What a difference a day makes…
After being wiped out by #19th-ranked Denver 4-1, on Sunday, Jan. 17, #3-ranked North Dakota held a team meeting before the rematch on Monday morning, with a three-word key message delivered by the UND coaches: “Move Your Feet.” Continue reading North Dakota Gets 5-1 Revenge Win over Pioneers
We have waxed poetic over the years about what it means when Denver and North Dakota hit the ice against each other. Long rivalry, 16 combined national championships, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. These two rivals have treated us to so many tight, action-packed, close hockey games over the past seven decades but tonight, the #18 Denver Pioneers (5-7-1, 18 pts) threw all of that out the window. The #2 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (9-3-1, 26 pts) were nothing more than a minor obstacle in DU’s path as they routed the Hawks 4-1 in David Carle’s 50th career victory as head coach on a chilly January Sunday night at Magness Arena. Continue reading #18 Denver Delivers its Best Performance of Year in 4-1 Drubbing of #2 North Dakota
Following a couple weeks off, it’s “North Dakota week” as the No. 18 Pioneers host the No. 2 Fighting Hawks this weekend in a rare Sunday-Monday series at Magness Arena. These teams met in the bubble twice just a month ago and split two nail-biting games that concluded with a Jordan Kawaguchi OT goal and a Carter Savoie go-ahead power play goal. This series shouldn’t be any different as DU is coming off a 6-1 game vs Colorado College and North Dakota is riding a six-game winning streak. Cue the fireworks.
Avid Fighting Hawk hockey fans are used to taking to the road to support their beloved hockey team. This year is more difficult with social distancing leaving fans at home. We wanted to see just how well North Dakota fans were adjusting to the ‘new normal’.
Leading to Tuesday night’s gold medal final against the United States, team Canada never trailed during the World Junior Championships. That is, until 13:25 of the first period when the US’s Alex Turcotte scored for the United States, assisted by Drew Helleson and Trevor Zegras. Continue reading DU’s Brink, USA Win 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, 2-0
This season has been a battle for the #16 Denver Pioneers (4-7-1, 15 pts). Over their first 11 games, 10 at the Pod in Omaha, DU struggled to play consistent hockey and their 3-7-1 record showed that. If Denver had been battling some demons through their first 11 games, they did their best to exorcise them in a dominant, relentless 6-1 victory over the archrival Colorado College Tigers (3-5-2, 14 pts) in their first game at Magness Arena in 301 days. Brett Stapley and Reid Irwin each scored a pair of goals, Corbin Kaczperski made 17 saves on 18 shots, and the offense finally tapped into some of its huge potential just a night after a lackluster 4-3 loss to the Tigers in Colorado Springs. Continue reading Pioneers Rebound at Magness to Dominate Tigers 6-1, Earn 1,500th All-Time Victory
The hope for the #16 Denver Pioneers (3-7-1, 12 pts) was that the week and a half break between the NCHC Pod and the New Year’s Day matchup with the Colorado College Tigers (3-4-2, 14 pts) would offer a chance to hit the reset button and start 2021 back on the right track. Unfortunately, the break wasn’t enough as the same problems that haunted the Pioneers in Omaha – faceoff struggles and bad goaltending, to name a couple – showed themselves in full form at the World Arena in Colorado Springs as they fell to the Tigers 4-3 to open the second half of the season. Continue reading Pioneers Open New Year on Wrong Foot, Drop First Gold Pan Matchup 4-3
Veeti Miettanen’s game-winning power-play goal with 9:38 remaining in the game lifted the Saint Cloud (Minn.) State Huskies (6-3) to a 3-1 thriller over the Denver Pioneers (3-6-1) at Omaha’s Baxter arena on Sunday afternoon, Dec 20. Miettanen beat DU goalie Magnus Chrona with a clean wrist shot from 20 feet-out for the game-winner, and the Huskies added an empty netter by SCSU’s Zach Okabe in the final minute for the 3-1 final score. Continue reading SCSU Defeats Pioneers, 3-1 with Special Teams Edge
After watching a few weeks of DU games in the NCHC “pod,” we’ve been subjected to hundreds of repetitive, small-city Grand Forks, North Dakota-based TV commercials. The reason for this is that Dakota-based Midco Sports Network is producing the NCHC.tv-wide production, fueled by money from North Dakota advertisers, where UND hockey is the state’s largest athletic attraction. To our more citified eyes and ears, there are seven of them that, in heavy rotation, have become proverbial nails on a chalkboard to our urban sensibilities… Continue reading Which North Dakota Commercial is Most Annoying?
No game in the first 10 games of any season is a must-win game for any team. Even for the #8 Denver Pioneers (3-5-1, 12 pts) who came off of a demoralizing 3-0 shutout loss against Miami just two nights ago, no game this early is a must-win game. But given everything that DU has gone through so far in the Pod, you’d be forgiven for feeling like this afternoon’s game against the Western Michigan Broncos (2-6-2, 8 pts) was one. Staring down the barrel of a 3-5-0 record, it certainly felt like the Pioneers needed a victory immediately to get things back on track. And they got one…kind of…as they tied the Broncos 3-3 and took the extra NCHC standings point in the shootout. Continue reading McKade Webster’s Shootout Heroics Give Pioneers Extra Point in 3-3 Tie with Western Michigan
