A 7-2 stretch from the men’s hockey team, the start of two winter sport seasons and three meet wins for the swim and dive team.
Here’s what happened over Winter Break in University of Denver Athletics.
Men’s Hockey
The men’s hockey continued their strong 2023 campaign into the new year and won seven of the nine games they played over Winter Break.
DU welcomed Yale to Magness Arena on Black Friday for their first weekend series over the holiday break. Denver swept both games and outscored the Bulldogs 14-0. Senior captain McKade Webster and junior forward Jack Devine led the way offensively with six points in two games each.
DU would then stay at home and compete in their toughest series of the season against the formerly No. 2 ranked North Dakota. In the first game, Denver blew a 4-1 lead and ultimately would lose 7-5. But, Denver would rebound in the second matchup and defeat the Fighting Hawks 3-2 in overtime. Junior forward Carter King scored the game winner for the Crimson and Gold, the first of his collegiate career.
Denver followed up their most difficult series with another tough, testing conference opponent in the Western Michigan Broncos. Denver allowed seven goals for the second time in three games and was defeated 3-7. Freshman forward Miko Matikka tallied a team high two goals in the contest. The Crimson and Gold repeated the same result from their last series and rebounded to win the second game in overtime, 6-5. Junior forward Massimo Rizzo tallied the overtime goal for Denver and also picked up his first career overtime winner.
DU played an exhibition game a day before New Year’s Eve against ACHA affiliated Minot State, and dominated the Beavers, 9-3. Junior defenseman Shai Buium led the way with four points and one goal in the victory.
The last series of the Winter Break was without the presence of Head Coach David Carle and freshman defenseman Zeev Buium. But the team did not lose their stride and dominated Niagara University in their two game series. Junior goaltender Matt Davis played in his first game since October due to injury and recorded 22 saves in the 5-2 Friday night victory. DU outdid their performance from the night before and swept the Purple Eagles, 6-1. Junior forward Tristan Broz tied a career high of four points in the contest, recording two goals and two assists.
Men’s Basketball
Denver men’s basketball had a solid Winter Break and went 8-4 over their slate of matchups.
The squad started the break hot on a four game win streak against Colorado Christian, Texas A&M-Commerce, Idaho, and Colorado College. The biggest highlight from the four game winning streak: the game winning three pointer from senior guard Isaiah Addo-Ankrah against Idaho. Addo-Ankrah buried his sixth three-pointer of the game in the corner with a little more than five seconds left on the clock to win the game for the Crimson and Gold.
DU dropped their next two contests against ranked opponents. First, they put up a valiant effort against the formerly No. 12 Colorado State in Fort Collins. They outstole and had a better three point percentage than the Rams but were still defeated 80-90. DU then went across states and took on BYU in Provo, Utah but ultimately fell 74-90 against the formerly No. 17 ranked team in the country.
The squad then went back on a three game winning streak including their first conference win of the year over Omaha on Dec. 29. Fifth year guard Tommy Bruner led the way offensively in the victory and dropped a team high 25 points.
Bruner has been on an absolute tear for Denver and has put the team’s offense on his back in the majority of this season’s contests. Bruner is the top scorer in the nation as of Jan. 13, and is averaging an astounding 25.4 points per game. He was named Summit League Male Player of the Month for November and December and also picked up four weekly Summit League Player awards during that same stretch.
DU capped off their Winter Break by going 1-2 in their three game slate. An overtime loss to Oral Roberts was followed by an overtime win over Idaho State. Their last game of the break ended in defeat at the hands of another Colorado school, Northern Colorado, on Jan. 6.
Women’s Basketball
DU women’s basketball picked up three wins out of their twelve game slate over Winter Break.
The team started out on a four game losing streak but found success at home against Stetson University on Dec. 9. senior forward Emily Counsel dropped a career high 21 points in the contest while shooting 50% from the field.
Denver split the results of their next four contests and picked up two blowout victories during the stretch. They defeated Colorado Christian, 81-59 on Dec. 19 and Omaha, 81-63 on Dec. 29 in their first Summit League conference game of the season. Counsel and graduate forward Lauren With led the way with 15 points in the victory against Colorado Christian sophomore guard Jordan Jones recorded her second 20-plus point game against Omaha.
