1. Don Canham, former U of M Athletic Director, led the charge to take Michigan out of the old WCHA, Denver’s former conference, in order to save money and not have to fly Michigan hockey to Colorado, while reconstituting the then-CCHA as an upper-midwestern hockey bus league back in 1981, taking Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Michigan Tech, along with his Wolverines.
2. Maize and blue? It’s called, “Yellow & Navy” by folks that don’t wear tweed jackets and smoke pipes.
3. If Michigan’s hockey arena is named after Fielding H. Yost – a FOOTBALL coach,  shouldn’t Big Blue name The Big House (Michigan Stadium) Red Berenson Stadium?
4. Michigan’s current hockey head coach Mel Pearson allegedly told players to lie on COVID-19 contact tracing forms before the 2021 NCAA Tournament. What other tests are they cheating on?
5. U of M has more bandwagon fans than Notre Dame. Most of their gameday crowd have their certificates from Dearborn Middle School.
6. It is illegal to cuss in front of women or children in the State of Michigan. U of M lost 6-1 to Ohio State this season in hockey. No cussing in front of women and children? Just ask Buckeye fans.
7. Michigan is a football school – well, at least until the College Football Playoff Semifinal.
8. The Wolverines have so many ongoing investigations into their hockey program that their law firm, WilhelmHale, is listed on the hockey staff directory.
9. Michigan has dodged the Pios in regular-season hockey for more than 40 years.  Former DU skipper Jim Montgomery finally scheduled a weekend series in Denver with U of M to take place at Magness Arena in 2018. But shortly before the 2018 DU schedule was released, the Wolverines bailed on DU and scheduled a weak Vermont team at home. DU was forced to find a late replacement in Alaska-Fairbanks. Denver and Western Michigan have more in common than we thought…
10. Former Michigan all-American, NHL star, and Wolverine head coaching legend Red Berenson, a Saskatchewan junior star who was once recruited by DU and Michigan to play college hockey, chose Michigan over Denver because, he said, “some of the guys that went to Denver, I just didn’t have a lot of respect for them as students.”   That’s pretty rich, coming from a guy who was arrested for public urination on a public library wall (and then drunken driving) in 1994 at the age of 55.

The Frozen Four field is now set. Quinnipiac gave Michigan all the Wolverines could handle in the third period of the weekend’s final game, the Allentown Regional Final, but two Michigan empty-net goals after QU nearly erased a 4-0 deficit prevented the Bobcats from completing the comeback. After Minnesota clinched the third trip to Boston with their victory over Western Michigan this afternoon, Michigan earned the final spot with their 7-4 win this evening. Continue reading Frozen Four Field Set: Denver to Face Michigan in First National Semifinal →

LOVELAND, Colo. — Book those flights to Boston, Denver Hockey fans. The Pioneers are heading back to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2019.

As soon as Minnesota Duluth won the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul last weekend, it felt like the Pioneers and Bulldogs were on a collision course to meet again in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it was going to be in the Regional Final or Frozen Four, the star-crossed rivals’ paths were always going to cross again. Fortunately for the sellout crowd at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, it took place in the Regional Final and they put on quite the show. Continue reading Pioneers Get Revenge to Beat Bulldogs and Return to First Frozen Four Since 2019 →

Loveland, CO – They call it March Madness for a reason. They say survive and advance. Yes, those things may conjure images of college basketball but on this day, the first day of the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament which already saw a buzzer-beating goal called back after a 13-minute review, and a near-three-goal comeback by a four-seed against the #2 overall seed, the nightcap in Loveland offered at least as much entertainment as the day’s first three games. And it was between two teams that had only seen each other twice in the last decade and never in the postseason, to boot. Fortunately for the 2,500-some crimson & gold clad fans in attendance at the Loveland Regional Semifinal at the Budweiser Events Center, top-seed Denver survived a physical-minded UMass-Lowell River Hawks team to come away with the 3-2 win and advance to the Regional Final on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading Pioneers Survive UMass-Lowell, Advance to Regional Final for Minnesota Duluth Rematch →

Loveland, CO – Oh, how sweet it is that the Denver Pioneers are back in the NCAA Tournament. Even just a one-year absence made the heart grow ever-fonder of this annual celebration of this sport we love so dearly. Last year, DU and its poor offense sputtered to a forgettable 10-13-1 record and were left on the outside looking in at the field of 16 teams. Now, with the Pairwise Rankings back to determine the NCAA Tournament at-large bids and seeding, the Pioneers are back near the top of the college hockey world and enter the NCAA Tournament as the #4 overall seed and the #1 seed at the Loveland Regional, which they are hosting. While much of the attention has been paid to a potential second-round matchup with NCHC rival Minnesota Duluth, their first-round and most important opponent is one with whom the Pioneers have little history, especially in the postseason – Hockey East’s UMass-Lowell (not Amherst). Continue reading Pioneers Embracing NCAA Tournament Pressure as They Prepare for UMass-Lowell →

Win two free tickets for Thursday’s NCAA Regional hockey tournament in Loveland. To win, you must write in the comment section below a limerick about the tournament, teams, players, or Loveland.  The entry deadline is 11:59 pm Tuesday night. The winner (1) will be selected by a LetsGoDU panel on Wednesday.

We will give you three limerick examples below: Continue reading Win Two Tickets to Loveland Regional Hockey Tournament Thursday! →

While the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament Selection Show is currently airing on ESPNU, ESPN themselves scooped the show by posting the matchups and airtimes for each of the eight first-round games, thereby effectively releasing the bracket early. Continue reading NCAA Tournament Regionals Set: Denver to Play UMass-Lowell Thursday Night →

St. Paul, MN – The #3 Denver Pioneers’ (27-9-1) season wasn’t going to end in St. Paul but it certainly would have been nice to come back to Denver with another trophy to add to the Magness Arena trophy case. Unfortunately for the Pios, the #8 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (20-15-4) were standing in their way in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals, both literally and figuratively, and the Pioneers couldn’t find their way around them or their goaltender Ryan Fanti as they were shutout 2-0 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. Continue reading Pioneers Shutout by Bulldogs in Frozen Faceoff Semifinal, Await Seeding for NCAA Tournament →

ST. PAUL, Minn. — No matter what happens this weekend, the #3 and top-seeded Denver Pioneers’ (27-8-1) season will continue in the NCAA Tournament next weekend. In fact, in 88% of the scenarios, including some in which Denver loses to fourth-seeded Minnesota Duluth tomorrow night, simulated by College Hockey News in their Pairwise Probability Matrix, DU will be the #1 seed at the Loveland Regional in the NCAA Tournament next weekend and will be no lower than the #5 overall seed. In a lot of ways, that’s a comforting thing, knowing the season will continue next weekend. But don’t mistake it for a lack of desire to win a third trophy (Gold Pan, Penrose Cup) for these Pioneers. They’re hungry for a third Frozen Faceoff championship and to enter the NCAA Tournament on a high. Continue reading Top-Seed Pioneers Ready for “One-and-Done Hockey” at Frozen Faceoff →