Snake Eyes: A figurative expression for having bad luck. The worst possible result; a complete lack of success.
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Denver doubled up UNLV in every statistical category, except blocks (21-3) and goals during a 6-6 (1) OT shootout Exhibition loss at Magness Arena Saturday night.
Denver faced the UNLV Rebels Saturday night in an exhibition tilt. UNLV beat Matt Davis three times in the first fifteen minutes before Kieran Cebrian scored for Denver, 3-1.
The Rebels scored again, two minutes into the second period, 4-1. Freddie Halyk went into goal for Denver. The Rebels got their fifth goal with three minutes left in the second period, all even-strength.
DU’s Cale Ashcroft stuck early in the third period, 5-2. Three minutes later, on the powerplay, DU’s Aiden Thompson scored, 5-3. Four minutes later, Carter King pulled the Pioneers within one goal, 5-4. Less than a minute later, UNLV scored through a screen, 6-4. DU’s Rieger Lorenz countered with a powerplay goal, 6-5, with eight minutes remaining. Aiden Thompson knotted the game 6-6 with 3:23 remaining and regulation play ended knotted.
DU outshot the Rebels 10-2 in the extra frame but Denver could never solve goaltender Jeremy Forman. During the shootout, UNLV’s Mattias Dal Monte scored the only goal.
DU has never lost to a club team. Shameful.
Shocking!
This was a bottom-scraping lowlight in the proud 75 year history of DU hockey, even as the meaningless exhibition that it was…
DU let in 6 goals to a club team and lost a shootout on top of that. That’s an unmitigated disaster no matter how you slice it. No DU team has ever done that in 75 years, and the clowning DU gets as a result of this was well-earned.
Yes, the game should never have been scheduled in the first place. Nobody won but DU’s finance team and UNLV.
Please erase this fiasco with a couple of wins in April…
Actually UNLV won.
I would like 2024 NCAA Tournament level Matty Davis goaltending back ASAP please.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME !?!?!?
Tonight’s performance will make this team the laughing stock of D1 hockey this season.
So you dropped Football 🏈 to elevate the Tenver Hockey program. No excuses.
What’s even more embarrassing is all the Denver media calling this a “6-6 tie with a shootout loss.” It’s a loss. Own it. Give UNLV the credit of a victory. So deeply classless. Even good team lose. Calling it a tie is shameful.
You may be new to hockey. Go to CHN or USCHO sites and the game shows 6-6. “A shootout is a tie-breaking procedure used in ice hockey games when regulation time and overtime periods have ended and both teams are still tied.” Thus, the game was a shootout loss. We went a step further and added the (1) to the header to show the goal.
The NCAA also lists it as 6-6 w/o shootout box score. In the real world DU still lost 7-6 in a shoot out. With all their other NHL draftees… And this is currently on the school’s official website: “No. 5 DU Hockey Ties 6-6 in December Exhibition.” I’m not new to hockey. Neither is the Hockey News who seems to feel OK about saying UNLV won in (not tied) in a shootout. It’s ok to be sad/pissed/embarrassed, but c’mon… DU calling it a tie is just gutless. Give the club kids the credit (even if they’ll probably get stomped by CC today). I’m a ECAC fan from the northeast without a dog in the fight. I just think Denver’s media folks are being tacky. Whatever… folks can and will watch the actual reality on YouTube anyway. Not here for a p*ssing contest, I just think it’s be nice if the DU folks were gracious instead of being defensive about it. DU’s still gonna go deep and maybe win it all again. Best of luck the rest of the season.
We all understand the Miracle on Ice tingles, Jon. If UNLV scored in OT, it would be a 7-6 UNLV win. However, a shootout win is shown as a ‘shootout win’ and the game is shown as 6-6. We would have shown it as a ‘shootout win’ if DU had won the shootout. That is no discredit to UNLV.
The game was an exhibition game, and does not count for anything. No win. No Loss. No tie. No stats.
But I am sure the Pioneer players, coaches and sports leadership feels quite humiliated today, as they should. Let it burn. Reflect on it. Build on it. Then flush it…
DU’s fans should also feel humiliated, as I do. Humiliation is part of being a sports fan, too. Most of us experienced last year’s DU NCAA title, and many of us have experienced multiple DU NCAA crowns. Few things feel better than that. So, we true fans must also bear the stigma of last’s night’s atrocity. Some casual fans may dismiss it easily, as the game was an exhibition game and did not count. But true fans DU know that whenever a team wears the uniform, there is pride on the line.
