Denver beats ASU to continue to NCHC Championship Game

St. Paul, mine. The No. 6 hockey team of the University of Denver secured its place in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship match with a 4-2 victory against the No. 11 Arizona State Sun Devils in the semi-final of the conference on Friday afternoon in Xcel Energy Center.

“Great season for ASU. I want to start saying how much respect we have for them as a program and their staff,” said Denver Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. “I think we were one of the first programs they played when they became independent, and they have been determined on our schedule since they became a division.

“Just very proud of our boys. Discipline was good, special teams were good, and the margins are tight at this time of the year. The game could have go in all directions, but we found a way to make another game than they did and proud of our boys for that.”

The No. 3-Seed Pioniers (29-10-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) play on Saturday at 6.30 pm No. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.

Junior Vooruit Aidan Thompson scored the go-ahead goal that a 2-2 draw broke at 10:08 of the third period on a 2-on-1 Rush with senior attacker Carter King. Colleague linemaat Jack Devine Created the game by forcing a turnover at Du's Blue Line before sending a stretch pass through the neutral zone to generate the strange chance.

“We had a kind of similar situation earlier that was selected,” Thompson said. “So the second time Devo made a great pass to Kinger and then a great pass for me. I just had to finish it, so the honor of those two boys. I think we worked hard the whole game and could have had a few, but that was the one who went in and it was big.”

Thompson also added an assist to the competition, while King and Devine each ended with two helpers for Multi-Point evenings.

Second -year Boston Buckberger And Sam Harris Was ahead in the first period for the pioneers, and a graduate student Connor Caponi Sealed the victory with an empty net marker with 63 seconds to play. Junior Jared Wright and second -year -old Kieran Cebrian Also contributed an assist per piece.

The goalkeeper Matt Davis Made 27 Saves, including stopping all 12 shots in the first period and nine in the third period.

It took only 89 seconds for DU to stand on the scoreboard, with Buckberger's shot from the point in the back of the just after he had come through the traffic and got off the bar. It was the fastest goal to start a match for the Pioneers this season.

Denver added a second count before the end of the frame when Harris deteriorates in a rebound during an advantage of a man with 2:31 in the opening period. Both teams were 1-out-2 about the Power Play.

ASU (21-14-2, 14-9-1 AD) reacted with a few goals in the second Stanza, when Ryan Kirwan continued at 7:52 and Artem Shlaine scored without an assistant to proceed with 31 seconds before the break.

The Sun Devils surpassed the Pioneers 9-8 in the third period, but Du was the only team that made contact with their chances in the last stanza with Thompson's 19th goal of the year on a One-Timer and Caponi's Open-Net Marker in the final seconds.

Denver finished with a 32-29 lead in Schoten on Doel, while the goalkeeper of Arizona, Luke Pavicich, ended with 28 saves.

The state of Arizona was the number 2 seed in the conference tournament after 14-9-1 in competition match during the inaugural season in the NCHC.

Next: The Pioneers will play for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship for the second consecutive season with a nationally detailed game on Saturday at 6.30 pm MT against Western Michigan.

Postgame notes

• Denver is now 4-7 always in the semi-final of the NCHC tournament and has a general record of 31-10-1 in the play-offs of the competition. The pioneers have each won of their last two semi -final matches.
• Du is now 11-5-1 all-time vs. ASU and held 2-3-0 against the Sun Devils in five meetings during the year.
• The state of Denver and Arizona met for the first time in the all time on a neutral site. The squadrons played once before in an NHL location when the teams were confronted on 7 December 2019 in the Gila River Arena, the then home of the Arizona Coyotes.
• Carter King his point streak extended to four games (2G/4A).
• Boston Buckberger (2g/2a) and Aidan Thompson (2G/3A) have points in three straight games.
• Aidan Thompson Made his third game -winning goal of the season and sixth of his career. He scored the overtime winner on ASU on 7 February.
• Thompson finished with five goals and seven points (5G/2A) in the five games against Arizona State in 2024-25.
• The goal of Buckberger at 1:29 of the first period was the fastest goal to start a match for the team this season, where the previous fastest of 2:20 was surpassed by Samu Salminen Last Sunday in Game 3 of the NCHC quarterfinals against Colorado College.
• Denver is the only NCHC team that reaches the semi -final of all 11 Frozen Faceoff tournaments.
• The pioneers are 3-0 of all time in Frozen Faceoff Championship matches and want to be the first NCHC team that repeats as conference touring champions.

Target
1st period

1:29 of (1-0) Boston Buckberger Scored on a wrist shot from the left point after a faceoff victory in the attacking zone.
17:29 of (2-0) Ppg” Sam Harris was on a backhander after a rebound of one -off blow Aidan Thompson.

2nd period

7:52 ASU (2-1) PpgRyan Kirwan polsts a loose puck in the rope at the top of the fold.
19:28 ASU (2-2) Artem Shlaine forced a turnover in the Du zone and then scored on a backhander.

3rd period

10:08 of (3-2) Jack Devine jumped a 2-on-1 rush and Aidan Thompson buried a one-timer of a feed from Carter King.
18:57 of (4-2) Scary” Connor Caponi took a pass from Jack Devine And it shot in the open net.

Quotables
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
About playing the first semifinal game: “I don't put a lot of weight in it. It is what it is; you will have to do it in the NCAA tournament, possibly even earlier, as if there are afternoon starting times. If you look at small things, I think it helps to get the bodies a little after the game.

Score on the top line after ASU had tied the game: “It's big. There are times when you need your best players to perform and make big plays. They clearly also did (ASU) on the Power Play. In a 2-2 game where you were in charge of 2-0, you felt that there might have been some opportunities to expand the lead in second place.Aidan Thompson And the top line) Make the game, make a finishingplay, it was of course huge for the bank. It gives everyone a lot of confidence, and I really enjoyed how we played from there. I think they had a good push to start the third period, and once we ended it, I thought it was a fairly third, and we didn't give them a lot. “

Junior Vooruit Aidan Thompson
On the success of his line: “I think we have just capitalized on their mistakes that go into the O-zone. They are a great team and they make a lot of hurry, so that was a big emphasis on returning the D-zone. I think we focused on it and then capitalized to turn those pucks quickly and scor the hurry as kinger (Carter King) And I did it at the end. “

About the team's response after ASU had tied the match: “I don't think we are concentrating on the score. I think every team we are trying to go and dominate. That is a great team (ASU), very fast, very competent attackers, and their D was everywhere in all of us. They did great work. We pushed all the game, and we finally broke through.

Second -year defender Boston Buckberger
About the strong start of the team: “I think we wanted to go with a hot start, knowing how Run-and-Gun they are and their ability to offend and get goals. I think it was important for us to jump in the front and get the first and then not look back and stay consistent with our game from there.”

The third period starts about the mentality of the team: “I think we just had to stay consistent with our game. I know that they were playing a few different, weird, and I think our attackers were playing well and moving pucks to the north. I think if we just stuck with it and keep it with what we wanted to do, play the north, of course, we knew they were so good, what they could get enough of.”