DU ended the holiday stretch dropping all three of their final contests. They were narrowly defeated by Northern Colorado on Jan. 6, 56-59 and were blown out in the other two contests.
Women’s Gymnastics
The women’s gymnastics season kicked off for the No. 10 ranked team in the country on Jan. 5, and Denver traveled to Las Vegas to take part in the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championship.
DU participated in the first session of the competition and finished first out of the four competing teams in the session. The team recorded a 196.850; over one point higher than the second place finisher, Illinois.
Freshman Madison Ulrich impressed in her first collegiate competition. The five star recruit recorded a 39.325 in her debut which included a 9.900 score in the vault event. Ulrich recorded the third highest debut all-around score by a freshman in program history.
Senior Jessica Hutchinson started her 2024 campaign on a high note with an all-around title at the competition; recording a 39.525. The score was just one tenth shy of her career high and the highest she has ever recorded in the opening competition in a season. Hutchinson tied Ulrich in the vault event and won outright in the floor and bars event.
Skiing
The collegiate skiing season is officially underway and Denver Skiing has already found success to start the year.
The team opened up their season at the Westminster Invitational and US Cross Country National Championships in Utah. The team was successful across the board in multiple events. First, the males of the team won the overall College Cup at the National Championships which was led by a first place finish in the 10K Classical from junior Andreas Kirkeng. Kirkeng finished fifth overall in the National Championships and was the only DU skier to win an event.
In his collegiate debut, graduate student Florian Knopf finished the highest overall in the competition, placing fourth. He had a second place time in the Classical Sprints RMISA Qualifier which helped catapult the team to a first place finish.
Junior Elijah Weenig had a career competition at the US National Championships and earned a bronze place finish in the Nordic 20K Freestyle race, the first of his career. Weenig finished one spot behind Kirkeng overall in fifth place.
The Nordic team also competed in the Utah Invitational last week, hosted by the University of Utah. Denver finished third behind Utah and Colorado as a team. Kirkeng led the way for DU and finished second in the 7.5K race alongside third in the 10K race.
The Alpine team will take part in both of the same competitions this week, with day one action of the Giant Slalom event at the US National Championships coming on Wednesday.
Swim and Dive
Each swim and dive team picked up three meet wins against Colorado School of Mines, BYU and Wyoming and also competed in the Big Al Invite hosted by Princeton University over Winter Break.
The team traveled to Princeton, N.J. on Dec. 1 and competed in three days of swimming and diving action against schools from all over the country. The men’s team finished fourth out of 10 competing teams, while the women finished in sixth. Junior Dylan Wright captured the only event win of the weekend, winning the men’s 200 meter backstroke event on day three of the meet.
The team traveled back to Denver and kicked off the first of their three home meets. They welcomed COSOM on Jan. 5 and dominated the Orediggers. The men won by a score of 168-88 while the women won by a score of 172-84. DU won all 28 events en route to the dominating victory.
DU then welcomed BYU and Wyoming in the same weekend and celebrated the seniors on both teams. The men narrowly defeated BYU while destroying Wyoming and the women handled business with both visiting teams. 5 NCAA B-Standard cuts and multiple El Pomar pool records being set highlighted the two day sweep.
Women’s Volleyball
The women’s volleyball season concluded over Winter Break in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament. After defeating the sixth ranked seed South Dakota State in the previous matchup, DU fell in five sets to the second seed Omaha Mavericks.
Omaha won the first two sets of the contest before Denver made a ferocious comeback in the third and fourth sets. Two points in the fifth set ultimately decided the matchup and Denver’s season was over at the hands of the Mavericks.
Graduate outside hitter Cassie Davis capped off her outstanding season with 25 kills in the match and added five blocks as well. Redshirt freshman setter Briley Decker netted a team high 25 assists and two aces in the contest.
Five Denver players were placed on Summit League All-Conference teams. Davis was the only first-team player for DU while Decker was the only freshman to crack a team. Senior libero Gianna Bartalo, graduate middle blocker Cadi Boyer, and senior middle blocker Molly Mirabelli each received a Summit League Honorable Mention nod.
In Head Coach Megan Pendergast’s first season, the team finished 14-12, which included a 12-4 record in Summit League play and a 9-0 record at home.
