Denver hockey swept the Big Ten’s Wisconsin Badgers in a testing weekend for the Crimson and Gold. Wisconsin traveled to Denver for the first time since 2016.
Friday was a chippy, hard-fought game between the two teams with Denver coming out with a 4-2 victory. The script flipped on Saturday and Denver came out flying, finishing the weekend with a 6-1 victory to complete the sweep.
Friday’s contest started tough for Denver. Wisconsin came out fast early, and Denver was caught off-guard by a physical Badgers team. The game would be filled with a lot of special teams time, with a total of 14 penalties between both teams.
“It’s good to play in a game like that and we were able to keep them off the scoreboard, despite them being dangerous on the powerplay,” Head Coach David Carle said.
A bad Denver defensive zone turnover led to a Wisconsin goal scored by Gavin Morrissey, who wired a short-side snipe over the right shoulder of senior goaltender Matt Davis 4:12 into the first period.
The first period would be the most active of the three frames with four of the six goals being scored in the first.
Three minutes after the Badgers started the scoring of the day, Denver answered back with a one-timer goal by sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, beating Wisconsin’s goaltender Tommy Scarfone through the armpit. A crisp cross-ice backhand pass from senior forward Jack Devine assisted the 1-1 game-tying goal.
Denver would continue to struggle defensively and at 10:14, another bad defensive zone turnover would give the puck to 2022 New York Islanders 3rd round pick Quinn Finley, who scored with a backhand bar down shot over the shoulder of Davis.
Finley was teammates with Denver sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium at the 2024 World Juniors where they were gold medal winners. Finley had a meaningful impact on the game with his goal and his play on the first line.
Around 16 minutes into the period, Wisconsin took a slashing penalty putting Denver on the power play for the second time in the period.
A few minutes later, at 17:22 Denver capitalized on the powerplay with a tap-in goal from sophomore forward Sam Harris. A pass from junior forward Aidan Thompson from the right dot onto the tape of Harris tied the game at 2-2 late in the first frame.
The middle period would be quiet with zero goals scored, but the game started to slowly get more chippy as seven penalties took place in the period. Denver showed signs of frustration with penalties with multiple post-whistle scrums throughout the frame.
The final period of play would be an exciting one with the score evened at two, leading to packed Magness Arena fans on the edge of their seats for the majority of the final period.
Early in the third, Denver would have a series of power plays and a 5v3 opportunity. But a strong Wisconsin penalty kill which kept Denver 1-6 on the night, killed off the important penalties.
The ice would tilt towards the Crimson and Gold midway through the final frame, and Denver would take the lead for the first time on the night. At 12:25, Harris found sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft who fired a shot from the high slot beating Scarfone and scoring his first goal of the campaign while sending the Denver crowd into a frenzy It was a ten-out-of-ten celebration as well by Ashcroft, who celebrated with the student section on the glass.
“The puck was able to slip through a couple of guys’ skates and slipped right onto my tape and a quick release and it became a blur which was exciting for sure,” said Ashcroft
The win didn’t come easy for Denver as they fought and clawed their way through the final five minutes of the game after being stuck in their defensive zone for up to two minutes at times, which led to nervousness throughout the arena.
Wisconsin pulled their goalie with 2:17 left in the final period, but DU would put the icing on the cake and senior forward Carter King scored an empty net goal from the neutral zone at 18:21 to give Denver the 4-2 win.
Davis faced 33 shots on the night making 31 saves for a stellar performance to keep his team in the game.
“We faced a lot of adversity tonight and we had to play a different game than the last four. It’s good to see the guys battle and adapt out there,” Davis emphasized.
A demanding game for both squads led to a phenomenal game and set up a stellar finale.
Unlike Friday’s contest, Denver was the team that came out flying on Saturday, which would ultimately catch Wisconsin off-guard as they were in the role that they put Denver in r the night prior.
Early in the first period, Denver was skating circles around the Badgers who couldn’t keep up with DU’s speed in the neutral zone and were scrambling in their own defensive zone.
The penalty bug would continue into this contest as Denver would take a tripping penalty at 7:34. Seven seconds into the penalty kill, Wisconsin would answer and score on a one-timer from Finley at the left dot beating a sliding Davis at 7:41.
The scoring would continue with Denver who answered quickly. Like Finley, Devine scored on a one-timer in the slot that beat Wisconsin goaltender William Gramme over the left shoulder. A d-zone turnover on the half-wall led to a quick pass from Thompson to Devine that would even the game at 1-1.
Roughly three minutes later, Denver would take the lead with a net-front goal from senior forward Connor Caponi, Harris forced a turnover behind the net giving DU a 2-1 lead..
After the Caponi goal, Denver started to click offensively and spent the majority of the first period in the offensive zone pushing the pace of play.
At 18:19 of the first period, a gorgeous tic-tac-toe play made for a highlight goal. Denver entered the offensive zone at the point, Devine shoveled a pass cross-ice to Thompson on the right dot, who then wired a pass onto the tape of King for a tap-in goal on the back door to give Denver a 3-1 lead late in the period.
The top line of Thompson, King, and Devine combined for six points on the night.
“We move the puck quickly, we support each other and find open ice and funnel pucks to the net and we were able to do that tonight,” King said about his line.
Though the majority of the middle frame was scoreless, Denver continued to play fast and hard, laying big hits on Wisconsin and keeping the Badgers scoring chances at a minimum.
At 17:57, Denver would increase the lead to three with a goal from junior forward Samu Salminen who released a quick shot from the right dot. The shot would slip through the five-hole of Gramme increasing the lead to 4-1.
A few moments later, Wisconsin would take a slashing penalty at 18:23, and Denver got a contribution from freshman forward Jake Fisher on the rush after a nice centering feed from freshman forward James Reeder. The play started from a Badgers clear where Davis was able to pick up the puck behind the goal line and send a nice pass to the far blue line which started the rush that increased the Denver lead to 5-1.
The final period of the weekend was a clean, well-played period by the Crimson and Gold.
They would get on the board early with a goal from Harris, his second on the weekend. A great assist by Buium led to the goal after he was able to shake off two Badger defenders and find a wide-open Harris on the left dot. Harris was able to walk in and snipe Gramme over the blocker to give Denver their last goal of the night and the 6-1 win.
“Our D-zone was good, we managed pucks a lot better coming out of our end. Our puck-possession game was better in the offensive zone,” Carle said.
Denver hockey will be in action on Nov. 1 and 2 as they will travel to New Haven, Conn., to take on the Yale Bulldogs.
