It was a spooky game at Magness Arena Friday night. The Pioneers outshot the Seawolves 48-20 but a harvest moon and missed scoring opportunities spelled doom in the 4-3 OT loss. The Pioneers rallied in the final few minutes of regulation to force OT. However, Alaska Anchorage rose from the dead and dispatched the Pioneers with a 3-on-3 goal to sink a fatal dagger into the Pioneers hearts. Continue reading Wolf Bite – Alaska Anchorage Draws DU Blood in OT Loss, 4-3
Monthly Archives: October 2025
The Decision: Nimble DU Navigates Rapid West Coast Membership Offer
DU has longed for West Coast Conference membership since rejoining Division I athletics in 1998, according to Athletic Director Josh Berlo during the joint WCC/DU virtual press conference announcing DU’s acceptance of the conference’s membership offer. The deal was finalized in lightning speed as it took less than two weeks to seal final acceptance.
WCC commissioner Stu Jackson cited informal social contact, especially over the past year, as the start of discussions. Then, after a series of meetings across both organizations, after less than two weeks of in-depth discussions, the WCC extended an offer to the Pioneers. DU’s administration, athletic department, and Board of Trustees showed rare combined agility, speed, and alignment in accepting the offer to join the West Coast Conference. DU is the conference’s 11th member, and Jackson confirmed that the search will continue for a 12th, noting that a dozen members matches the conference’s ideal membership vision. Continue reading The Decision: Nimble DU Navigates Rapid West Coast Membership Offer
Breaking: Denver to Join West Coast Conference
Finally!
We have waited years for this to happen. Friday, a tweet by ESPN’s Pete Thamel confirmed it – DU is moving from the Summit League to the West Coast Conference on July 1, 2026. The Denver Post followed the tweet with an article citing the tweet and the move of nine DU sports to the West Coast Conference (WCC). Denver will be joining a conference of equals – largely private schools with similar size, funding and academic profile in alignment with the University. The move will increase DU’s academic profile and give the University greater visibility to the valuable California student market while basketball most certainly will receive a boost in national interest.
Continue reading Breaking: Denver to Join West Coast Conference
Soccer Teams Soar, Volleyball Falters Heading into Homecoming Week
It is Homecoming Week at DU, busy with home games and matches in men’s soccer and volleyball before culminating with the hockey series against Alaska Anchorage on Friday and Saturday. Sign up for Homecoming events at this link.
Denver women’s soccer (9-4-4, 6-1-1) clinched a tie with Oral Roberts for the Summit League regular season title with a 2-1 win over South Dakota in the regular season finale at Pioneer Field. It looked bleak at the 72-minute mark when the Coyotes went up 1-0 on a goal by Morgan Sullivan. DU came storming back ten minutes later, though, when Brooke Ahern leveled the score 1-1. With less than five minutes remaining, Hannah Tate polished off South Dakota and secured the regular-season title. After earning a first-round bye, the Pioneers will travel to Tulsa for next Thursday’s semifinal against the winner of this weekend’s #3 South Dakota vs. #6 Omaha first-round matchup. Continue reading Soccer Teams Soar, Volleyball Falters Heading into Homecoming Week
Denver Dominates but Can’t Solve Goalie Zacher, Falls 1-0 at Northeastern
If any DU fan were being honest with themselves, they would have picked last night’s matchup against #9 Boston College if they were asked which single game they’d prefer the #7 Denver Pioneers (3-2-1) win this weekend. Unfortunately, that hypothetical scenario became reality in game two as DU couldn’t solve the Northeastern Huskies’ (3-1-0) goalie Lawton Zacher despite peppering him with 35 shots. The Huskies got a goal from freshman Amine Hajibi early in the second period, and it was the only offense either team could muster in the Pioneers’ final appearance at historic Matthews Arena, which is being demolished this Winter. Continue reading Denver Dominates but Can’t Solve Goalie Zacher, Falls 1-0 at Northeastern
Denver Wins 4th Straight Over Boston College With 7-3 Rout
Coming off a disappointing split with Lindenwood in St. Louis last weekend, the #7 Denver Pioneers (3-1-1) needed a big win in the worst kind of way. And they got it in the biggest kind of way, dispatching the #9 Boston College Eagles (2-2-1) with a 7-3 drubbing that was not close once the second period started. If there were any tears in Chestnut Hill tonight, they certainly weren’t in Denver’s locker room. Continue reading Denver Wins 4th Straight Over Boston College With 7-3 Rout
Tim Bergstraser: Blue Collar Basketball Head Coach Looks to Forge Pioneers in his Image
