Pioneers dropped to 2-1 all-time in double-OT games in the NCAA Tournament, after also playing in such a contest in 2024 vs. UMass in the Regional Semifinals.
• Goaltender Matt Davis recorded his fourth, 40-plus save effort of the season in the Frozen Four vs. Western Michigan.
• The Pios improved to 5-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games vs. Boston College, winning each of the last three meetings. 
• DU defeated Providence in the regional semifinals, earning its first victory against the Friars in the squads’ second meeting in tournament history.
• Matt Davis posted a 106:32 shutout streak of Boston College that stretched across three games dating back to Oct. 21, 2023 and included a shutout in the 2024 NCAA Championship Game.
• The National Championship rematch was the eighth time that two teams met in the national tournament after playing for the NCAA title the prior year. It was the first time that the defending champion earned the victory in the rematch (1-7).
• DU had never faced a team in a championship rematch the following year in the national tournament.
• The Pioneers were playing BC for the second-straight national tourney; they did the same thing in 2024 with Cornell after playing the Big Red in 2023.
• Eric Pohlkamp tallied his 11th goal of the season in the Regional Final, tying his total from his freshman season in 2023-24 at Bemidji State.
• Denver had eight players make their debuts in the national tournament on March 28 vs. Providence: 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 on March 28 vs. Providence.
• Carter King’s scored his 50th career goal in the Regional Semis vs. PC to become the 62nd Pioneer to reach the threshold and the second this season, joining Jack Devine.
• The Pioneers’ five goals scored vs. the Friars 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, Mass.
• The Pioneers improved to 3-0 in Sunday games this season with the win in the Regional Final.

CONQUERING THE MANCHESTER DEMONS
The Pioneers picked up their first-ever victories in Manchester, New Hampshire, with a 5-1 victory over Providence in the Regional Semifinals and beating Boston College 3-1 in the final on March 28-30.  DU was playing at SNHU Arena for Regionals the third time in program history and was 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 in its previous trip on March 23, 2023.
 
DAVIS EARNS MONTHLY HONORS FOR POSTSEASON PLAY
Senior Matt Davis finished his collegiate career by being named both the NCHC Goaltender of the Month and National Co-Goaltender of the Month from the Hockey Commissioner’s Associations for March/April.
 
Davis backstopped the Pioneers to their second-straight NCAA Frozen Four appearance as he played in all 11 games in March and April, posting a 7-4-0 record.  He led the NCHC with a .930 save percentage and was second in the league with a 2.12 goals-against average. Davis allowed two or fewer goals in seven of the contests while averaging 28.91 saves per game during the stretch, including recording a pair of 40 save efforts in postseason play.
 
It was his second career NCHC Goaltender of the Month award and his third career national monthly honor after previously picking up goalie honors in March 2024 and be named Player of the Month in April 2024.
 
COACH CARLE CEMENTING HIMSELF
Head Coach David Carle won his 150th career game on Oct. 6 in his hometown against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves and coached in his 250th contest on Jan. 25 at Minnesota Duluth.
 
Carle ranks fourth in program history in wins and games coached behind Murray Armstrong (460 wins), George Gwozdecky (443 wins) and Ralph Backstrom (182 wins).  His .696 winning percentage through his first 250 games (166-68-16) was the second-best mark among all coaches behind only Armstrong’s .728.
 
The Anchorage, Alaska, native reached the 150-win mark in his 228th game behind the bench (seventh season), the second-fastest among DU coaches with only Armstrong doing it faster in 216 contests (seventh season).  Gwozdecky reached the mark in his 287th game and Backstrom hit the milestone in his 300th contest, with both coming in their eighth seasons.
 
Carle owns a .694 career winning percentage—the highest mark by any coach in program history and the second-highest among active NCAA coaches (.697, Greg Brown, Boston College).
 
MILESTONE MEN
Eight DU upperclassmen played in milestone games last season, with graduate student Connor Caponi (Nov. 1 at Yale) and seniors Jack Devine (Feb. 22 at Miami) and Carter King (March 7 vs. Colorado College) all skating in their 150th career contests, becoming the 70th, 71st and 72nd players to reach that threshold and first since Kyle Mayhew on March 10, 2023 vs. Miami. 
 
