Senior Night is always a special evening, honoring the exploits of every year’s oldest class that spent four years building its legacy and laying the foundation for the future. It’s doubly special when that celebration coincides with an impressive milestone for that senior class’s head coach, who recruited them and molded them into the special class that they are. Tonight, after scoring three goals in less than four minutes in the third period, the #8 Denver Pioneers (21-11-3, 17-6-1 NCHC) sent off the Class of 2026 – D Kent Anderson, F Rieger Lorenz, and F Samu Salminen – in style, earning a 4-1 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils (14-21-1, 7-16-1 NCHC) which ended their season and gave head coach David Carle his 200th career victory as a head coach.

For this year’s senior class, it was not just a celebration of class achievement – and there was plenty, as they’ll go down as the second-winningest class in program history, behind only last year’s – but it also appropriately capped a career-best five-point weekend for one of them, Samu Salminen, who scored DU’s first two goals tonight after scoring twice last night and tallying an assist. He scored tonight’s tying goal 37 seconds after Noah Powell opened the scoring for ASU in the first period and then notched the game-winner midway through the third with a great individual effort, forcing a neutral zone turnover and then finishing off the partial breakaway with a perfect shot over ASU goalie Connor Hasley’s right pad.

Freshmen Kyle Chyzowski and Kristian Epperson took the baton from Salminen and flashed what the future may hold for this year’s freshman class. They scored DU’s third and fourth goals to tamp out any hope of an ASU comeback that would have kept the Sun Devils’ season alive (they needed a regulation victory to play next weekend).

In David Carle’s 200th victory (he’s 200-85-20 through nearly eight years as DU’s head coach), it’s incredible to consider what he accomplished – two national titles, four Frozen Fours, two Penrose Cups, and one NCHC Tournament championship – BEFORE winning his 200th career game. Oh, and aside from the Covid-shortened 2020-2021 season, he has yet to miss an NCAA Tournament.

Tonight’s regular-season finale was a fitting celebration of everything that has been, is, and will be DU Hockey, and their incredible third period, which showed a strong killer instinct to end ASU’s season, was a fantastic way to enter the postseason, where they’ll be vying to end their opponent’s season every weekend from here on out.

Next up – 7th-seeded Miami at Magness Arena next weekend in the best-of-three NCHC Quarterfinals. If Denver takes care of business against the RedHawks, they’ll host the NCHC semifinals the weekend after that, now that the conference has moved the tournament to exclusively home sites.

Highlights

Nasty stuff from Noah 🤢 pic.twitter.com/w2Al8rLOaO

— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) March 1, 2026

REPLAY: Samu Salminen buries the puck into an open net to get Denver on the board.#GoPios pic.twitter.com/4EYQeEbXlR

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) March 1, 2026

And here’s your @Safeway goal of the game! pic.twitter.com/R11crgvmr4

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) March 1, 2026

Top photo courtesy of DU Athletics