DU Basketball fans who wanted a head coach who wears designer suits, posts locker room slogans, and chases highly rated three-star recruits will be sorely disappointed. New head coach Tim Bergstraser is a meat-and-potatoes coach who sees unheralded tough, scrappy, high basketball IQ-type players as the face of his Denver Pioneers. In Bergstraser, DU has a plain-spoken frontman who is a basketball lifer. He states his case simply: “I love basketball.” Continue reading Tim Bergstraser: Blue Collar Basketball Head Coach Looks to Forge Pioneers in his Image
Denver Volleyball and Women’s Soccer Complete Solid Week
Denver women’s volleyball (13-5, 5-2) continued their stellar play, winning three of their last four matches, by defeating Omaha at Hamilton Gym 3-1. Denver sits in second place, tied with St. Thomas and North Dakota State. Denver opened strong, dropped the second set, won the third set on extra points (26/24) and coasted in the final set. Ava Reynolds delivered 16 kills while Jamia Johnson added 12. Maddie Winkler had 19 digs while Kate Perryman added 7 blocks. DU’s second-place deadlock with the Tommies will be broken when Denver hosts St. Thomas on Tuesday at 6:00 pm MT at Hamilton Gym. Continue reading Denver Volleyball and Women’s Soccer Complete Solid Week
Denver Rebounds with Convincing 4-0 Win Over Lindenwood
Denver men’s hockey looked to rebound Saturday night after a disappointing Friday 4-3 loss to Lindenwood University. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch hailed the victory as “the best win in program history”. #5 DU rolls out a young team this season, 10 freshmen, but the 4-3 loss in front of 1,888 witnesses stung. The game ‘left a bad taste in our mouth’, said David Carle following the game, Continue reading Denver Rebounds with Convincing 4-0 Win Over Lindenwood
Lindenwood Lions Shock the Denver Pioneers in St. Louis, 4-3
This one hurt.
On paper, the game looked like a mismatch.
The unranked Lindenwood Lions are a fourth-year Division I independent hockey program with zero NHL draft picks and just 1,800 fans in the house, playing in an off-campus community ice arena in the suburbs of St. Louis.
The #5th ranked Denver Pioneers (1-1-1) roster 14 NHL draft picks this season and are the most successful program in America, with 10 NCAA titles, most recently in 2024. The Pioneers were 4-0-0 all-time against Lindenwood, but this would be the first time DU would travel to face the Lions in St. Louis suburbs.
But as we know, hockey can be a slippery game, played on ice. Despite all of DU’s advantages in skill and pedigree, it was still an early-season road game as DU integrates 10 freshmen players. But the Lions were unafraid from the drop of the puck, using excellent team speed and early face-off dominance to become the opportunistic hunter this night. Lindenwood sent a strong message — outworking the slow-starting Pioneers for serious chunks of this game, en route to a 4-3 upset win – probably the biggest win in the history of the Lindenwood program.
Lindenwood (3-2) took the victory by breaking open a close 2-2 game with a snazzy individual effort goal by Jacob Fletcher to stickhandle around DU’s Sam Harris and then beat Pioneer net-minder Paxton Geisel to the strong side from 15 feet out with just 2:37 remaining in the game for the go-ahead 3-2 LU lead. The Pioneers then pulled Geisel for the extra skater, and Lindenwood’s Adam Raesler made DU pay by scoring an empty-net insurance fourth goal just over a minute later that ended up being the game winner, as the Pioneers were able to cut the lead to 4-3 with 53 seconds left in a furious last minute rally goal by Hagen Burrows, but the game would end with Lindenwood on top.
After a scoreless and tentative first period, the second period went a bit crazy with four goals scored, as the Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Olivier Houde, a freshman with CHL experience, got credit for a bounce goal off a DU skate at 4:47 to shock the Pioneers, sending Lindenwood ahead at 1-0.
Denver was able to regroup soon after, tying the game at 1-1 on their only power play of the night at 11:03, as Sam Harris found the twine behind former Minnesota-Duluth reserve transfer goalie, Klayton Knapp. The Pioneers then surged ahead 2-1 just 44 seconds later when DU’s Hagen Burrows converted a 3-on-1 odd-man rush feed from senior Samu Salminen, and the Pioneers had seemed to take control of the game.
However the control was soon lost just over a minute later, when DU was unable to hold the lead, as Lindenwood tied the game up again, 2-2 , as Lions’ Ty Hipkin got past Eric Pohlkamp on a one-on-one rush and roofed a pretty goal up high over the shoulder of Geisel at 13;03, and the Lions would never trail again, setting the stage for the Lions’ third-period heroics.
Shots in the game were even at 33 each. The Pioneers’ biggest positive were the two goals scored by the sophomore Hagen Burrows in one night, as he only scored one goal in his entire freshman season of 39 games last year.
The two teams face off again on Saturday night, Oct. 18.
Photo: University of Denver