The #5 Denver Pioneers (0-0-1) opened their 2025-26 season in Colorado Springs against the Air Force Falcons (0-0-1), and despite outshooting the hosts 59-24 through 65 minutes of hockey, they could not find the game-winner and skated to a 1-1 tie before Sam Harris won the exhibition shootout in the third round. Freshman Clarke Caswell scored his first career goal with under five minutes left in regulation to tie the game at one after Will Dawson opened the scoring for the Falcons almost 17 minutes into the game. The Pioneers narrowly avoided joining the growing ranks of big-time upsets this weekend, including Clarkson’s win over Penn State and Ferris State’s victory over defending champions Western Michigan.
Denver outshot Air Force 18-8 in the first period, 15-7 in the second, and 22-8 in the third while searching for and eventually finding the equalizer. Freshman goalie Quentin Miller, who got the start in last weekend’s exhibition against UNLV and stopped all six shots he faced, made 23 saves on 24 AFA shots on goal in his NCAA debut. Air Force goalie Carter Clafton, for this part, stopped an astounding 58 of Denver’s 59 shots on the night.
The story of the game, unfortunately, had very little to do with the game itself, as the matchup could not be streamed or televised due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. As the Falcons were the hosts, the responsibility for producing the broadcast fell on their shoulders. Because most, if not all, of the people responsible for making the broadcast happen are federal employees, they were unable to work this weekend to make the broadcast happen. As such, DU and Air Force hockey fans had to pretend it was 2005 all over again and rely on the radio stream for live coverage of the game.
Denver returns to Magness Arena tomorrow night to host Bentley in the Pioneers’ home opener. The Falcons (Bentley, not Air Force) fell 5-2 at Colorado College this evening. The puck drops at 7pm MT, and this game will be streamed on NCHC.tv.
We attended the game wearing DU colors. Denver played well. The score could have easily been very different. Carter Clafton gobbled up every shot that came his way, and I don’t think allowed more than a couple of rebounds the entire game. I don’t know the total shot count but in addition to 59 shots on goal, many DU shots were blocked by Air Force players who willingly sacrificed their bodies.
I was impressed that DU kept fighting, increasing the offensive pressure in the third period, and dominating the 3 on 3 five minute overtime.
Miller played well in goal. He stopped some tough shots too. It was fun to watch DU’s freshmen. No weak links as far as I could tell. Pass timing was off a bit, something that will improve as this young team gets time playing together.
My takeaway is that we have a solid team, and I’m looking forward to an exciting season.
Kind of a shocker tho!
As George Gwozdecky once said, “This game should’ve been called goalie”…
Sometimes, you run into a hot one.
Tip your cap to Clafton, and hope the Pioneers can salvage the weekend with a home opener win over Bentley.
Only Trump could fuck up a probable DU stream or televised broadcast. It’s his revenge for getting rejected by DU.