Magness Arena experienced a peculiar array of emotions during this weekend’s hockey series versus the Miami Redhawks: confidence, nervousness, confusion and jubilation. 

The penultimate pair of DU home games brought with them expectations of dominance, suffocation and lots of goals from the Crimson and Gold. Denver defeated Miami in their prior 12 meetings, outscoring the Redhawks for a combined 65-15 score in those games. In Denver, authoritative success is expected against Miami—anything less is head-turning.

While there was certainly no shortage of success from the Crimson and Gold this weekend, a few eyebrow-raising moments in Friday’s 3-3 shootout win and Saturday’s 8-1 domination by Denver gave the fans more of a show than they were expecting.

Denver was missing their top center, junior Massimo Rizzo, for the third game in a row as the Crimson and Gold warmed up on Friday. They would lose yet another forward after a brief review by the officials determined that freshman Miko Matikka hit a Miami player in the head less than six minutes into the game, a mistake which got him ejected.

Denver killed off the ensuing five minute major penalty and even saw senior forward Connor Caponi narrowly miss on a shorthanded 2-on-1 opportunity. However, it was the minor penalties that bedeviled the Crimson and Gold as the game went on, as they conceded two goals on the penalty kill. Miami’s Matthew Barbolini scored the first goal of the game following an undisciplined trip by sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz.

“I didn’t love how much we went to the penalty box,” said Head Coach David Carle after the game. “We got one big kill, the others we weren’t able to kill off. It’s been a bit of a pattern that we continue to work on.”

At first, the Crimson and Gold had little issue keeping their stride following Miami’s first goal. Sophomore forward Jared Wright tallied a power-play goal of his own in the first, before he and freshman forward Sam Harris each netted a puck in the next thirty minutes.

Wright, recording his first two-goal game of the season, had no time to dream of a potential hat trick. A pair of tipped shots in the third by Raimonds Vitolins and Barbolini equalized the game, and DU had no choice but to lock in.

“I was just focused on winning. I think our group can do better with the penalties, and hopefully we can dial up on that for Saturday night and kill those tomorrow,” said Wright. 

Overtime was a slow, cautious affair. DU waited for the opportunity to strike, and for a moment it seemed they had found it—junior defenseman Shai Buium loaded up for a one-timer on an open net, only to be acrobatically stonewalled by a beautiful glove save from Miami goaltender Bruno Bruveris.

Luckily for Denver, it was their goaltender, junior Matt Davis, who remained hot in the shootout. He stopped all three Miami shooters, capping off a turbulent game in an even more turbulent season. Junior forward Tristan Broz’s backhand shot gave the Crimson and Gold a narrow win—one that the locker room knew they had to improve on.

“Just re-attack the day tomorrow. We’re in a real tight battle for home ice in the pairwise nationally, so tomorrow’s as big as any one,” Carle said.

The Crimson and Gold did not disappoint in game two. Davis, coming off an up-and-down performance on Friday, backstopped what looked like an entirely different team as DU flattened Miami by a score of 8-1.

The Denver offense was still missing Rizzo, as well as the newly-injured junior forward Carter King, but they kept their foot on the gas all game, peppering Bruveris (and later his backup, Carter McPhail) with 47 shots on goal. 

The box score reads like a phonebook. Broz, freshman forward Alex Weiermair, junior forward Jack Devine, freshman defenseman Zeev Buium, Wright, Lorenz, Harris and a no-longer-ejected Matikka all scored one goal each, with Broz and freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger both recording three assists. The horn of plenty was flowing in Magness on Saturday.

“Offensively, we executed a lot faster,” Carle said after the final whistle. “[We] put them on their heels more, especially their goaltender. I was really proud of the guys’ effort throughout the whole sixty minutes.”

However, this game will be remembered for the bizarre storyline that surrounded its winning goaltender in Davis. He stopped all 27 shots he faced in his best performance of the year, but Denver still gave up a goal. The red-hot Davis had no chance at saving it, considering he was standing by the bench at the time.

Late in the first period, one of the referees called a minor penalty. Davis vacated the net for the extra attacker—something he had done hundreds of times before—only for Miami defenseman Robby Drazner to deflect a Denver pass directly into the empty cage from 160 feet away. He could do nothing but laugh about it.

“It’s actually kind of funny, I looked at Jack Caruso at the bench there and we just laughed. There’s really no other way to take it… you just gotta shake it off and get back in there and do your job,” Davis smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Carle shared in his goaltender’s humor. “Honestly, I just kind of giggled. I’ve only ever seen it on Twitter. It’s not something that we ever really talk about or think that could or would happen,” he said.

Davis’ performance may be overshadowed by that rare moment, but he played a fantastic game. His positioning was rock-solid, allowing him to make visibly comfortable saves without too much effort. That’s something DU will need as the final weeks of the regular season loom on the horizon.

“Of course these next two weekends are huge, but it’s all building towards those last four games of the year,” Davis said. “We’re ready to rumble.”

DU will continue their push for the NCHC playoffs and NCAA tournament with an away series against St. Cloud State on March 1 and 2.