It’s anyone’s guess as to what it was about Arizona State for the Denver Pioneers this season but these matchups and blown DU leads went together like peanut butter and jelly. The Pioneers dropped three of their four regular-season games against the Sun Devils this season and blew multi-goal leads in two of their losses and their overtime victory. So, naturally, when #2 seed ASU and #3 seed DU met in the 2025 Frozen Faceoff Semifinals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, everyone should have expected DU to blow their 2-0 first-period lead. ASU did indeed tie it in the final minute of the second period. But this Sun Devil comeback did not sink the Pioneers and the defending NCHC champions scored twice in the third, including an empty-netter by Connor Caponi, to end ASU’s season and advance to their second-straight conference title game.

The game could not have started better for the Pioneers. ASU struggled with early jitters in their first-ever NCHC Quarterfinal game and sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger sent a seeing-eye shot past ASU goalie Luke Pavicich to open the scoring just a minute and a half in. Denver was on their front foot for the entirety of the first period and with just two and a half minutes left in the period, Sam Harris scored a gritty goal, tapping a rebound through Pavicich’s five-hole on the power play to double the lead and enter first intermission up 2-0.

Fortunately for the Sun Devils, the Pioneers came out in the middle frame and played as though they thought the game was already won. And as ASU does when DU is on the other bench, they raised their game and compete level and pulled themselves back into the game. Almost eight minutes into the period, the Sun Devils finally broke through when Ryan Kirwan cleaned up a rebound on the power play to make it 2-1. If they needed something to wake them up, the Sun Devils used Kirwan’s goal and took full control of the game from there. But until an uncharacteristic turnover in his own zone by Buckberger in the final minute of the middle frame, Matt Davis held the Sun Devils at bay. But when Buckberger turned the puck over, Artem Shlaine took full advantage and tied it up with just 31 seconds left in the second.

Where the Pioneers wilted under the pressure of a blown lead against ASU earlier this season, they found a way to overcome it this afternoon. Despite plenty of other chances to retake the lead, it wasn’t until halfway through the period that the Sun Devils surrendered the golden opportunity to the Pioneers with a neutral zone turnover that gave DU the two-on-one look for Carter King and Aidan Thompson. King found Thompson across the slot and Thompson didn’t miss. Connor Caponi added an empty-netter with a minute left to seal the victory and send the Pioneers back to the conference championship.

With the win, the Pioneers have ended their opponents’ season in two straight games after ending CC’s season last Sunday in game three. ASU sat on the outside looking in at #15 in the Pairwise Rankings entering this game and needed to win the conference championship to keep their season and make the NCAA Tournament. Ending a team’s season is among the hardest things to do in the sport but Denver found a ruthless mindset over the last couple of weeks and took care of business when it mattered most.

Now, they await the result of tonight’s conference semifinal between #5 seed North Dakota and #1 seed Western Michigan. No matter what happens tomorrow night at the X, Denver’s season will continue next weekend in the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers, now up to #9 in the Pairwise, are now playing solely for seeding (and another piece of hardware, of course).

Top photo courtesy of Denver Athletics