Denver Hockey swept the Yale Bulldogs in a dominant series in New Haven with a 6-0 Friday night victory and a strong 5-1 Saturday win.
Friday night led off a weekend of accolades for Denver Hockey, with graduate student forward Connor Caponi playing in his 150th contest for the Crimson and Gold, and senior forward Jack Devine playing in his 125th game with Denver. Denver also became the sixth team in the nation to reach 1,600 wins as a program and is the fastest to do so.
Denver traveled to Yale for their season-opening series, which led to an aggressive Yale team that tried to push Denver off their game and caused a lot of physicality throughout the weekend.
Friday night, Denver pushed back on the hungry Yale team, started out flying early and got on the board at 5:14 with a goal from junior forward Rieger Lorenz on a net-front scramble, pounding home the loose puck and giving DU the 1-0 lead.
The first frame saw many post-whistle scrums between the two teams, with Yale trying to push around Denver and cause problems for the Crimson and Gold to get them off their game. But DU was accustomed to the physicality and owned the offensive zone possession time for the entirety of the period, limiting Yale’s scoring opportunities to a minimum. The shots were 11-8 in favor of DU after the first period of play.
The second period would be the most active for DU, scoring three goals and continuing the high pace of offense that they started in the first period.
Denver would get started early with a goal at 3:46 from freshman forward Jake Fisher pounding home a net-front pass from freshman forward James Reeder to the middle of the ice for a quick-release shot over the right shoulder of Yale goaltender Jack Stark, extending the Denver lead to 2-0. Reeder continued his offensive surge with the assist, extending his point streak to three games.
A little over three minutes later at 6:54, Denver would strike again with a goal from sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, wiring a slapshot from the point off the faceoff extending the lead to 3-0 Denver. Fisher would get an assist on the play and tallied his third multi-point game of the season.
At 16:51, Caponi and Yale forward Kiernan O’Hearn got into an altercation behind the Yale net which included punches thrown after Caponi took one too many pokes at the Yale netminder Stark. The two would get a two-minute penalty for roughing as well as a 10-minute misconduct for fighting.
During the 4 on 4 at 17:15, sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger scored on a slick pass from Pohlkamp from the corner in the high slot, releasing a quick shot, beating Stark for a 4-0 lead for the Crimson and Gold.
The final period of play would continue the dominant offense with an early goal at 5:14 from senior forward Carter King pouncing on a one-timer. A great individual effort from junior forward Aidan Thomspon pressuring Yale into a d-zone turnover delivered the pass from the side of the Yale net to increase the lead to five.
Within the final minute of the period at 19:06, Pohlkamp tallied his second goal of the night and his fourth of the season. Another rocket of a shot from the point got through the flurry of bodies in front of Stark to finalize the game at 6-0. Devine would also get an assist on the play bringing his nation-leading points up to 15.
Senior goaltender Matt Davis recorded a shutout, the fourth of his career at Denver. The win would also give the senior class their 100th win at Denver.
Saturday’s contest saw some changes to the lineup with sophomore goaltender Freddie Halyk getting the start for the Crimson and Gold, for his first of the season.
Yale came out better than the previous day, getting on the board first at 10:50. Will Richter capitalized on a loose puck in front of Halyk, pounding home the loose puck for a 1-0 Yale lead midway through the first period.
Yale’s O’Hearn took a cross-checking penalty at 15:49 and at 17:08, Denver would strike on the powerplay with a one-timer from King at the top of the left circle. A nice bump pass from Thomspon tied the game at 1-1. The assist from Thompson continued his point-per-game streak.
The second period was deja vu for Denver as they would score three goals in the middle period of play for the second night in a row. At 6:52, Yale took an interference penalty putting the lethal Denver powerplay to work. Twelve seconds later at 7:10, DU struck with a one-time goal from Thompson on the right dot beating a sliding Stark. A nice cross-ice pass from Devine gave Denver the 2-1 lead.
A little over four minutes later at 11:10, junior forward Jared Wright fired a shot on the rush from the right dot that beat the Yale goaltender through the five-hole making it 3-1.
Yale took a hitting-from-behind penalty at 14:14 and the Denver powerplay would stay hot and answer with a goal from Reeder at 15:54. A net-front deflection from a Buckberger pass from the left hash mark increased the DU lead to three.
A new face made his way to the ice as freshman defenseman Alec Whipple made his collegiate debut towards the end of the middle period.
The final period of the weekend would continue to be all DU with another shutdown period. They continued to possess the puck and keep Yale out of the offensive zone. When Yale had offensive zone time, Halyk was there to shut the door.
Halyk would face more shots throughout the period and had a couple of great save sequences to keep the game out of reach for Yale.
A few minutes from the end of the final frame at 18:27, Denver scored their 11th goal of the weekend from Thomspon, cashing in on a great deceptive feed from sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft to give Denver the 5-1 lead.
Halyk would have a solid performance making 20 saves on 21 shots to close out the weekend on a sweeping high note.
Denver continued their offensive dominance, outscoring Yale 11-1, and the Denver special teams continued to be supreme with a lethal powerplay going four for nine on the weekend. The shutdown penalty kill did not give up a goal on the weekend and went five for five on the kill.
Denver Hockey is back in action against the Lindenwood Lions at Magness Arena on Nov. 8 and 9, which is the 75th anniversary weekend for the DU Hockey program.
