“The Challenge of Dominance: Conquering the NCHC Land of Tough Teams”

Triumphing in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference is no simple feat. Every match is a contest, and this is valid in both challenging away venues and the welcoming atmosphere of home ice.
 
This is what positions the conference among the top tiers of college hockey—any squad is capable of prevailing on any given evening. Thus, when a team accomplishes a sweep in a two-game series, it signifies a well-deserved achievement.
 
The Denver Pioneers hockey team has experienced its share of away sweeps over the last few years during league play; however, its two victories at home this past weekend against the Miami RedHawks marked its first home sweep in a conference regular-season series in almost two years. The last occasion DU secured a pair of home wins in the primary season against an NCHC opponent was on Feb. 10-11, 2023, against North Dakota.
 
“It’s significant,” stated Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle regarding the sweep. “It’s a challenging league for gaining points. Any time you can accumulate six points in a weekend, it elevates you in the standings. It’s very close at the moment—first place has 19 points, while eighth place has 13 points. So it’s incredibly tight, and every point will count as we all compete for positioning in the latter half.”
 
Since that series against North Dakota, the Pioneers have achieved five home sweeps in non-NCHC competition, in addition to securing victories in two games during the 2023 and 2024 conference quarterfinals. DU also executed a couple of home-and-home series sweeps against Colorado College during this period.
 
There could have been some letdown from Denver last weekend with the team up against a Miami squad currently ninth in the NCHC standings, yet the Pioneers delivered a relatively comprehensive performance in both the 4-1 triumph on Friday and the 6-2 success on Saturday. DU out shot MU a staggering 78-31 overall, achieved 50 percent on the power play (4-for-8), and nearly doubled the RedHawks in faceoff wins (42-22) across both games.
 
On Saturday, Denver notched two goals in each period while outshooting Miami 42-12—marking the program’s largest shot differential since outshooting Arizona State 56-20 on Dec. 2, 2022.
 
“I truly appreciated our competitive spirit throughout the entire game tonight; I didn’t believe we let up at all,” expressed Carle in his postgame comments on Saturday. “There was clearly a push in the first five minutes, but I felt we weathered that well, pushed back, and really didn’t look back from there.”
 
The Pioneers are carrying some momentum into their last bye of the season before they conclude the regular season with seven consecutive weekend series leading up to the NCHC playoffs starting on March 14.
 
Denver stands at 4-1-0 in its last five games and holds a record of 5-2-0 over the past seven matchups. The Pios have jumped into a tie for fourth place in the NCHC rankings with 17 points and a 6-4-0 record, with upcoming series against first-place North Dakota (Feb. 14-15) and second-place Arizona State (Feb. 7-8).
 
“It was a solid weekend, regaining confidence throughout the lineup,” explained senior captain Carter King. “I think we maintained a significant amount of puck possession, and players began to feel more at ease with the puck on their stick, meaning our possession game returned. Thus, it’s crucial we regained that aspect.”
 
QUIETLY PERFORMING THEIR DUTIES
 
The Pioneers trio of Kieran Cebrian, Rieger Lorenz and Jared Wright has not reached its peak offensive output this season; however, the line has proven to be one of the most consistent and dependable for the team through 22 games.
 
“It’s well-known; they have played exceptionally throughout the year,” Carle commented about the unit. “Their offensive production might not have matched expectations, yet they’re executing things correctly. It’s about continuing to believe that if they play to their capability and standards, they will create opportunities.
 
“As the game gets tougher in the second half, we will need their resoluteness to strengthen the team—recalling that in the [2024] championship match, two of those goal scorers were from this line. They work hard, and we will rely on them to keep playing the right way.”
 
Each of those players found themselves on the scoresheet on Saturday, as Wright netted the opening goal with an assist from Lorenz from behind the net, and Cebrian capped off the scoring with his first goal of the season in the closing minutes of regulation.
 
“I believe we’ve maintained confidence, even if the scoring has not been as high,” noted Wright. “We have been playing together since the latter half of last season, notably winning the national championship. It’s about maintaining our game style. When we play correctly, it will lead to production.”
 
MILESTONE WEEKEND
 
Forward Jared Wright became the second member of DU’s junior class to achieve 100 career games played after reaching that milestone in Saturday’s match.
 
Rieger Lorenz was the first player of that third-year cohort to hit the mark on Jan. 3 at Maine. Forward Aidan Thompson is only two games shy of the 100 career games milestone and could accomplish that on Jan. 25 at Minnesota Duluth.
 
Senior goaltender Matt Davis also celebrated his 50th career victory on Saturday evening, becoming just the 13th Denver netminder to reach that benchmark in the program’s history. Currently in the DU record archives, Davis ranks within the top 10 for career goals-against average and save percentage, and is nearing that threshold in wins (13th) and shutouts (13th).
 
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

• The Pioneers equaled a season high by scoring six goals on Saturday.
• DU’s plus-30 shot differential in Saturday’s match marked its highest of the season (previously: +28, Oct. 18 vs. Northeastern).
• The Pios’ plus-13 shot differential in the first period (at the time tied) and plus-14 shot differential in the second constituted the team’s highest for any period during the season.
• DU now leads the all-time series with MU at 35-13-4 and stands at 21-1-1 over the last 23 meetings.
• The Pioneers extended their unbeaten streak against the RedHawks to 16 games (15-0-1) and are now unbeaten in their last 15 clashes at Magness Arena (14-0-1), with Miami’s last victory in Denver on Feb. 22, 2019.
• DU and Miami have faced each other for the eighth consecutive contest at Magness Arena. The Pios are set to visit the RedHawks in Oxford, Ohio, on Feb. 21-22.
• Denver has scored on the man advantage in three more games.

TICKETS: A limited quantity of tickets for Denver hockey’s 75th anniversary in 2024-25 are currently available. Click here to acquire tickets and for further details.