ST. PAUL, Minn. — If there’s one thing that Alex Bump definitely does well, it’s scoring goals at Xcel Energy Center.  

Denver players Kent Anderson (left) and Zeev Buium (middle) celebrate one of their three second-period goals. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

For the Pioneers, who won last year’s Frozen Faceoff on their way to a national championship, it was a tough ending as they held what appeared to be a secure lead going into the third.  

Alex Bump scores the overtime-winner 22 seconds into the second OT period while being defended by Denver’s Zeev Buium. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Early in the second, Western still stayed in control, but then the Pioneers caught fire. At 5:46, DU got on the scoreboard on a goal by Jake Fisher. After Slukynsky stopped Samu Salminen’s shot, the rebound went right to Fisher, who tapped it into an open net to make it 1-0.  

Western Michigan players celebrate their NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on March 22, 2025. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“That is a huge hill to climb, down 3-0 to Denver in the third,” Ferschweiler said. “That’s such a great hockey team, and they’re so dangerous. But I thought our players were getting better throughout the game and there was lots of belief in that locker room. We just talked about being urgent from the first shift on and not waiting ’til the end to try to press. We couldn’t. We had to get three goals, not one goal.

“Then the big-time play by Liam Valente to pull up and find Zack Sharp, who calmly buries it under the bar, and you could feel ‘Okay, the belief was there.’ This is a confident group. The belief is always there, but then you could just feel the momentum build, and I just thought we got better and better and better even throughout the overtime.” 

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Burrows put together an impressive rookie year with the Musketeers, racking up 22 points (9-13-22) over 25 games and helping Sioux City reach the Western Conference Finals.

That bookended a tremendous high school season, too, as Burrows recorded 59 points (19-40-59) over 28 games at Minnetonka. He was constantly regarded among the state’s top players and ultimately won Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey Award in March.

Despite that success, Burrows planned to return to northwest Iowa for a full year of junior hockey.

However, that plan changed in late June, as the right-shot forward received the opportunity to head west to the University of Denver.

“Some things moved around (at Denver), and the opportunity arose to come in here early, and I felt I was ready to make the jump,” Burrows said. “I really enjoyed my time in Sioux City and was looking forward to being back there, but I just felt being around the (Denver staff) and culture would be beneficial for my game in the long run, and I’m really happy with my decision so far.”

Hagen Burrows, an Orono native, is a finance major and one of five freshmen on DU’s roster. “He is fitting well into the culture of our team,” said Denver coach David Carle. “Hagen has tremendous skill and hockey sense, and he is adjusting well to the college level as an 18-year-old. There is a high ceiling for him, and we’re excited to help him continue to develop.” (Photo courtesy of University of Denver Athletics)

Burrows arrived on Denver’s campus in July and said that culture was evident from day one. It’s one of the factors that initially attracted him to DU; he committed to the Pioneers in April 2023. The other factors were Denver’s talent, coaches and 10 national championships – three of which have come in the last eight years.

He played his first two collegiate games earlier this month at Alaska-Anchorage, helping the Pioneers secure a season-opening sweep, and he hopes to make an impact throughout his rookie campaign.

At the same time, Burrows knows it’s a process and plans on taking his freshman season one day at a time – listening, learning and soaking up as much information as he can.

“Everyone has seen what they’ve done the last few years and the staff is one of the best, if not the best, in the nation when it comes to developing their players,” Burrows said. “Everyone here knows what it takes to be successful. So to learn from them each and every day is really exciting and is going to help me this season and moving forward.”

That feeling is mutual.

“We’ve grown our recruiting footprint in Minnesota over the years, and we’re always looking for the best players in the state that will fit into the culture here at Denver, and Hagen checked those boxes for us on and off the ice,” said Denver coach David Carle. “We’ve liked how he’s developed his game in Minnetonka and with Sioux City and believed he was ready for the college game this year.”

