In the 10 1/2 months since these teams met, David Carle has substantially upgraded his resume.
The Denver head coach led the Pioneers to a national championship last spring, and he just returned from Ottawa, where Team USA won gold at the world juniors for the second straight season with him behind the bench.
Carle also coached that team to an Under-20 championship in 2024. The Pioneers won another NCAA title in 2022 and a Penrose in 2023.
Under Carle, DU has eclipsed Michigan on the all-time Division I titles list, recording their 10th last April.
Miami salvaged a tie in Denver in its visit to Magness last February but is 0-13-1 vs. the Pioneers since shutting them out in the Omaha COVID pod on Dec. 17, 2020.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (3-13-2) at No. 6 Denver Pioneers (15-5).
WHERE: Magness Arena (6,026), Denver, Colo.
WHEN: Friday — 9:07 p.m.; Saturday — 8:07 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Denver leads, 33-13-4.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
TV: Friday — Altitude 2 (DirecTV Ch. 681-1).
MIAMI RADIO STREAMING: MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell PxP).
MIAMI RADIO: Friday — WBKV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind.; Saturday — WMOH-AM (1450), Hamilton, Ohio.
DENVER RADIO: KKFN-FM (104.3), Denver, Colo.
NOTES: Carle’s list of accomplishments since 2022 is unmatched in the college hockey world, and a key member of both his Denver and Team USA championship teams has been defenseman Zeev Buium.
The Minnesota Wild first-round, 12th overall pick last season just turned 19 last month and already has 70 points in a year and a half with the Pioneers.
He’s second in Division I defenseman points with 20 only behind fellow first-rounder Sam Rinzel, who has 22 with Minnesota.
Denver has several offensive threats from the blueline, including Eric Pohlkamp, who has 16 points and is fourth on the team with 12 assists.
Boston Buckberger is 3-9-12, and Cale Ashcroft also has three goals and six points.
Up front, Jack Devine leads college hockey in assists — eight clear of the field — with 26, and is tied for second with 28 points.
That means Devine has just two goals, quite the statistical anomaly since he scored 27 times last season.
Aiden Thompson, Carter King and Sam Harris have been the other major offensive threats among Denver forwards.
Thompson has 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points, second-most on the team.
King and Harris are tied for the team lead with 12 goals, and Harris tops all Pioneers with six power play goals.
Speaking of special teams, Samu Salminen has already scored twice shorthanded this season and is statistically Denver’s best forward in the faceoff circle.
In net, Matt Davis (no relation to the Miami forward with the same name that scored 17 goals as senior) has logged all but 77 minutes in net and boasts a .924 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average. He owns a ridiculous 37-10-3 record the past two seasons.
Backup netminder Freddie Halyk stopped 21 of 22 shots in a win over Yale and was 6-for-6 in relief against Western Michigan last month, giving him an impressive 0.78 GAA and .964 save percentage in extremely limited action.
The Pioneers appeared unstoppable through mid-November, as they started the season 12-0, capped off by a league-opening sweep of North Dakota at The Ralph.
But a week later they were swept at home by Arizona State and are just 3-5 since their blazing start, and a Buium-less, Carle-less Denver tied UNLV’s club team, 6-6 over the holidays and lost the shootout.
Miami is riding a 13-game winless streak in this building spanning back to Nov. 22, 2019. The RedHawks have not won since Oct. 26 and are 1-35-2 in their last 38 conference contests, including playoffs.
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