60 minutes wasn’t enough. 80 minutes wasn’t either. After almost 100 minutes of hockey and nearly four hours after the puck dropped on the NCAA Tournament in the Springfield Regional, top-line center Tristan Broz sent a shot from the high slot past Michael Hrabal to end the double-overtime marathon and send the #1-seeded Denver Pioneers through to the Regional Final with a 2-1 victory over the #4-seeded and regional co-host UMass-Amherst Minutemen at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. It was far from the Pioneers’ best performance of the season but Matt Davis and DU’s defense stepped up in a huge way when it mattered most. Continue reading Survive and Advance: Tristan Broz Scores in 2nd Overtime to Send Pioneers to Regional Final →

For the umpteenth time in the history of the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament, the Denver Pioneers are the poster children for the problems with the current selection process and system. After winning the Frozen Faceoff last night – a result that put the UMass-Amherst Minutemen into the tournament as the #14-seeded team instead of Colorado College – the selection committee in all of its “wisdom” has placed the #3-overall seeded Pioneers in the Springfield, Mass. regional which is hosted by…UMass-Amherst. This means that the regional’s #1 seed Denver will play the regional host and #4 seed in Thursday’s first-round matchup at noon mountain time. Continue reading 2024 Men’s Hockey NCAA Tournament Selection Show: #3 Pioneers Sent to Springfield →

DU head Coach David Carle wanted his team to give the NCHC Frozen Faceoff their full effort after losing momentum last season, falling to Colorado College at the the Frozen Faceoff and an early NCAA Tournament exit. Saturday night, DU gave their full effort after a grueling OT game 24 hours earlier against St. Cloud State. Heading into the game, the DU staff knew that a win would send Colorado College out of the NCAA Tournament bracket. Winning the NCHC Tournament Trophy also meant that Denver might be sent to the Springfield, Massachusetts Regional hosted by UMass-Amherst, instead of a more favorable midwest spot like St Louis. We will know tomorrow when the seedings are announced. The hockey Selection Show is Sunday at 4:30 p.m. MT on ESPNU. Continue reading Denver Wins NCHC Tournament Trophy Over Omaha, 4-1 →

Old habits die hard. The nation’s leading scoring hockey team, the Denver Pioneers, scored goals as usual but gave up wide-open scoring opportunities to St. Cloud State in the first two periods – a return to their porous selves from the first half of the season. However, Denver found defense over the third period and won in overtime, 5-4, on a dazzling goal by Zeev Buium. North Dakota fell in the earlier afternoon game to Omaha 6-3 – setting up a Denver vs Omaha final in St Paul, Minnesota Saturday night. The win all but assured Denver a top-four seed in the NCAA hockey tournament, Continue reading Frozen Faceoff Semifinal Goal Fest Turns into Overtime Thriller, 5-4 →

“Déjà vu all over again” is a phrase taken from a famous quotation attributed to Yogi Berra. DU hockey stole a page out of Yogi’s book Friday night, at least for the first two periods, when the Pioneers went up 3-0 to ultimately deliver the knockout blow to Minnesota Duluth Saturday night. The Pioneers win swept the Bulldogs out of the NCHC quarterfinals. A 4-0 Friday thrashing was followed by a 5-2 win at Magness Arena Saturday night. Denver advances to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for their tenth season in a row, the only NCHC team to accomplish that feat. Continue reading Denver Caps Minnesota Duluth Sweep With 5-2 Victory →

If someone told the 7th-seeded Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs that their season might end this weekend at Magness Arena, it didn’t look like it. From the moment the puck dropped to the final buzzer the 2nd-seed & #3 Denver Pioneers completely outplayed the visitors en route to a 4-0 shutout win over the listless Bulldogs to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three NCHC Quarterfinal series. Senior captain McKade Webster opened the scoring, Jack Devine scored his 26th & 27th goals of the season, and Connor Caponi iced the game away with an empty-netter with 17 seconds left. Continue reading #2 Pioneers Shut Out #7 UMD Bulldogs to Move to Within Win of Frozen Faceoff →

Denver was great for 16 seconds and then CC flipped the script and controlled the pace most of the night. Denver made a late push in the third period trailing 4-1 and closed the gap to 4-3 with 1:30 remaining  – it was too little, too late. Denver was missing centers Massimo Rizzo and Carter King and suffered at the dot, 40-23, a problem that has plagued the Pioneers off and on during the season. Continue reading Denver Comeback Falls Short in The Springs, 4-3 →

The #5 Denver Pioneers (23-8-2, 14-6-2 NCHC, 42 pts) might just be rounding into form at the perfect time. Over the past three weeks, the Pios rose from 5th place in the NCHC, potentially looking at having to play the conference tournament quarterfinals on the road, to 2nd place with three consecutive sweeps of Minnesota Duluth, Miami (OH), and St. Cloud State. The most impressive of the bunch, however, was the latest this weekend when they obliterated the #15 St. Cloud State Huskies (15-12-5, 11-7-4 NCHC, 40 pts) twice, 6-2 & 7-2 on the road at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Continue reading Pioneers Blitz Huskies Again to Take Possession of 2nd Place →