The 2022–23 Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 74th season of play for the program and 10th in the NCHC. The Pioneers represented the University of Denver in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, were coached by David Carle in his 5th season and played their home games at Magness Arena.

Season Coming off of the program's 9th National Title, Denver, had 5 of the six regulars on the blueline returning, along with starter Magnus Chrona, and offense was taken over by a mix of returners, freshmen and transfers including Carter Mazur and Massimo Rizzo.

Denver retained its #1 ranking entering the season and won the Ice Breaker Tournament to kick off the '23 season. In the second week the team was swept by Massachusetts, and finished the first month of the season with 4 straight wins. Denver regained first place and kept their spot after losing to Omaha after Thanksgiving. By the winter break, Denver had a 7-game winning streak.

The Pioneers began the second half by losing to Alaska. Denver recovered to earn a split; the loss removed them from first place. The team won a pair of 7–0 shutouts over last-place Miami, and were then swept by St. Cloud State and had a place at the conference title.

Denver was 9–1 in their final ten games and finished well ahead of everyone else for the regular season crown and Denver made the NCAA tournament with one of the four #1 seeds. As they began their postseason run, Chrona was nursing a lower-body injury and could not play in the quarterfinals. Denver defeated the Miami RedHawks. Chrona returned for the semifinal and was in goal against Colorado College. He allowed one marker on the power play. Denver was eliminated.

The Pioneers still began the NCAA tournament as the #4 overall seed and had the top spot in the East Regionale. Their opponent in the first round was Cornell, who got off to a quick start and took an early lead. The team was shut out for the 5th time that season. It was the first time in nearly 30 years that Denver had been shut out in consecutive games.

Departures Ryan Barrow Forward Graduation (signed with Manchester Storm) Bobby Brink Forward Signed professional contract (Philadelphia Flyers) Cole Guttman Forward Graduation (signed with Chicago Blackhawks) Reid Irwin Forward/Defenseman Left program (retired) Carter Savoie Forward Signed professional contract (Edmonton Oilers) Brett Stapley Forward Graduation (signed with Laval Rocket) Antti Tuomisto Defenseman Signed professional contract (HC TPS) Jack Works Forward Transferred to Michigan Tech Cameron Wright Forward Graduation (signed with Colorado Eagles)

Recruiting Kent Anderson Defenseman 18 Calgary, AB Tristan Broz Forward 19 Bloomington, MN; transfer from Minnesota; selected 58th overall in 2021 Casey Dornbach Forward 25 Edina, MN; graduate transfer from Harvard Tyler Haskins Forward 19 Rochester, MN Tristan Lemyre Forward 21 Mirabel, QC Rieger Lorenz Forward 18 Calgary, AB; selected 56th overall in 2022 Lucas Ölvestad Defenseman 20 Tampa, FL Aidan Thompson Forward 20 Fort Collins, CO; selected 90th overall in 2022 Jared Wright Forward 20 Burnsville, MN; selected 169th overall in 2022

Roster As of August 26, 2022.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition

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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

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Scoring statistics C 38 17 29 46 14 LW 40 22 15 37 32 F 40 13 21 34 29 D 39 13 21 34 38 C 32 10 22 32 4 RW 38 14 17 31 19 C 40 10 18 28 35 F 38 11 12 23 6 D 38 4 17 21 18 D 31 3 18 21 29 LW 30 6 8 14 34 D 40 2 11 13 18 D 40 6 7 13 59 LW 34 8 4 12 2 C/LW 37 2 7 9 20 D 17 4 3 7 2 F 27 1 5 6 10 F 39 2 4 6 26 F 38 1 4 5 18 F 22 1 3 4 10 D 22 0 2 2 4 G 32 0 1 1 2 F 13 0 1 1 0 D 12 0 0 0 2 G 13 0 0 0 0 G 3 0 0 0 0 Total 150 250 400 431

Goaltending statistics 3 11:08 0 0 0 0 4 0 1.000 0.00 13 509:27 8 1 0 15 185 1 .925 1.77 32 1861:43 22 9 0 68 739 4 .916 2.19 Empty Net - 27:35 - - - 3 - - - - Total 40 2409:53 30 10 0 86 928 5 .915 2.14

Rankings

PollWeekPre123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.com 1 - 1 1 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 4 3 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 - 6 USA Today 1 1 1 1 4 3 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 7 6 Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

Awards and honors Michael Benning AHCA West All-American Second Team Carter Mazur Massimo Rizzo Magnus Chrona NCHC Goaltender of the Year Justin Lee NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year Michael Benning NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year Magnus Chrona NCHC Three Stars Award Magnus Chrona NCHC First Team Michael Benning Massimo Rizzo Carter Mazur NCHC Second Team

Players drafted into the NHL 2023 NHL entry draft 5 133 Sam Harris † Montreal Canadiens † incoming freshman

References