And we Pios fans must let this hurt, too.
Hopefully, there will be better days ahead for the Pios, and we’ll look back on this as a bemused aberration that we hope it was…
It doesn’t count for anything unless you’re some kid who just paid to play on your school’s club team and beat the defending National champs. Or maybe their parents. It’s totally irrelevant to DU’s program. But people acting like a shootout loss is a tie (or didn’t happen) is so lame. It’s a great sports story and chance for DU to act like a classy, magnanimous, champion. Calling it a tie on denverpioneers.com is pretty limp. Even the most boring NHL postgame interviews have guys saying “you gotta give that group credit they worked hard yaddy yadda.” As a hockey fan, I don’t think it means anything for DU and they’re gonna do nothing but tighten up. As a people fan, I think it’s a bad look. Good luck Pios and fans. Have a fun season, y’all.
Nat
I’m a season ticket holder (85-86 season on) and a DU alumni
I opted not to drive down from Wyoming for this game. I transferred the tickets to my son, who then transferred them to my daughter, who did attend. This is a disaster and disappointing. I not sure we will be going to St. Louis this spring. It seems to me that after sweeping N. Dakota at home, DU has come off its “wheels”. David Carl and his staff need to work on the defense, most of the goals against DU I’ve seen are the result of defensive break downs in our zone. Matt, who early in last season was inconsistent, really stood up in St. Paul (my wife and I were there) needs to stand up again. The “blocked shots” statistic should open some eyes on DU’s defensive unit, give the whoever is in goal some help.
@5BWest to clarify in my initial post when I said “Denver media” I was referring to whomever put “6-6 tie” on DU’s official site. That’s a choice the school’s media team made just as this site chose to put “shootout loss” in the headline and lede. I understand how game scores are indicated on score sheets. I also know that colloquially speaking, hockey fans count shootout losses as losses. Not ties. DU is choosing to call it a tie in a headline on their website. As the biggest team in college hockey. That’s a choice and I find it tacky. Just one dude’s opinion. I think I’m the only person here who isn’t a committed DU fan. And right out of the blocks you suggest that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Both erroneous and condescending. Also tacky. Maybe try a little of Puck Swami’s self-awareness. Or enjoy your echo chamber! Either way I’ve got better things to do. I’ll let myself out.
The team has gone flat in the last 30 days. The same team got swept by Arizona St. VERY embarrassing to have those 10 banners staring at a Denver team losing to a club team. Wow!
Didn’t see the game and, holy crap, I sure am glad I didn’t. I was shocked to see this score. Not much else to say.
Blame it on the morons at DU who moved the banners to a ridiculous location where half the arena can’t see them. We were cursed after that.
CC beat UNLV today 8-0 !!!
Per SI.com:
Title: “UNLV Shocks Defending Champs in Monumental Hockey Upset”
Opening sentence: “The UNLV Skatin’ Rebels pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in hockey history on Saturday night defeating the defending NCAA champion Denver Pioneers in a shootout at Magness Arena”…
Sounds like Sports Illustrated recognizes a defeat when they see one…
DU admin-types and 5BWEST can split all the hairs they want, it looked like a loss, felt like a loss, and smelled like a loss.
DU’s Alaska coaching cabal should have recognized the Mystery, Alaska storyline. Only this time the upstarts won! Kudos to UNLV.
I am in total agreement with SI. A shootout loss by DU in an exhibition game.
Sorry about the CC 8-0 drubbing.
CC showed DU how you’re supposed to handle a club team from the desert. Stomp’em into the sand! Unfortunately DU didn’t get the memo.
Congratulations to the UNLV Rascals!
Never should have been scheduled? Give me a break.
DU has been doing exhibitions against the likes of Canadian collegiate teams, ACHA teams and the USNDTP for as long as I can remember, and with the NCAA flip on CHL, they should start having exhibitions against those clubs as well. I also recall DU giving Augustana its first NCAA win (albeit another shootout) last season en route to its third title in 7 years. Lots of “this team is soft defensively and in net” comments all year until it clicked and they won out.
They were very young last year and are very young this year. DU is a great team that didn’t take an opponent seriously and Get to live with that embarrassment forever now. If those kids run it back again, I think we are all going to have short memories here.