Any further questions about how explosive Denver’s offense might be were answered Friday night.

The No. 4 Pioneers used a five-goal blitz in the first 6:59 of the second period to spark a 7-0 NCHC victory against Miami at Magness Arena on Friday night.

Sophomore Carter King had goals Nos. 4 and 5 in that span, and he struck again in the third period for a hat trick and the seventh goal for DU (18-5, 9-2 NCHC).

Carter Mazur started the goal-scoring spree, and he quickly was followed by McKade Webster, Aidan Thompson, King twice and Casey Dornbach in the second period.

Magnus Chrona stopped all 20 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season.

Quick-strike start to the second

The Pioneers took the lead when Massimo Rizzo found Mazur with a saucer pass through the slot on a 2-on-1, and Mazur beat Ludvig Persson as he was falling to the ice just 26 seconds into the second period. The assist was Rizzo’s 30th point of the season and extended his points streak to 10 games. The goal was Mazur’s 17th of the season (second most in Division I to Western Michigan’s Jason Polin, who has 19).

Just 1:11 later, Webster scored on a rebound of Rieger Lorenz’s shot on a power play.

Then 9 seconds after that, Thompson recovered a puck that bounced off the end boards and eluded Persson and scored into the vacated net.

King then took over. The sophomore center scored on a breakaway 6:18 in and again on Persson’s back door off a fantastic pass from Shai Buium one tick before 7 minutes.

That finished Persson’s night after 16 saves on 21 shots. Logan Neaton made 16 saves on 18 more DU shots.

Chrona on Richter Award watch list

Chrona, who made his 100th career start Friday, was one of 41 goaltenders selected this week to the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, which is given to the top Division I goalie by the Hockey Commissioners Association. Tanner Jaillet won the award, which has existed since 2014, in 2017.

Chrona had a 13-5-0 record, .911 save percentage and a 2.29 goals-against average entering Friday night’s game.

Two Denver recruits on NHL CSS mid-term draft list

DU recruits Alexander Weiermair and Sam Harris made the NHL Central Scouting mid-term rankings list. Weiermair, who plays for the U.S. National Team Development Program’s U18 team, is ranked as the 93rd-ranked North American Skater. Harris, who is a top-10 scorer in the United States Hockey League this season, is rated 131st.

The duo is part of an incoming recruiting class that includes players who were drafted last summer – forward Miko Matikka (Arizona, third round, 67th overall) and defenseman Garrett Brown (Winnipeg, fourth round, 99th overall).

Notes

Rizzo was selected as the NCHC’s Forward of the Week after scoring two goals and adding an assist in last weekend’s split against Alaska Fairbanks. … Mike Benning, who entered the game tied for the scoring lead among D-I defensemen with 22 points, was held without a point for the first time in 10 games. That’s ironic given 14 of the 19 skaters in the lineup for DU had at least one point, four (King, Mazur, Dornbach and Tristan Broz) had two or more. … After this weekend, the Pioneers embark upon a difficult 10-game stretch with a pair of games at No. 3 St. Cloud State, two games vs. a vastly improved Colorado College team, home series against North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth, and a road series at No. 12 Western Michigan.

©First Line Editorial 2023