OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers scored four times in the second period for the second consecutive game and defeated the No. 19 Omaha Mavericks 6-2 on Saturday night at Baxter Arena to sweep the weekend series.
Denver stretched its season-long unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) and picked up its second road sweep of the season. DU (17-5-2, 8-3-1 NCHC), which won 6-3 on Friday, earned its first road sweep against an NCHC opponent since Feb. 24-25, 2023 at Western Michigan.
"Guys did a great job, special teams was better, 5-on-5 was good," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach
David Carle. "Loved our start to the game. I thought we were really skating and we executed on our chances again in the second period."
Freshman defenseman
Zeev Buium tied a career best with four points on one goal and three assists, and junior forward
Massimo Rizzo contributed three assists. Junior defenseman
Shai Buium and senior forward
Connor Caponi both scored and added a helper, while juniors
Jack Devine and
Carter King and freshman
Sam Harris also scored.
Junior goaltender
Matt Davis made 17 saves.
Omaha (11-9-2, 4-7-1 NCHC) opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power-play marker from Tanner Ludtke, but DU evened the score prior to the first intermission on a man-advantage goal of its own from Devine. That began a run of five consecutive tallies, as both Buiums, Harris and Caponi scored in the middle frame.
The Pioneers finished 3-for-7 on the power play, as King tallied on a man-up in the third period.
Jack Randl ended DU's five-goal run late in the second to make it a 5-2 game after 40 minutes. UNO goalie Simon Latkoczy stopped 29 shots.
Denver outshot Omaha 35-19 overall.
UP NEXT: The Pioneers head to North Dakota for a top-10 matchup against the Fighting Hawks. Friday's game begins at 6 p.m. MT and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network. Saturday's start time is 5 p.m. MT.
POSTGAME NOTES
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
12:39 UNO (0-1) –
PPG, Tanner Ludtke scored short-side from the left circle.
19:22 DU (1-1) –
PPG,
Jack Devine went short-side top shelf with a wrister from the left circle.
2nd Period
7:12 DU (2-1) –
Sam Harris tallied on an odd-man rush up the ice after
Connor Caponi forced a turnover in Denver's own end.
9:37 DU (3-1) –
PPG,
Shai Buium scored on a one-timer at the right circle off a pass from
Zeev Buium.
12:15 DU (4-1) –
Connor Caponi buried a wrister from the low slot after
Shai Buium found him with the puck from below the goal line.
16:37 DU (5-1) –
Zeev Buium toe-dragged and buried a wrist shot from the left circle.
18:34 UNO (5-2) – Jack Randl tallied from the blue line through traffic.
3rd Period
7:53 DU (6-2) –
PPG,
Massimo Rizzo passed the puck toward the crease, and
Carter King tapped in the puck from behind the goalie
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the fourth line: "In the second period they scored two goals there. They were reliable. I thought their speed was really showcased, and that was great to see. You need different people on different nights to step up, and it was their turn to do that. I'm very proud of them. It takes a full team effort to get the job done, to win in this league, to win on the road, to sweep on the road—it doesn't matter where it is, it's really hard to do."
On the team's defense: "I thought the D showed improvement from last night to tonight. Particularly [Lucas] Olvestad, [Kent] Anderson, [Cale] Ashcroft, I thought were all excellent. The other four was good as well, but I thought for those three, for all of them, it might have been one of their best games they've ever had in a long time. I think a big part of that was there attention to detail but also our forwards ability to get back, make the reads a little easier on our D, those types of things. We got better defensively this weekend from where we were a week ago, and that's what we need to do. We just showed that we can scored 12 goals on a weekend and play well defensively. Playing good defense, we don't have to sacrifice offense. If anything, it enhances. That will be a big part of our video and as we talk early next week and start preparing for North Dakota."