Success with the Skippers
Burrows played 86 games over his three seasons at Minnetonka and helped the Skippers win a Class 2A title in 2023. Burrows was also named to the 2023 All-Tournament Team.

Minnetonka looked poised for another deep run last spring but was upset by Chanhassen in the section final, which capped Burrows’ high school career. He finished with 135 points (58-77-135) over those 86 games.

Those who watched Burrows the past few seasons saw his game evolve, and they’re excited to see it continue at DU.

“I think we saw Hagen grow a lot, and the area where his game really evolved was his competitive nature, especially when the game got tougher. Because he was never afraid to go to the hard areas of the ice,” said Sioux City general manager Sean Clark. “Hagen’s a big body with a great IQ and a high skill level, and he’s got the ability to make a lot of plays all over the ice. And he was always a team-first guy.

Hagen Burrows was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the fourth round (128th overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft after an impressive 2023-24 season. “That’s something you dream about as a kid, and to be lucky enough to have it happen to you is super surreal,” Burrows said. “I got to go out to Vegas and was at the Sphere, so I was fortunate to share that moment with my family and some friends and it was such a great moment.”(Photo courtesy of Sioux City Musketeers)

“We saw that right from the start last season and his ability to impact a game when the puck is on his stick is special. So, I think if he just continues to be himself he can have success at the next level, and he’s a kid that only continues to get better.”

Minnetonka coach Sean Goldsworthy said Burrows has continued to excel.

“I believe he’s ready,” Goldsworthy said. “It’s really hard to come through a program and be the marked guy and still produce at the level Hagen did for us. He saw every team’s best defensemen and received plenty of attention, and I think that’s one of the things that impressed me the most last season.”

Goldsworthy added that Burrows is one of the best leaders he’s coached, and he was impressed, but also not surprised, by how well Burrows handled splitting last season between the two teams.

The opportunity to join Denver early “says a lot about Hagen’s character,” too, and he’s simply a “selfless person,” Goldsworthy said.

“He’s obviously got the skill – great vision, deception, a quick release, good hands – and can play off other high-end players,” Goldsworthy said. “But what I think is so special about Hagen is he doesn’t cheat anything in life or hockey, and he makes his teammates around him better. And he also has the ability to self-correct and make adjustments to his game.

“I’m very confident that he’ll figure things out and, let’s be honest, I don’t think there are too many places that are better from a development standpoint either. So, I’m confident that staff will put him in a position to succeed.”

Hagen Burrows grew up rooting for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild and said he tries to model his game after Sidney Crosby, along with Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele. “We first got to work with (Burrows) as a sophomore, and his puck skills and vision were already elite, and he had some of the best hockey IQ I’ve been around,” said Minnetonka coach Sean Goldsworthy. “We’ve seen his body catch up to that over the last couple years and his whole game has come together into the player he is today.” (Tim Kolehmainen / Breakdown Sports)

Back to Tonka before Denver
As for Burrows’ decision to return to Minnetonka last season, it ultimately boiled down to his friends and family back home – which he joked is the “typical Minnesota answer.”

“It was definitely tough, especially with the way we started (in Sioux City),” Burrows said. “But I think it ultimately came down to the people and the tradition we had at Minnetonka. In the long run, I thought going back and playing one more year (with his childhood friends) would be something that was more important to me, and I’m glad I got the chance to continue playing in the USHL after the season, too.

“I got the chance to play with so many good people though, and overall I got a lot of experience that I think will help me in the future.”

Now he hopes that experience will parlay itself into the start of a successful college career.

He joins a Denver team with plenty of motivation, too, as the Pioneers look to defend their national championship. They’d be one of just two teams in the last 20 years to win back-to-back titles – UMD (2018-19) being the other – and certainly have the pieces to do so.

It’s a shared goal in the Mile High City, and similar to his new teammates, Burrows wants to help make that goal a reality however he can.

