DENVER – Sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft tallied his first career game-winning goal and senior netminder Matt Davis stopped every shot he faced in the final two periods on Friday night to lead the No. 1 Denver Pioneers hockey team to a 4-2 victory against No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers at Magness Arena.
The former WCHA rivals wrap up their series at DU on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. Limited tickets are available and the game will be broadcast exclusively on NCHC.tv.
After trading goals in the first period, the teams played a scoreless middle frame and had a tight start to the third stanza until Ashcroft broke the stalemate at 7:35. The St. Albert, Alberta, native took a cross-pass from sophomore Sam Harris that was deflected by freshman James Reeder and found the back of the net on a wrist shot while all alone on the backside of the slot.
“Just a battle in the corner, I tried to have a tight gap, and the puck just slipped through a couple of guys’ legs and right onto my tape and just a quick release,” Ashcroft said. “Then the rest was just a blur. Student section was going crazy, so that was really exciting, for sure.”
Harris scored as well in the game, netting a power-play goal off slick passes from Jack Devine and Zeev Buium with 2:48 remaining in the first period that tied the game at 2-2.
Sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp tallied for the second straight game to knot the contest at 1-1 at 7:10 of the first period. Pohlkamp’s goal came less than three minutes after Wisconsin’s Gavin Morrissey scored, marking the first time that DU had trailed in a contest all season.
Senior captain Carter King netted an empty-net marker in the final two minutes of regulation to seal the game and fellow Devine recorded a pair of assists to bring his NCAA-leading total to 11 helpers on the campaign.
Davis finished the night with 31 saves on 33 shots, including stopping all 24 that he faced in the final 40 minutes of play.
“He was on it all night I thought. Happy for him,” said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle on Davis. “We couldn’t have won the game without him. Again, he was certainly our best penalty killer, if not our best player here tonight.”
Both teams had six power-play opportunities, with the Pioneers netting the only man-up goal with Harris’ DU-leading fifth marker of the year.
Quinn Finley also scored for Wisconsin and goaltender Tommy Scarfone stopped 21 shots in the loss.
UP NEXT: The Pioneers conclude their season-long four-game homestand on Saturday against the Badgers. DU is in a stretch where the team is playing six-of-eight contests at Magness Arena, with the only road games coming next weekend, Nov. 1-2, at Yale.
POSTGAME NOTES
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- Denver improved to 6-0-1 in the last seven games vs. Wisconsin dating back to when the former-conference foes left for different leagues in 2013.
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- The Pioneers are now 65-76-13 overall and 31-40-6 at home in the all-time series against the Badgers.
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- Carter King’s tally pushed his goal streak to four games and his season-opening point streak to five contests (5g/3a).
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- Jack Devine (0g/11a) and Aidan Thompson (3g/6a) also extended their season-opening point streaks to five games.
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- Devine has now recorded multiple points in four of the five games this season and leads the country in assists and points (tied) with 11.
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- Eric Pohlkamp tallied for the second-straight game and is on a four-game point streak (2g/2a), tying his career long from March 2-16, 2024 with Bemidji State.
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- Sam Harris scored for the third-straight game (3g/2a).
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- Cale Ashcroft scored his first career game-winning goal and his first tally since Oct. 28, 2023 against Air Force.
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- Denver has now won 14 straight games dating back to March 9 against Colorado College. It is the team’s longest winning streak since a run of 22 in a row from Jan. 5-March 16, 1968 en route to an NCAA Championship.
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- The Pioneers’ season-opening five-game winning streak is their longest since winning each of their first eight contests to start 2019-20.
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- Denver celebrated Girls Hockey Night on Friday is also honor players’ families as part of Parents Weekend.
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
4:12 UW (0-1) – Gavin Morrisseey tallied unassisted with a wrist shot that went high, short-side.
7:10 DU (1-1) – Eric Pohlkamp scored on a one-time shot from the top of the left circle off a pass by Jack Devine.
10:14 UW (1-2) – Quinn Finley was all alone in the low slot and tallied on a backhand shot.
17:22 DU (2-2) – PPG, Sam Harris tapped-in Jack Devine’s cross-pass during a man advantage.
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
7:35 DU (3-2) – Sam Harris sent a cross-pass from the corner that was redirected by James Reeder and onto the stick of Cale Ashcroft, who ripped a wrist shot into the net’s twine.
18:21 DU (4-2) – ENG, Carter King fired a puck into the empty net from his side of the neutral zone.
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On battling in the game: “I thought the response after going down 1-0 and then 2-1, to get the game tied up was good in the first period. Obviously, it was a playoff-style game, not a lot of ice out there for either team. I thought Matt Davis was excellent—penalty kill, he was obviously our best penalty killer tonight. Obviously, the power play gets a big goal as well that ends up being a difference maker in the game. Special teams, big in games like this. Goaltending, big in games like this. Both came through tonight.”
On Cale Ashcroft scoring the game-winning goal: “Really happy for him. He didn’t have an easy road last year. He has done a lot of what we have asked him to do. For him to get rewarded offensively—part of his game that was there for him in Tri-City (USHL) in his junior career and coming up through his youth career—great to see him place one in the back of the net there. It was obviously a huge goal in a big moment.”
Sophomore Defenseman Cale Ashcroft
On the game: “They came out with a hard start. They had a good start, and they were kind of throwing pucks on net, so that really challenged us to get into our guys, be a lot more physical. It’s more of a physical series than last weekend, and I think that’s something we preach in the room before the game. They had a good start, and we just had to match that.”
On adjusting to Wisconsin’s play: “Yeah, we just stayed really consistent with the message in the room, with just staying on it, and playing our game. We knew we had more to give. So throughout the game we kind of just adjusted to it.”
Senior Goaltender Matt Davis
On battling for the win: “Yeah, it was a great win for the guys. We faced a lot of adversity tonight, had to play a different game than we’ve played in the last four. So, it’s good to see the guys adapt and just battle out there, so it was pretty huge.”
On Wisconsin’s style of play: “They’re hard and heavy. I mean they’re going to throw guys out front, they’re going to throw pucks on net. I just got to make sure that I’m seeing it, and the other guys have got to try to help me see it. So, it was definitely a challenge, but we did a good job here.”
On the game seeing a lot of special teams: “Yeah, that’s going to happen when you play a game like that. It’s just hard, but stuff happens. Put a lot of pressure on the (penalty) kill, but we killed it; a phenomenal job out there.”
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