The 2024–25 Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 76th season of play for the program and 12th in the NCHC. The Pioneers represented the University of Denver in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Magness Arena and were coached by David Carle in his 7th season.
Season After winning the program's record-breaking 10th national title, Denver entered this season primed to repeat as champions. While the team did lose several key pieces to the National Hockey League, the Pioneers were able to retain their top two scorers (Jack Devine and Zeev Buium) as well as its starting goaltender, Matt Davis. To augment the already formidable lineup, coach Carle brought in five freshmen, four of whom were selected in the NHL draft, as well as two transfers, both of which were also professional prospects.
Early success The Pioneers looked every bit the champions in the first part of the season, winning each of its first 12 games and remaining the #1 team in the nation until late November. Davis remained a stalwart in goal and didn't allow more than 2 goals in a single game during that stretch. He was aided mightily by a potent defensive corps that usually gave him an easy night; only once did Davis face 30 shots through the first 12 games. The offense, too, was firing on all cylinders with Denver averaging nearly 5 goals per game. While Divine was again leading the charge, both Aidan Thompson and Carter King fit in well on the top line. The three combined to form the strongest trio in the nation, with Devine and Thompson finishing the year atop the national scoring race. Beyone those three, however, was a bevy of secondary scorers who managed to chip in when needed, leading Denver to finish the year as the #2 overall offense.
Mid-season hiccup Just before Thanksgiving, Denver experienced its first loss of the year when Arizona State, the newest addition to the NCHC arrived in town. The Sun Devils won the first match on a late goal, then stunned the Pioneers with three goals in less than 8 minutes in the rematch. The surprising sweep knocked Denver out of the #1 position and sent them into their holiday break with a bad taste in their mouths. When the Pios returned to the ice two weeks later, they did so against the only club who commanded a better (slightly) scoring attack than they had. Denver travelled to face Western Michigan in a showdown of top-10 teams. Denver was slow getting out of the gate and found themselves down by 3 goals entering the third. While they managed to score twice in the final period, the Pioneers' losing streak continued and the team did everything they could to end it in the rematch. Vastly outshooting the Broncos, Denver had to overcome two 1-goal deficits before King nabbed the winning goal in overtime.
The sudden struggles of the team did not end there as Denver could on manage another split weekend before pausing for the winter break. Upon their return, Denver finished out its non-conference schedule with a split against Maine. The losses saw the Pioneers fall to #6 by early January and, while Denver still was well above the cutoff line for the NCAA tournament, they could ill-afford to continue playing .500 hockey. Normally, the NCHC was one of the top conferences in the nation. However, this season the league had encountered problems in its non-conference slate. Denver had done its part by going 9–1 in its external matches but many other league members had middling or losing records out of conference. This meant that the Pioneer's strength of schedule in the second half would be weaker than normal.
Oscillating play For the entire second half of its schedule, Denver played with an odd level of consistency. Every three or four games either the offense or defense would play poorly, causing the team to lose, but on every night, the club looked just like they had in the first month and half of the campaign. That pattern enabled the team to hold onto its ranking with Denver's spot it the polls hardly wavering over a 2-month stretch. This enabled the team to just about lock up a tournament berth by the end of the regular season. At the start of the playoffs, Denver was #9 in the PairWise rankings with several other NCHC teams still trying to fight their way into the national tournament. The Pioneers still could be knocked out but it would take a catastrophic series of events to do so. All Denver needed to do in order to guarantee their spot in the bracket was to win their quarterfinal match against Colorado College.
Conference tournament The Tigers had fallen hard during the back stretch and completely dropped out of contention for an at-large bid. Despite this, CC and Denver were old enemies who gave one another their best efforts. As much was demonstrated in the first game when the Tiger netminder stopped 33 of 34 shots to carry his team to a 3–1 victory. Denver's offense recovered afterwards and scored 15 goals in the next two game, completely swamping the Colorado College. The scoring was spread all over the lineup with Buium topping out a 4 points in the victories.
Now that the team was assured a spot in the tournament, Denver could focus itself on the task at hand. The team met Arizona State in the semifinals up in Saint Paul with the Sun Devils desperately needing the win for their tournament hopes. However, it was Denver that started fast by scoring twice in the first period. ASU responded with a pair in the second to tie the game but Thompson's 19th of the season, midway through the third period, held up as the winning goal. The loss ended Arizona State's season and sent Denver back to the title game.
The championship match saw the conference's only two tournament entries pitted against one another as Denver faced down Western Michigan. After a sleepy first period by the Pios, they exploded in the second with 3 goals in just under 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the Broncos regained their momentum in the third and managed to slowly chip away at the Denver lead. Western tied the game with less than 4 minutes to play and forced overtime. The extra session continued to be tilted towards the Broncos as they outshot the Pioneers 16–6 in the fourth period. While Davis was the team's saving grace, all he could do was stop the team from losing, it was up to the rest of the team to actually score the winning goal. Western didn't give the Pios that chance as their opponents scored just 22 seconds into the second overtime. To add injury to insult, Boston Buchberger, one of the Pioneers most reliable defensemen, was knocked out for the remainder of the year in the first overtime. He would end up needing surgery to address his upper-body injury.