Five members of DU’s junior class played in their 100th career games, with Kent Anderson (March 14) and Samu Salminen (March 15) both playing in century-mark contests in the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Colorado College.  Rieger Lorenz was the first Pioneer to play their 100th game this season on Jan. 3 at Maine, while Jared Wright reached the milestone on Jan. 11 vs. Miami and Aidan Thompson did it on Jan. 25 at Minnesota Duluth.
 
TRENDS
Denver was…

• 28-4-1 when scoring three or more goals
• 31-8-1 when scoring two or more goals
• 27-2-0 when holding an opponent to two or fewer goals
• 24-6-1 when outshooting an opponent
• 22-5-0 when scoring first
• 25-4-0 when leading after the second period
• 12-4-0 when tied after the first period and 7-1-0 when tied after the second

CAREER HIGHS
The following Pioneers set or matched their previous career highs during the season:

• Kent Anderson: Assists (7), Points (8)
• Cale Ashcroft: Goals (4), Assists (8), Points (12)
• Boston Buckberger: Goals (9), Points (30)
• Zeev Buium: Goals (13)
• Garrett Brown: Goals (2), Assists (6), Points (8)
• Connor Caponi: Goals (5-tied)
• Kieran Cebrian: Goals (6), Points (15)
• Matt Davis: Games/Starts (40), Wins (29)
• Jack Devine: Assists (44), Points (57)
• Sam Harris: Goals (23), Assists (12), Points (35), PPG (11), GWG (7)
• Carter King: Goals (21), Assists (22), Points (43), PPG (8), GWG (4)
• Rieger Lorenz: Assists (14-tied)
• Eric Pohlkamp: Goals (11-tied), Assists (24), Points (35)
• Samu Salminen: Goals (10), Assists (18), Points (28)
• Aidan Thompson: Goals (21), Assists (34), Points (55), PPG (7), GWG (3)

THOMPSON MAKING HIS POINT
Junior Aidan Thompson was named the NCHC Player of the Month for November after leading all players in the conference with 11 points and tying for first with six goals.  In addition to his five assists, he scored three times on the power play, had four penalty minutes and registered +2 plus/minus rating in eight games.
 
Thompson began the season by recording a point in each of the first 14 outings, a career-long point streak that ended on Dec. 6 at Western Michigan after he produced 10 goals and 12 assists.  The forward’s run was the longest season-opening point streak by a Pioneer in the last 10 years (since 2015-16), surpassing the previous long of Henrik Borgstrom’s 11-game run to begin the 2017-18 campaign.
 
His 14-game streak was also tied with Bobby Brink for the second-longest by a Pioneer in the last two decades (Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 19, 2022), with only Danton Heinen’s run of 18 straight contests from Jan. 22-March 27, 2016 being longer.  Thompson also registered a personal-best seven-game assist streak from Oct. 18-Nov. 8. 
 
It was also the longest point streak in the NCAA season this season until Michigan’s T.J. Hughes went on a 15-game run from Dec. 14-Feb. 15 and is the third-longest overall (Ryan Leonard, Boston College, 17 games, Jan. 17-March 30).
 
The Fort Collins, Colo., native set a career high for assists/points in a game on Oct. 19 vs. Northeastern with four helpers, the second four-assist game of the year by a Pioneer as Jack Devine also accomplished the feat in the season opener.
 
ZEEV WITH THE TRICK
Sophomore Zeev Buium recorded his first career hat trick on Nov. 15 at North Dakota to become the first Pioneer defenseman to score three goals in a game in more than 20 years.  Ryan Caldwell was the last Denver D-man to tally three times when he accomplished the feat on Feb. 14, 2004 vs. Minnesota State, and Buium was the first DU rear guard to register a hat trick on the road since Ian DeCorby at St. Cloud State on Dec. 29, 1990.
 
Buium’s three markers were his first of the season and the first such performance by a Pioneer since Jack Devine tallied four times on March 10, 2023 vs. Miami.  It was just the third hat trick by a D-man in NCHC history, as Western Michigan’s Ronnie Attard had the previous two: Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate and Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado College.
 
It was Buium’s second of three career multi-goal games, joining his two-goal performance that included the overtime-winner in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals on March 22, 2024 vs. St. Cloud State at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and a pair of power-play markers on March 16, 2025 vs. Colorado College in Game 3 of the NCHC Quarterfinals. on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage.
 