“Everybody is bought-in every day, and there’s a reason Denver has been one of the final teams there at the end (of the season), so I just want to help wherever I can,” Burrows said. “Everybody knows the amount of skill and talent that exists here, plus the coaching and culture.

“So, I’m just really excited to be here and it’s a really special group, and we want to go back-to-back.”

The post Change Of Plans appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

No, not win an NCAA national championship. That happened for the first time Saturday night with Denver. But he’s scored game-winning goals on the ice sheet at Xcel Energy Center in a couple of big games to help his team pull off the upsets of a top-seeded opponent.

Skating in a Denver Pioneers sweater Saturday, Wright scored about halfway through the second period to give his team a 1-0 lead over No. 1 Boston College (34-6-1) in the Frozen Four national championship game. It turned out to be all the Pioneers (32-9-3) needed on the way to a 2-0 shutout of BC for Denver’s 10th national championship in program history and second in three years; no program has won more national titles.

“I think it’s the biggest moment of my life,” Wright said. “I’m just so proud to be a Pio and a part of this program.”

Jared Wright (center) and his Denver teammates celebrated two goals on the ice before eventually celebrating the program’s 10th NCAA championship. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Wright, a Burnsville native, celebrated with his teammates in his home state. It’s also been about four years since he helped his St. Thomas Academy to an upset victory in the state high school hockey tournament as a junior. In the 2020 tournament, Wright also scored a second-period goal which held up for the winner in the Class 2A quarterfinals as the unseeded Cadets upset top-seeded Andover 3-2.

The Cadets took fourth place in 2020 and reached state the next season but lost to Eden Prairie in the quarterfinals. Wright was a senior captain that season, finishing second in scoring with 16 goals and 38 points in 21 games. He only scored six goals but added 18 assists in his junior season.

Before coming to Denver, Wright scored 15 goals and 19 assists during the regular season with Omaha in the USHL.

Though the high school tournament offered a couple of bright spots, Wright didn’t get the chance to celebrate a state championship that so many hope to achieve.

“Obviously, that’s a big dream growing up in Minnesota to win that,” Wright said, of the high school state tournament. “Winning this is I think so much bigger. It’s the pinnacle of my life so far.”

Making such a contribution to his team on the biggest stage in college hockey is huge. But doing it in his home state?

“It just means everything,” Wright said. “Especially with my grandparents, don’t get to see me a whole lot in Denver. So, just scoring in front of them, and then also my mom and brothers and family, it just means the world to me.”

Minnesota connects
For all of the pre-Frozen Four chatter around the state of hockey lamenting the fact that none of the Minnesota teams made it to St. Paul, the Frozen Four still offered some home cooking. Among the final four teams, seven Minnesota natives were listed on the rosters. Of those, five players hit the ice over the weekend. Two of them played for Denver in Wright and his teammate Tristan Broz, former Gophers player and Blake School graduate, who scored the overtime winner in Thursday’s semifinal.

Sophomore Rieger Lorenz is pumped after scoring Denver’s second goal of the game against BC. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Though not a Minnesota native, Minnesota Wild prospect Rieger Lorenz assisted on Wright’s goal and scored the second goal in the championship game. As Wright did in the postgame press conference four years ago when St. Thomas Academy upset Andover, he praised teammates for their contributions to his goal in the NCAA title game.

“Rieger made an awesome play to get it back to me,” Wright said. “Just kind of threw it blind to the net, and I was lucky enough it rolled in.”

That Lorenz and Wright line, the two sophomore wingers combined with freshman center Kieran Cebrian, was responsible for the goal-scoring in the championship game. Also credit to defensemen Shai Buium, Sean Behrens and Zeev Buium for their assists, especially the pass along the boards from Zeev to Rieger.

“I think we move our feet a lot, stay above pucks,” Wright said. “We reload really well. I’m beyond blessed to play with Zeevs and Rieger. And I think we just complement each other really well.”

