Six players had multi-point games, headlined by defenseman Kyle Mayhew’s four assists, as No. 3 Denver routed Miami, 7-2, to capture the teams’ NCHC quarterfinal series and advance to next weekend’s Frozen Face-off.

The Pioneers (30-8) will find a familiar foe in the semifinals – seventh-seeded Colorado College, which knocked off second-seeded Western Michigan two nights in a row, concluding with Saturday’s 3-2 overtime triumph.

Unlike Friday’s 6-2 victory, which held plenty of drama until DU broke it open in the third period, the Pioneers wasted little time seizing a 3-0 lead Saturday. Casey Dornbach scored 36 seconds in, and Aidan Thompson and Owen Ozar lit the lamp 47 seconds apart, with Ozar’s coming just 3:24 into the game. Ryan Savage’s power-play goal got Miami (8-24-4) as close as it would get the rest of the night about three minutes later, but Shai Buium re-established DU’s three-goal lead with 1:36 left in the first.

Freshmen Tristan Lemyre and Lucas Olvestad added to DU’s lead in the second period, and Jack Devine scored his fifth goal of the weekend with 1:02 left. It was set up my Mayhew, who also had helpers on the Thompson, Buium and Lemyre goals.

Matt Davis, subbing for injured starter Magnus Chrona, made 19 saves for the Pioneers, and junior Jack Caruso finished up with two more. Thompson, Buium, Dornbach and Lemyre each added an assist.

Around the NCHC quarterfinals

Matthew Gleason’s goal 3:08 into overtime lifted CC to the sweep at Kalamazoo, Mich. Freshman Kaidan Mbereko made 28 saves. … The other two series will be decided by a third game on Sunday. North Dakota, fighting for its NCAA Tournament life, defeated host Omaha, 3-1, thanks to goals by Jackson Blake, Tyler Kleven and Dylan James. Drew DeRidder made 24 saves. … Minnesota Duluth, in the same boat as North Dakota, routed St. Cloud State, 5-1, behind two goals from Carter Loney and singles from Wyatt Kaiser, Ben Steeves and Dominic James. Zach Stejskal made 34 saves.

Notes: None of Denver’s five injured regulars – Chrona, defenseman Sean Behrens and forwards McKade Webster, Massimo Rizzo and Jared Wright – returned to the lineup. Given DU’s relatively comfortable margin at No. 3 in the Pairwise Ratings, its more important some of them return before the NCAA Tournament begins in two weeks. … One night after Mayhew played in his 150th career game, fellow defenseman Mike Benning played in his 100th. … Ozar’s goal was the first of his NCAA career.

©First Line Editorial 2023