Hockey, Men's Sports

Denver Routs Cornell in Dominant NCAA First Round Shutout

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Loveland, CO – There is dominance, and then there is what the #2-seeded Denver Pioneers (26-11-3) did to the #3-seeded Cornell Big Red (22-11-1) in the second Loveland Regional Semifinal matchup. The Pioneers started fast, scoring off of a fortuitous bounce – a sign of things to come – just six minutes into the game and did not relent until the final buzzer, shutting out the Big Red, 5-0 at Blue FCU Arena. Freshman goalie Johnny Hicks earned the shutout in his first-ever NCAA Tournament game, stopping all 24 of Cornell’s shots while the Pioneers were relentless in the Big Red’s end, ensuring visiting goaltender Alexis Cournoyer was under siege all game long. Denver moves on to face Western Michigan – again – in the Loveland Regional Final with a Frozen Four berth on the line. Sunday’s 1pm MT matchup (ESPN2) will be the sixth game between the Pioneers and Broncos this season.

Denver has, at times, looked fantastic over the course of its 14-game unbeaten streak. There was the 6-0 drubbing of St. Cloud State that kicked off the streak in Hicks’ debut, the 4-1 Gold Pan clinching victory against CC, and, of course, there were the two NCHC Quarterfinals victories – 3-0 and 6-2 – over Miami (OH) that put DU into the NCHC semifinal against WMU. All of those featured the best of what the 2025-26 Pioneers had to offer.

But the game that the Pioneers played against one of the top teams from the ECAC to open what DU hopes will be another deep NCAA Tournament run, culminating in the program’s 11th banner, showed the Crimson & Gold faithful that these Pios still had another gear. And boy, was it a sight to behold.

Jake Fisher opened the scoring on a fluke of a goal, wristing a shot off of a Cornell player’s high stick and through Cournoyer’s wickets. But as fluky as the goal was, it was the product of the Pioneers’ ability to get to the netfront and take away Cournoyer’s eyes.

Throughout the first period, Cornell did not have an answer for not only DU’s speed through the neutral zone and to any dumped-in puck, but on every possession, they could not keep the Pioneers out of the slot. Fisher’s opening goal was the direct result of a clogged netfront, and so was Kieran Cebrian’s nearly 10 minutes later, as he pinballed a puck off of another Cornell defender’s stick, past a helpless Cournoyer, and into the back of the net. Two deflected, fluky goals in, the Pioneers had a commanding 2-0 lead.

But for as improbable as the goals that DU scored were, the scoreboard accurately reflected the balance of play. The Pioneers outshot the Big Red 14-7 in the opening period, and Cornell never sustained a single shift in Denver’s zone. On the rare occasion that a puck did find its way to Hicks, he was there to clean it up and keep the back of his net clean.

The second and third periods were more of the same from both teams. Denver won the race to every puck, Cornell was on their heels, and Cournoyer, in desperate need of a breather, couldn’t catch a break. Sam Harris, late in the second, scored the only goal that beat him cleanly, fielding the rebound off of a Clarke Caswell shot, and firing a perfect wrister past Cournoyer’s shoulder to give Denver its first insurance goal. Caswell added another even-strength goal just four minutes into the third, tipping home a Cale Ashcroft wrist-shot, and Rieger Lorenz iced whatever was left of the game with an empty-netter with just under four minutes left.

It was as complete a hockey game as the Pioneers have played this season, and showed that despite their lengthy unbeaten streak, they may still be peaking at just the right time. And to be clear, Cornell was no pushover – the Big Red were tied for the fewest goals against per game this season thanks in large part to their fantastic defensive structure and solid goaltending from Cournoyer. The Pioneers blew that apart all game long with wave after wave and attack after attack, and the Big Red never had an answer. Hell, their first sustained offensive shift in Denver’s zone didn’t come until mid-way through the third period, when the game was all but over, and the Pioneers had retreated into a defense-first posture.

But, as is the case this time of year, the road doesn’t get any easier from here. #1-seeded Western Michigan, which beat #4-seeded Minnesota State, 3-1, in the first Loveland Regional semifinal, awaits the Pioneers on Sunday. The 6th meeting of the season between the last two national champions carries more weight than the previous five combined, as the winner advances to the Frozen Four. It would be Denver’s third-straight Frozen Four appearance as they vie for their second title in three years and third in the last five, while the Broncos are looking to become the first repeat champions since UMD did it in 2018 and 2019.

At this point, there are no secrets between the two teams. The Pioneers have the slight advantage, playing in front of what will be a predominantly friendly crowd, though, as the region’s top seed, the Broncos will be the home team, which carries with it the last change. It will be a Frozen Four-level matchup between two legitimate national championship contenders and modern juggernauts; a matchup better suited for the bright lights of Las Vegas in two weeks, but lucky for the Front Range faithful, it’s going to happen in our backyard.

Highlights

Top photo courtesy of DU Athletics

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