POHLKAMP’S POINTS
Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp recorded a career high with four points on March 7 vs. Colorado College on a goal and three assists.  His trio of helpers matched a career best that he set earlier in the year on Nov. 8 vs. Lindenwood, and the performance marked his fourth game with three or more points of his NCAA tenure, with three of them coming this season (also Nov. 1 at Yale, 2g/1a).
 
Pohlkamp recorded three of his points against CC in the third period (1g/2a), marking the second time this year that he’s registered a trio of points in a single frame and the fourth time overall by a DU player in 2024-25.  The Baxter, Minnesota, native recorded 22 points (7g/15a) in the last 27 games of the season and his 35 points on the season ranked second among team defensemen on in scoring behind Zeev Buium (48)–Buium was the previous DU blueliner to record four points in an outing on Jan. 20, 2024 at Omaha (1g/3a).
 
SAMU GOES SHORTY
Junior forward Samu Salminen scored two short-handed goals late in the first period on Dec. 13 at Colorado College.  He tallied while Denver had a man disadvantage at 16:37 and 19:13 of the opening frame.  Among the accomplishments of his feat:

• Became the sixth DU player to score two short-handed goals in the same game in program history and the fourth to do so in the same period as Tyler Bozak was the last to do so on Nov. 4, 2007 at Minnesota.  The other two players to score two shorties in a single stanza were Gabe Gauthier on Oct. 22, 2004 vs. St. Cloud State and Bob Pazzelli on Oct. 29, 1977 at Michigan.
• Second-straight season that a Pioneer scored two short-handed goals in a game as Carter King also did so on Nov. 10, 2023 at Arizona State.
• The last time that Denver scored two shorties in the same period was when Chris Butler (11:06) and Tyler Bozak (18:40) found the back of the net in the second frame on Feb. 22, 2008 vs. Alaska Anchorage.
• First short-handed goals of the year and the first by a DU player since Rieger Lorenz on Jan. 12, 2024 vs. St. Cloud State.
• Salminen recorded his second and third career short-handed goals after scoring his first on Oct. 7, 2023 at Colgate while a member of Connecticut.
• His first career multi-goal game at DU and became the third Pioneer to score twice in a single period this season.
• His two scores came in a matter of 2:36, the quickest two goals by the same Denver player this year.

CLUTCH CALE
Sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft scored his third game-winning goal of the season on Jan. 3 at Maine, hitting twine on a shot with 20 seconds left in regulation.  Each of his first three goals this year were game-winners, which were also the first GWGs of his career.
 
He also scored in the third period on Oct. 25 vs. Wisconsin and Dec. 14 vs. Colorado College.  His goals on Dec. 14 and Jan. 3 marked the first time in his career that he registered points in back-to-back games, and he recorded his first multi-point game on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha (1g/1a).  Ashcroft recorded a career-high three assists/points in Game 3 of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Colorado College on March 16.
 
NO SHORT STORY
Captain Carter King scored his second short-handed goal of the season on March 28 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’s seven career short-handed goals are tied for third place on Denver’s all-time list with Dwight Mathiasen (1983-86). 
 
For King, the goal in the regional semifinal was also the 50th of his career.  He was 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.
 
BUCKING THE TREND
Defenseman Boston Buckberger scored his third goal in a five-game stretch on March 21 in the semifinals vs. Arizona State and recorded 17 points (6g/11a) in his last 17 games he played.  His nine goals and 30 points (9g/21a) on the year were both career highs.  He tied a personal best with three points (1g/2a) on Feb. 14 vs. North Dakota, the second such game of his career: 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 (Zeev Buium, 3x; Eric Pohlkamp, 3x).
 
Buckberger missed the three games of the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year due to an upper-body injury suffered in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game on March 22 vs. Western Michigan. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native had played in each of the first 85 games of his career before missing the Regional Semifinals against Providence on March 28 due to the injury.
 
SAMMY SCORING BIG GOALS
Sophomore Sam Harris became the 11th player in the NCAA this season to reach the 20-goal threshold after tallying the game-winning marker on March 7 against Colorado College.  He finished the campaign tied for ninth in the nation with 23 goals and also led the country with 11 power-play goals.
 
Harris tied for fourth in the NCAA with seven-game winners this year, which put him in a six-way tie for the fourth-most GWGs in a single campaign in program history.  Three of Harris’ game-winners came in consecutive games: Nov. 8-9 vs. Lindenwood and Nov. 15 at North Dakota—the first time that a Pioneer has notched the winning tally in three consecutive outings in the last four years (since 2021-22). 
 