NCAA tournament When Denver began the tournament, the team found itself in the uncomfortable position of having to travel nearly 2,000 miles east to take part in the Manchester Regional. The team's first opponent was Providence, who were well rested and only had a journey of about 100 miles from their campus. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstance as well as having to contend with a hostile crowd, Denver was able to control large stretches of the game and quiet the Friar's offense. The Pioneers got four goals, largely thanks to the efforts of Buium, before Providence was able to score a single marker. When the Friars were able to solve Davis, there was less than 9 minutes left in the match and the game was well in hand. King's empty-net goal with about 5 minutes to play all but ended the match and allowed the team to skate to a relatively easy victory.
The team's next game was a rematch of the '24 national championship with Boston College. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they continued to struggle against Davis, and the senior netminder kept up his stellar tournament play by holding BC to a single goal. Goals from Eric Pohlkamp and James Reeder were enough to secure the victory for the Pios but Buium cashed in an empty-net goal with 4 seconds remaining.
Frozen Four In Denver's fourth appearance in the national semifinal under David Carle, the team was once again facing off against Western Michigan. With all their previous meeting this season having been decided by 1 goal, there was little separating the two and Denver was looking to get the final feather in their cap and advance to the championship game. However, the Broncos completely dominated the pace of play for the first 40 minutes. Western outshout the Pioneers 32–8 and led by a score of 2–0. With their season on the line, the Pioneers abandoned their defensive posture and threw all their efforts to the offensive side. While they only managed to get 9 shots on the WMU cage, it was just enough for Thompson and Jared Wright to break through with the latter tying the match less than two minutes before the end of regulation. Just as they had in their previous meeting, the Broncos carried the pace in the first overtime but Davis refused to allow anything to get past him. The two teams headed into double overtime for the second game in a row, the first time in 29 years that a Frozen Four match had lasted that long. Unfortunately, the similarities with the previous match did not end there and Western Michigan was able to score the winning goal just 26 seconds into the second overtime on their first shot of the period.
Departures Sean Behrens Defenseman Signed professional contract (Colorado Avalanche) Tristan Broz Forward Signed professional contract (Pittsburgh Penguins) Shai Buium Defenseman Signed professional contract (Detroit Red Wings) Jack Caruso Goaltender Graduation (retired) Tristan Lemyre Forward Transferred to Western Michigan Miko Matikka Forward Signed professional contract (Utah Hockey Club) Lucas Ölvestad Defenseman Transferred to Massachusetts Massimo Rizzo Forward Signed professional contract (Philadelphia Flyers) McKade Webster Forward Graduation (retired) Alex Weiermair Forward Left mid-season; returned to juniors (Portland Winterhawks)
Recruiting Hagen Burrows Forward 18 Orono, MN; selected 128th overall in 2024 Jake Fisher Forward 19 Woodbury, MN; selected 121st overall in 2024 Tory Pitner Defenseman 18 Greenwich, CT; selected 185th overall in 2024 Eric Pohlkamp Defenseman 20 Brainerd, MN; transfer from Bemidji State; selected 132nd overall in 2023 James Reeder Forward 18 Glenview, IL; selected 198th overall in 2024 Samu Salminen Forward 21 Helsinki, FIN; transfer from Connecticut; selected 68th overall in 2021 Alec Whipple Defenseman 20 Far Hills, NJ
Roster As of August 3, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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Scoring statistics RW 44 13 44 57 32 C/LW 44 21 34 55 26 D 41 13 35 48 44 C/LW 44 21 22 43 16 LW 43 23 12 35 42 D 44 11 24 35 22 D 41 9 21 30 22 C/LW 44 10 18 28 24 RW 44 11 10 21 2 C/LW 44 6 14 20 18 RW 44 9 8 17 6 C/LW 42 8 7 15 12 F 44 6 9 15 16 D 44 4 8 12 8 F 42 5 4 9 65 C/W 39 1 8 9 14 D 42 2 6 8 33 D 44 1 7 8 14 C 9 0 2 2 2 D 40 0 1 1 21 F 5 0 0 0 2 D 7 0 0 0 0 G 40 0 1 1 0 G 9 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 0 Total 174 295 469 441
Goaltending statistics 40 2374:35 29 10 1 82 997 1 .924 2.07 9 287:50 2 2 0 10 107 0 .915 2.08 Empty Net - 31:16 - - - 2 - - - - Total 44 2693:41 31 12 1 94 1104 2 .922 2.09 Note: Davis and Halyk shared the shutout against North Dakota on February 14.
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.com1 (42)1 (43)1 (47)1 (48)1 (48)1 (48)1 (48)1 (50)2 (7)2 (4)45–6 (1)67 (1)5566667666–3 USA Hockey1 (27)1 (26)1 (33)1 (33)1 (33)1 (33)1 (34)1 (34)2 (5)2 (2)4 (1)5–666т (1)55667676662 (4)3 Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors