It was a weekend of individual milestones in Oxford, Ohio this weekend. Last night, Junior Aidan Thompson tallied his 100th career point in the Pioneers’ 5-1 victory. Then tonight, senior Jack Devine became just the 22nd player in Denver Hockey history to score 150 career points thanks to his two-assist effort in the #6 Pioneers’ (23-8-1, 12-7-1 NCHC) 5-2 victory over the Miami RedHawks (3-25-2, 0-20-0 NCHC). The victory was DU’s 18th consecutive victory over Miami.

Despite the strong sweep over the lowly RedHawks, there just isn’t much in the Pioneers’ control right now. Their eye-popping record, at least on paper, would indicate that they’re among the country’s best teams but their inconsistent play since November has left them in 5th place in the NCHC, one point out of hosting the best-of-three NCHC Quarterfinal round. But, at the very least, the Pioneers took care of business this weekend against the second-worst team in the country and have remained firmly in the hunt for a top-four NCHC finish and, possibly a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Tonight’s game started much the same way last night’s did. The Pioneers skated circles around the hosts, outshot them 13-9 in the opening period, and entered the first intermission with another 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Carter King and Kieran Cebrian. In other words, things were once again going swimmingly.

Unlike yesterday, though, Miami refused to go away quietly and five and a half minutes into the second period, playing four-on-four hockey, Hampus Rydqvist caught goaltender Freddie Halyk overcommitting on the rush and took full advantage with a wraparound goal to close the gap to 2-1. If it hadn’t been for an early whistle in the first period that bailed Halyk out of losing track of the puck, the game would have been tied at that point.

Zeev Buium, back from his one-game suspension for fighting EJ Emery last weekend, and Conner Hutchison traded goals in the closing two minutes of the second period to keep it a one-goal game at 3-2 entering the third. Against any other team, Denver’s second period probably would have ruined the evening. Still, fortunately, Miami was the other team and a lackluster, borderline bad middle 20 minutes only allowed the RedHawks to pull to within one.

The Pioneers regained their first-period form in the third and put their foot on the gas to close out the game. Jake Fisher scored his second goal of the weekend after opening the scoring in game one before Aidan Thompson sealed the 5-2 victory with an empty-netter with just more than two minutes left.

Just like last night, though, Denver did not get any help in the NCHC standings, especially from Minnesota Duluth who surrendered five goals in the second period at The Ralph en route to a 6-1 loss to 4th place North Dakota. Because Denver and North Dakota both swept, the Pioneers remain one point behind the Fighting Hawks, who travel to Kalamazoo next weekend to take on 1st-place Western Michigan. Denver, meanwhile, returns home to take on 8th-place St. Cloud State who split with Colorado College this weekend in Minnesota. Nationally, the Pioneers currently sit at #10 in the Pairwise with two unfinished games remaining (as of 8 pm MT on Saturday).

With #37 SCSU and #32 CC left on their schedule, the bottom line is this – the Pioneers no longer control their own destiny. If they are going to move up in both the NCHC and Pairwise, they’re going to need to win out and get some significant outside help, a scenario that DU fans have not truly experienced in several years. Now, as long as Denver holds serve over their final four games, they are in no real danger of falling out of the NCAA Tournament field. And, if we’re being honest, can you imagine being a #2 seed and looking at the bench next to you to see this #3 seed, defending national champion Denver team, should they stay lower than #8? That’s not a matchup any coach of a top-8 team wants.

The Pioneers still have their work cut out for them over the next two weeks. The schedule on paper is certainly favorable but it’s not like St. Cloud and CC are just going to roll over. The Huskies are looking to salvage a disappointing season and a couple of road wins over Denver would do just the trick. And the Tigers will be hungry for their first Gold Pan since 2019.

Realistically, the Pioneers need to go 6-0 over their final six games to host the NCHC Quarterfinals and have a hope to move back into the top eight of the Pairwise. You can’t go 6-0 without first going 2-0. The Pioneers took care of business this weekend and saw a couple of players add their own lore to the DU record books. It was a good weekend in Oxford. Onto the next.

Highlights