The San Diego native recorded his second eight-game point streak of the season from Jan. 11-Feb. 14 (7g/4a), which also marked the longest consecutive games point stretch of his career as he missed one game due to injury (Nov. 2 at Yale) in the middle of his career-long nine-game run earlier this season from Oct. 18-Nov. 16 (8g/6a).
 
Harris scored three goals on Feb. 8 at Arizona State for his first career hat trick and the second by a Pioneer this season (Zeev Buium, Nov. 15 at North Dakota).  It was also Harris’ first career three-point contest, and his three markers came in a matter of 27:43 for the fastest three goals scored by a Pioneer since Tristan Broz tallied a trio in 6:57 on Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Miami.
 
AVALANCHE OF GOALS
Denver’s 11 goals scored on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha marked the program’s most in a contest in nearly 30 years, as the Pioneers last reached that total with an 11-1 victory on Dec. 27, 1995 against Air Force.  The Pioneers’ 11-2 win vs. the Mavericks was their largest margin of victory since winning 9-0 on Nov. 25, 2023 against Yale.
 
DU’s 11 goals scored tied the NCHC record for the most in a conference game, and it was just the fourth time that an NCHC squad tallied 11 goals and the first since St. Cloud State did it against Miami on Jan. 21, 2022.
 
ROAD TRIPPIN’
DU made its third trip to the U.S. northeast this year for NCAA Regionals and traveled approximately 13,590 miles for games away from Magness Arena this season (one way).
 
The Pios went to New England twice previously during the regular season for series at Yale on Nov. 1-2 and Maine on Jan. 3-4 and began the campaign with a trip to Anchorage, Alaska, on Oct. 5-6.  DU traveled approximately 10,349 miles during the 2024-25 regular season after going 8,605 miles for road contests in 2023-24.
 
Counting postseason play at neutral sites, DU owns a 23-8-0 record in its last 31 games away from home since Feb. 16, 2024.
 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Pioneers went 13-1-0 against non-NCHC opponents during the season and 5-1-0 against teams from Hockey East Association.  DU defeated three HEA squad in the 2024 NCAA Tournament en route to the national championship (UMass, BU and BC), and the Pios own a 9-2-0 record in their contests vs. Hockey East over the last two years.
 
Denver went 11-1-0 in non-conference play during the 2024-25 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 top-10 series in what was its second of two trips to the northeast this year after playing at Yale on Nov. 1-2.
DU’s last home non-conference outings were Nov. 8-9 with the team earning a pair of 4-1 wins against Lindenwood during the 75th Anniversary Weekend.  The Pioneers hosted Hockey East’s Northeastern in its first home games of the year as part of Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 18-19, with the team raising it championship banner prior to the Saturday series finale.  DU then faced the Big Ten’s and former WCHA-foe Wisconsin on Oct. 25-26, winning 4-2 and 6-1.
 
The Pios had won 20 consecutive games against non-conference opponents dating back to Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State before falling 2-1 at Maine in the series finale on Jan. 4.  Denver owns a 12-0-1 mark at home in non-NCHC contests since Jan. 7, 2023 vs. Alaska Fairbanks.  Overall, DU is 26-3-1 against non-conference opponents over the past two seasons (13-2-1 in 2023-24).
 
MAGNESS MADNESS
Denver sold out each of its first 20 home regular-season games in 2024-25, averaging 6,559 fans on the year to set a new attendance record.  The previous best came last season in 2023-24 when DU averaged 6,130 fans at Magness Arena across 20 games. The only game the Pios didn’t sellout this year was Game 3 of the conference quarterfinals with an attendance of 5,063, as tickets didn’t go on sale until 24 hours prior.
 
Denver 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.
 
Overall, 137,744 people watched the Pioneers at Magness Arena in 2024-25, the second-highest attended season in the rink’s history (144,533 in 2006-07).  DU had 122,594 visit its home rink in 2023-24 (20 games) and 133,117 in 2022-23 (23 games). If the 17,952 that witnessed Denver defeat Colorado College at Ball Arena on Jan. 27, 2023 are included in the data (it officially counted as a DU home game), then 151,069 people watched Pioneer home games in 2022-23—the highest total attendance for the team since 1999.
 
