The Denver Pioneers are onto the Frozen Four again, scoring revenge

They had unfinished business with Western Michigan, and the Denver Pioneers made sure everybody in Blue Arena knew it

Mar 29, 2026, 3:48 PM

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They had unfinished business with Western Michigan, and the Denver Pioneers made sure everybody in Blue Arena knew it.

DU steamrolled the defending national champions 6-2 Sunday afternoon in the West Regional Final, avenging last year’s gut-wrenching double-overtime Frozen Four loss to the Broncos and punching their ticket back to the national semifinals.

The Pioneers are heading to Las Vegas — April 9 and 11 — for the NCAA Frozen Four for the 21st time in program history. Fourth time in the last five seasons. Seventh time in the last 10 held tournaments.

“I’m not sure many of us would have had us at this stage two months ago,” head coach David Carle said. “What our group went through in December and January, and for them to come through it — you see their belief in each other, and it’s coming out at the best time of year.”

DU will face the winner of Michigan vs. Minnesota-Duluth once the Pios get to Vegas.

The Pios stamped their want to win the game quickly, getting on the board two minutes in and scoring four goals in the first period.

Sam Harris got things going to make it 1-0. Kyle Chyzowski doubled it at 5:24 off a pass from Eric Pohlkamp. Western Michigan got one back when Zach Bookman redirected one past Johnny Hicks at 6:31 to make it 2-1, but there wasn’t ever much momentum.

Samu Salminen — who scored the overtime winner against WMU just two weeks ago in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff — buried his second big goal against the Broncos this month at 11:48. Then freshman Brendan McMorrow capped the first-period onslaught at 15:13, corralling feeds from Chyzowski and Kieran Cebrian to make it 4-1 after 20 minutes.

Denver scored 4 goals in the 1st period, its most in any period of an NCAA Tournament game since the 2022 national title game.

Pios lead 4-1 vs. Western Michigan (via @DU_Hockey) pic.twitter.com/RyGGhYp0zc

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 29, 2026

A year ago in St. Louis, Denver clawed back from two goals down in the third period against this same Western Michigan program in the Frozen Four — and still lost, 3-2 in double overtime, in one of the more painful nights in recent DU memory. The Broncos went on to win the national championship.

Sunday, the Pioneers made sure there was no drama. They came out in the first period swinging and never let up, outplaying the Broncos from start to finish. DU is 3-0 all-time at Blue Arena in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve never lost in Loveland. They haven’t lost anywhere in nearly two months — the current unbeaten streak sits at 14 games, the winning streak at 10. Both streaks date to when Johnny Hicks took over in net — the freshman has yet to lose a decision for the Pioneers

Carle’s crew is headed to Vegas with revenge already claimed. Now they go looking for title No. 11.