Road to Denver
Wright played for three seasons with St. Thomas Academy, and he also skated in a few games with the Minot Minotauros in the NAHL during that 2020-21 season before a year with Omaha in the USHL. His visit to Denver’s campus, plus the people and the coaches, all went into his decision to make Denver University his college home, he said. Wright added that he’s “very lucky that this coaching staff saw something in me” and is grateful for the opportunity to play.

Denver coach David Carle complimented winger Jared Wright on the different ways he’s found to score goals this season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Perhaps that notable “something” was Wright’s speed. Denver coach David Carle referred to his speed as “exceptional” and said that he’s not sure if there is a faster player in college hockey than Wright. The sophomore finished the season with 15 goals and 10 assists. As his offensive confidence keeps growing, Carle said Wright is learning to score in different ways.

In Saturday’s game, Wright tried to make it a two-goal effort with a breakaway tally only a couple of minutes after his goal, but he was denied by Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler. Carle noted that Wright had a few of those types of breakaway goals throughout this season and last.

“But he’s scoring in different ways around the net, finding open ice in quiet areas,” Carle said. “So, that’s been great to see.

“And he’s the nicest human you’ll ever meet. Amazing, amazing kid. So proud of him. Teammates love him. You can tell how much it means to him to be here and to be part of this, and there’s not many people that you cheer harder for than Jared Wright, I’ll tell you that.”

The post The Wright Stuff appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Four of the top-five scoring college hockey players in the entire country on one team managed to be shut out just once during the 2023-24 season. The worst part for the Boston College Eagles is that their only goalless game came in the most important one, the national championship game. Denver capitalized when Boston College couldn’t and won 2-0 to collect its 10th national championship, the first program to hit double-digit national titles.

“There’s a lot of great college hockey programs, this is a really hard event to win,” Denver coach David Carle said. “The nine title teams to prior to [now] went through a huge lift to get us here. We certainly try to attract people that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”

Denver’s defensive effort was led by Matt Davis as the team’s backstop, earning his 23rd win of the season with a shutout. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Despite having those four scorers and averaging 4.46 goals per game as a team, Boston College scored zero in its quest for its sixth national championship. Fittingly, the only team that averaged a higher goals per game this season was Denver, at 4.59 goals per game.

How did Denver change the fortunes of this highly touted Boston College team that had made scoring look so easy all season long? First, the Pioneers employed a stifling defense that started in the neutral zone. Second, they had a goalie have the tournament of his life, highlighted by the save of the year. Third, they had the entire team buy in to the process of what it takes to shut down a team that wins on the back of flashy scoring and speedy offensive transitions.

“It was everything,” Carle said. “Our offense is always the most important zone to slow them down, how they break pucks out, how they transition out of their [defensive] zone, how they pull pucks back, they can really try to spread you out. … They’re a team that keeps you on your heels, and if you’re playing on your heels, you’re playing with fire.”

Boston College’s defenders continued to force stretch passes and long breakouts to forwards to streak into the Denver zone with speed. The Pioneers realized this tactic right from the outset of the game and put themselves in the right position to stifle most of those breakouts and turn it into a chance the other way for Denver.

In addition to getting sticks into the waiting areas, Denver had an extremely aggressive forecheck that often sent two players deep into BC’s end and force hurried plays that made life difficult for the Eagles attack.

Denver goaltender Matt Davis goes across the crease to make a sprawling save on Ryan Leonard (No. 9) on a BC power play in the third period. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Denver team captain McKade Webster, though, thought the game was as simple as an unreal game from their starting goaltender, Matt Davis.

“I mean, Matthew Davis,” Webster plainly said. “What a job he did. The best goalie in the world.”

For Boston College, coach Greg Brown understood his team’s ability and attempt to push its strengths in breaking the puck out, but said that Denver’s neutral zone presence was incredibly suffocating and tough to get through.