ANCHORAGE HOMECOMING
David Carle guided the bench for the first time as a head coach in his hometown of Anchorage on Oct. 5-6.  Hired as the program’s head coach prior to 2018-19, Carle had only ever coached in America’s Last Frontier twice, going 2-0 in games in Fairbanks on Oct. 5-6, 2019 (he missed the 2023-24 games in UAF for the birth of his second son, Callum). 
 
The only time Carle served as a “coach” in Anchorage was as an upperclassman in 2011 or 2012 while a student assistant coach under George Gwozdecky.  He was still an assistant coach with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers when Denver last played the UAA Seawolves early in 2013-14 (he was hired at DU later on in the year).
 
PIONEERS IN THE NCHC FROZEN FACEOFF TOURNAMENT
Denver reached its second consecutive NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game and is the only squad to reach the conference’s semifinals in each of the 11-held tournaments.  The Pioneers lost its first league final on March 22 to Western Michigan and is now 3-1 all-time in NCHC title contests and 6-1-1 in Saturday games on championship weekend.
 
Denver sports a 31-11-1 overall record in the NCHC Tournament, going 21-3 in the quarterfinal round and 4-7 in the semifinals.  The Pioneers had won 11 straight quarterfinal games before their loss in Game 1 to Colorado College this year.  Denver, which owns seven series sweeps in the quarterfinals, had swept Minnesota Duluth (2024), Miami twice (2023, 2022) and North Dakota (2019) and won a one-game quarterfinal matchup against Omaha (2021) in the previous five-held tournaments.
 
DU won its third NCHC Frozen Faceoff and 18th overall conference tournament championship (15 with WCHA) in 2024 versus Omaha.  The Pios also won the inaugural tournament in 2014 over Miami at Target Center in Minneapolis and 2018 vs. St. Cloud State at the first iteration of the event at Xcel Energy Center. 
 
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER TAMES THE TIGERS
Denver’s 9-2 win in Game 3 of the conference quarterfinals on March 16 marked the most goals the program has scored and its largest margin of victory in NCHC Tournament history.
 
It was the most goals that the Pioneers have tallied in a conference tournament outing since winning 9-3 vs. Michigan State on March 11, 1972 in Game 2 of the WCHA Second Round.  The last time DU won by seven goals in a conference tournament was an 8-1 victory in Game 2 vs. Michigan Tech in the WCHA First Round on March 9, 2002.
 
Overall, it was just the seventh time in program history that Denver had scored at least nine goals in a conference tournament matchup, with the other six occurring between 1960-1972; DU also beat CC by a 9-2 score on March 11, 1960 in Game 1 of the WCHA First Round.
 
The Pioneers won Game 2 on March 15 by a 6-3 score. Denver’s 15 goals scored being their most in a two-game stretch in the conference tournament since winning 8-3 and 7-2 vs. North Dakota on March 9-10, 1977 in the WCHA First Round.
 
FIVE IN A ROW VS. CC
Denver and Colorado College faced off in five straight games from March 7-16, with the teams meeting in a home-and-home series to close the regular season before playing in three games in the NCHC Quarterfinals.  This was the first time in the rivalry that dates back to 1949 that the two programs played five consecutive contests against one another.
 
DU and CC were playing series on back-to-back weeks for the first time since March 5-13, 2004.  That year, DU won both of regular-season contests in that home-and-home set before CC swept the Pios at Magness Arena in the WCHA first round—though Denver went on to win the national championship.
The squads were scheduled to play four games in a row to close out the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, but the final two outings that season on March 4-6 were cancelled.
 
DU last faced a team in back-to-back weeks in 2015-16 when the Pios swept Omaha at home to close the main campaign before winning the NCHC Quarterfinals in two games.
 
MILESTONES IN MIAMI
DU’s top line trio of seniors Jack Devine and Carter King and junior Aidan Thompson each recorded major milestones during the weekend series at Miami on Feb. 21-22.  Thompson became the 104th player in program history to record 100 career points in the second period on Feb. 21, while King also joined the century club early in the third and 7:43 of game time after his teammate hit the mark.  The Denver duo were the first to reach 100 career points since Devine on March 8, 2024 at Colorado College.
 
Devine became the 22nd player to reach 150 career points on Feb. 22, as he reached the milestone in his 150th career game at Denver with an assist on Zeev Buium’s goal with 1:27 left in the second period.  He is the first Pioneers player to hit the 150-threshold since Rhett Rakhshani in 2010.
 
