The 2020–21 Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 72nd season of play for the program and the 8th in the NCHC conference. The Pioneers represented the University of Denver and were coached by David Carle, in his 3rd season.
Season As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Denver's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Denver came into the season with high expectations. From the start, however, nothing seemed to go right for the Pioneers. After the season's start was delayed, Denver joined the rest of the NCHC in Omaha, Nebraska for a condensed slate of games in December. The team started slow but looked like they were rounding into form in mid-December. Unfortunately, a theme for the entire season proved to be inconsistency. For most of the year the Pioneers couldn't string together a series of wins, or even strong performances, and they watched as their ranking fell every week until they left the top-20 altogether. By the end of the season Denver sat in the middle of the standings but was 3 games below .500.
While there were some who still included the Pioneers as possible bubble teams, their losing record was a sizable impediment to the team playing in the NCAA Tournament. Denver's only probably road to the tournament was to win the NCHC Championship and the team responded well in the quarterfinals, overcoming a 2-goal deficit to upset tournament-bound Omaha. In the semis they faced #2 North Dakota and took a lead into the third period. The Hawks outplayed Denver in the frame but, as time went along, it appeared that Magnus Chrona might be able to shut out UND. It took North Dakota pulling their goaltender to give them enough firepower to break through and tie the game. In the overtime session, Denver never found their footing and were outshot 9–1 in less than nine minutes. The final goal came from a UND stick and ended the game as well as any chance Denver had to extend their season. This was Denver's first losing season in 21 years.
Departures Player Position Nationality Cause Devin Cooley Goaltender Signed professional contract (Nashville Predators) Mike Corson Goaltender Transferred to Niagara Michael Davies Defenseman Graduation Erich Fear Defenseman Graduation Jay Feiwell Forward Left program Liam Finlay Forward Graduation (Signed with KOOVEE) Tyson McLellan Forward Graduation (Signed with Nürnberg Ice Tigers) Ian Mitchell Defenseman Signed professional contract (Chicago Blackhawks) Mathias Emilio Pettersen Forward Signed professional contract (Calgary Flames) Jared Resseguie Forward Left program Tyler Ward Forward Transferred to New Hampshire
Recruiting Player Position Nationality Age Notes Michael Benning Defenseman 18 St. Albert, AB; selected 95th overall in 2020 Connor Caponi Forward 20 Brookfield, WI Jack Caruso Goaltender 21 St. Louis, MO Bo Hanson Defenseman 22 Boise, ID; transfer from St. Lawrence Reid Irwin Forward/Defenseman 21 Victoria, BC Steven Jandric Forward 23 Prince George, BC; transfer from Alaska Corbin Kaczperski Goaltender 24 China Township, MI; graduate transfer from Yale Carter King Forward 19 Calgary, AB Carter Savoie Forward 18 St. Albert, AB; selected 100th overall in 2020 Antti Tuomisto Defenseman 19 Pori, FIN; selected 35th overall in 2019 McKade Webster Forward 20 St. Louis, MO; selected 213th overall in 2019 Jack Works Forward 19 Yellowknife, NT
Roster As of March 1, 2021.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#862633; " | Regular season
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Scoring statistics Name Position Games Goals Assists Points C 23 8 14 22 12 LW 24 13 7 20 23 RW 23 4 10 14 21 D 21 3 8 11 8 RW 15 2 9 11 4 D 24 2 9 11 23 LW 13 5 4 9 4 F 24 4 5 9 10 LW 22 3 6 9 16 D 21 3 5 8 22 F 24 1 7 8 6 C 13 4 3 7 2 D 24 4 2 6 6 LW 20 1 5 6 6 F 20 2 2 4 12 RW 22 2 2 4 14 F 24 2 2 4 25 D 12 1 3 4 4 D 20 0 4 4 17 C/D 12 3 0 3 6 F 14 0 2 2 6 G 18 0 2 2 0 D 24 0 2 2 12 D 3 0 1 1 4 F 3 0 1 1 0 F 5 0 1 1 2 G 9 0 1 1 0 G 1 0 0 0 0 Bench - - - - - 8 Total 67 117 184 273
Goaltending statistics Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals against Saves Shut outs 1 3:05 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0.00 18 1043 7 11 0 43 421 1 .907 2.47 9 392 3 2 1 17 112 0 .868 2.60 Empty Net - 17 - - - 6 - - - - Total 24 1456 10 13 1 66 534 1 .890 2.72
Rankings
PollWeekPre123456789101112131415161718192021 (Final) USCHO.com545498141617181920NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NR USA Today4564871214NRNR15NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
Awards and honors Player Award Ref Carter Savoie NCHC Rookie Team
Players drafted into the NHL 2021 NHL entry draft Round Pick Player NHL team 2 36 Shai Buium† Detroit Red Wings 2 61 Sean Behrens† Colorado Avalanche 3 70 Carter Mazur† Detroit Red Wings † incoming freshman
References