“We’re usually pretty good at breaking pucks out and having speed through the neutral zone, and they had three and four guys a lot of times above our guys right away,” Brown said. “I don’t think we generated as much speed, that’s more a credit to [the Pioneers.]”

For the chances that did get into the offensive zone for BC, as Webster said, Davis was there to meet the challenge for Denver. At no point was that challenge more difficult than the third period. Davis recorded 23 saves in the third period alone, a tie for the most saves in a single period in Frozen Four history.

The Eagles realized it was ‘do-or-die’ and poured on the shots to try and get something past Davis. He kept his positioning, didn’t give up rebounds and calmly approached the opposing offense with an expectant demeanor to frustrate the BC offense.

“Superhuman,” Carle said of Davis. “This whole run, he gave up three goals. … I agree with McKade, without him, we’re not sitting here.”

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The Pioneers faced down an early deficit thanks to a breakaway, top-shelf goal from Boston University’s Luke Tuch on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. The forwards were still apprehensive about what BU’s top players could showcase when caught off guard, and the defense was keeping the Terriers’ shots to manageable areas. The real breakthrough came when there was a brief lapse in greatness from highly-touted NHL prospect and Montreal Canadiens draft-pick Lane Hutson.

Deep in his own zone, Hutson blindly sent the puck lazily toward the front of his own net, where Miko Matikka gladly scooped the puck up and sent it over to the open man, Tristan Lemyre, with a crease open just enough to sneak the puck past.

Denver’s Tristan Lemyre skates by his teammates receiving high-fives after he tied the game 1-1 in the Frozen Four semifinal. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Lemyre had an interesting journey to the game-tying goal for Denver. Looking at the line chart released before the game, Lemyre was a bit lonely. That is, because he was the 13th forward for the game, without any permanent linemates. In this instance, he was out there with Matikka and Aidan Thompson for the goal.

“He’s been really good for us, he’s been fighting through an injury of his own,” said Denver coach David Carle. “[He’s been] putting his body on the line for the guys and the team. Really, really happy for him that he was able to get rewarded.”

Lemyre’s goal-scoring prowess hasn’t been on full display this season, to say the least, though it has come at opportune times. His game-tying goal in the Frozen Four semifinal game was just his second of the season and sixth of his career.

His only other goal this season? A tally in a 7-2 rout of St. Cloud State on March 2. Lemyre also hasn’t slotted in to each game this season, with Thursday being his 26th of Denver’s overall 43 played through the national semifinal round. Carle said that Lemyre played an integral role while star forward Massimo Rizzo was out with an injury.

“He comes into the night as our 13th forward, he’s been a big reason we’ve went 12-1-1 without Rizzo in the lineup,” Carle said, of Lemyre.

Denver goaltender Matt Davis made 33 saves and allowed only one goal against Boston University. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

‘Big-time’ goaltending performance
Another person that can be hoisted onto a pedestal for why Denver will be playing for its 10th national championship is the backstop, goalie Matt Davis.

Goal scoring has been tough to come by for the Pioneers in the last three games. Just six goals over that span, but the best part for Denver has been that its only ceded three goals. Davis has made the clutch plays when it matters, gobbling up pucks and preventing rebounds to keep the electric BU forwards from cashing in on anything but the Tuch breakaway goal.

“Matty D sitting here again, was excellent for us,” Carle said. “Especially was the best player in the first period and overtime.”

Carle wasn’t kidding. BU had 20 shots through the first two periods while Denver had just 11. Even more, in the first period, the Terriers outshot the Pioneers 10-3. Despite going down a goal, Davis kept Denver in the game with a close score long enough for the forwards to find their game and deliver on offense.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Rizzo said, of Davis. “He showed up when we needed him the most, I’m super proud of him.”

Added Broz regarding Davis: “Big-time performance by him, three straight games.” 

Davis, Lemyre and the rest of the Pioneers will hope to replicate the big-time performance in the national championship game on Saturday.

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