KING’S BANNER NIGHT
Forward Carter King had a memorable night on Oct. 19, which began with him taking a lap with the 2024 NCAA Championship trophy and watching the program’s 10th national title banner be raised to the Magness Arena rafters.  After the pregame festivities, he went out and produced two goals and two assists and won 20 faceoffs.
His faceoff victories were the most in a game in his career while his four points matched a personal best previously set on Nov. 11, 2023 in DU’s comeback win at Arizona State (1g/3a).
 
WEEKEND OF FIRSTS
Denver freshmen Hagen Burrows, Jake Fisher, Tory Pitner and James Reeder made their collegiate debuts on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage, with transfer players Eric Pohlkamp (Bemidji State) and Samu Salminen (UConn) playing in their first contests with the Pioneers in that outing as well.
 
Fisher tallied his first career goal in his debut while Reeder and Salminen tallied in the series finale on Oct. 6.  Pohlkamp picked up his first point as a Pioneer with an assist in the Sunday contest.
 
ROSTER BUILDING
Denver began this year with 18 returning players from the 2023-24 championship squad while welcoming seven newcomers—five incoming freshmen and transfer students Eric Pohlkamp (Bemidji State) and Samu Salminen (Connecticut).  DU brought back 10-of-15 forwards, 5-of-8 D-men and 3-of-4 goalies from a season ago.
 
The Pioneers 24-member squad at the end of the year featured graduate student Connor Caponi and seniors Matt Davis, Jack Devine and Carter King. There was also five juniors to round out the upperclassmen.
 
Five players from the 2024-25 squad signed NHL professional contracts, while two transferred (Tristan Lemyre, Western Michigan; Lucas Olvestad, Massachusetts). Alex Weiermair left the team in December and signed with the WHL Portland Winterhawks.
 
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
DU entered the season as the second-youngest squad in college hockey for the second-straight season despite only having five freshmen on its squad.  Denver’s average age as of Oct. 1 was 20.9 years old—which was also its age to start 2023-24.  Boston College, which was the youngest team last season at 20.6, was once again the youngest at 20.7 years of age.
 
DU’s youngest player was defenseman Tory Pitner (March 6, 2006) while Hagen Burrows also started the season as an 18-year-old with an Oct. 15, 2005 birthday.  In 2023-24, Zeev Buium (Dec. 7, 2005) was the second-youngest player in college hockey behind only Boston University’s and eventual No. 1 overall NHL Draft pick Macklin Celebrini (June 13, 2006).  Jack Devine, who turned 21 on Oct. 1, was the second-youngest player in the nation as a freshman in 2021-22.
 
SCHEDULE NOTABLES   

• This season is the 76th as a program, but the school will celebrate 75 years of DU hockey throughout the campaign (1949-2024).
• Opened the season in Alaska for the second-straight year, as the Pioneers began in Anchorage vs. the Seawolves on Oct. 5-6 after starting 2023-24 in Fairbanks against the Nanooks.
• Played 36 regular-season games for the second-straight year, as the Pioneers have a two-game exemption for playing in Alaska.
• Longest homestand was four games from Oct. 18-26 against Northeastern and Wisconsin.
• Played five home contests in a seven-game stretch from Feb. 14-March 7, which included home games on back-to-back weekends on April 28-March 1 vs. St. Cloud State and March 7 to start a home-and-home with Colorado College
• Longest road swing was three games: Dec. 6-7 at Western Michigan and Dec. 13 at Colorado College.
• Played 5-of-6 games on the road from Dec. 6-Jan. 4 and 7-of-10 away from Magness Arena from Nov. 15-Jan. 4.
• Hosted ACHA UNLV in an exhibition after the Holiday Break on Dec. 28.  It was the fourth straight season that DU played an ACHA team in an exhibition and twice vs. UNLV (also 2022-23).
• The Pioneers’ previous road games at Alaska Anchorage were Jan. 27-28, 2012, at Maine were Oct. 14-15, 2005 and at Yale was Jan. 4, 1980.  DU last played Northeastern on Jan. 2, 2005 at DU.  The team made its first-ever trip to Yale’s Ingalls Rink on Nov. 1-2.
• NCHC Quarterfinals were on campus from March 14-16 before the last NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on March 21-22. The semifinals and final will be moved to campus sites starting in 2025-26.