The 2025-2026 Denver hockey season was looking sour at first but eventually ended with the team’s 11th national championship.
They were 13-11, having won just one game in their last seven. In a pivotal series against St. Cloud State, they lost 4-2 at Magness Arena. The next night, on the hunt for redemption and the spark that might just turn their season around, freshman goaltender Quentin Miller went down with an injury.
With junior goaltender Paxton Geisel also injured, it was the third string, freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks, who stepped up to the challenge.
Head Coach David Carle knew he would be their guy for the rest of the season. Well, sort of.
In a press conference during the Frozen Four, he was asked when he knew that Hicks would be their starter for the long run.
“About when Quentin Miller got injured,” said Carle. “I think it raised the guys’ level of urgency, because, we all believe in Johnny, but none of us knew that Johnny would do what Johnny did.”
In fact, not even Hicks knew what he would do.
“I was very excited. I really didn’t know what to expect. In my head, it was just one game and then [Miller] is back,” Hicks said. “I just left everything I had out there and I knew the guys would be in front of me and support me the best they could.”
It paid off. The Crimson and Gold won that game 6-0 behind a Hicks shutout. The next weekend, they hosted No. 7 Minnesota Duluth. Hicks starred again in a series sweep. From there, the starting job was his.
They did not lose for the rest of the season — a 17 game unbeaten run that took them all the way to the championship.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it too much. I was just focused on day to day, game to game,” said Hicks. “I was just trying to enjoy each moment I had.”
When it came time for the playoffs, Hicks stepped up again in a win-or-go-home environment.
“It’s just more intensity,” Hicks said. “I think it’s all good emotions. It’s not nervousness, it’s excitement.”
Even when it came down to the Frozen Four, in double overtime against No. 1 Michigan, nothing could take Hicks out of the moment.
“I really just focused on one save at a time,” said Hicks.
And one at a time, he made 49 saves to take Denver to the championship game against Wisconsin. Still, Hicks was unfazed by the stakes at hand.
“It was just treating it like any other game. There’s going to be a lot more feelings involved, but it’s just the same mindset [I] had going into the game at the start of the year against St. Cloud,” Hicks said.
In the championship, Denver was down 1-0 at the end of the second period. They had only taken five shots to Wisconsin’s 21.
The Crimson and Gold went on to score twice in the final period and win the national championship. Hicks won the Frozen Four Player of the Tournament award and broke the NCAA single season save percentage record, previously set by Jimmy Howard in 2004.
While Hicks talks about staying in the moment, his teammates tell stories of his relentless work ethic.
“He never really does shut off,” said junior defenseman Cale Aschroft. “On the plane coming down here, I saw him visualizing. He was sitting in front of me and he was getting reps in and moving side to side on the plane.”
Others highlighted his excitement to get to the weight room, even hiding from the strength trainer, not to get out of a lift, but to do an extra core workout when he was supposed to be resting.
“I just think it’s come from the way I was raised,” Hicks said. “Through junior and when I was a little kid, everyone has just said the same thing, ‘work hard every day and you’ll get what you want. It might not happen the way you want it to happen, but the way it’s supposed to happen.’”
Hicks credits his parents for instilling a strong work ethic in him from a young age and being a vital part of his circle now. They were the first people he went to after winning the championship.
“There were a lot of tears in my eyes so I couldn’t see that well. I knew I got to hug all the guys and be there with my mom as well, give her a hug,” said Hicks. “It’s a feeling that I’ll chase for the rest of my life.”
His dad, who was also a goaltender, inspired his passion for hockey from a young age and dreams of playing in the NHL.
But for now, to no surprise, Hicks is taking it one day at the time — enjoying the celebrations with his teammates, which are far from over.
“I still haven’t completely relaxed. I feel like I’ll need to go up to the mountains or something. I’m looking forward to going to Estes Park at some point, so hopefully I can get away from everything, including my phone,” Hicks said.
With a strong freshman class as well as a wave of recruits coming in, hopes of a repeat title are running high. But for Hicks? It’s about focusing on the present.
“I’m very excited for next year. I know we’re going to come here with the exact same mindset,” said Hicks. “But I’m also going to enjoy what’s in front of me right now.”
