They looked like a national championship contender in the final two periods.

A dominant effort in all three phases propelled the Pioneers to a 6-1 win in the first meeting with Colorado College in front of 7,021 fans — a record for hockey at this arena. Denver can lock up a fifth consecutive Gold Pan with a win Saturday night in Colorado Springs.

The Pioneers (5-1-1) bombarded Colorado College goalie Kaidan Mbereko with 23 shots on goal in the middle period. After a choppy first 20 minutes that had more post-whistle scrums than scoring chances, the second was a lot of one-way traffic in the Pioneers’ favor.

It didn’t get much better in the final period. Denver outshot Colorado College 48-20 for the game, and had 39 of the 52 shots on net in the final 40 minutes.

Shai Buium found Denver’s first goal at 4:56 of the second near the end of a power play. Mbereko sold out to his left for a shot that never made it to him, but it did end up Buium’s stick in the slot. His younger brother, Zeev Buium, was credited with the primary assist, the second time they’ve both been part of a goal this season.

Tristan Broz put the Pioneers in front at 7:32 of the period. Garrett Brown cut to the middle of the ice and laid off a pass for Broz, who didn’t miss with a one-timer for his third goal of the season.

Carter King added Denver’s third tally of the period at 10:23 while the Pioneers were shorthanded. Jack Devine scored twice in the final period — first on a tip-in and the second after an incredible end-to-end rush by Massimo Rizzo — to make it a runaway.

Freshman goalie Freddie Halyk made 19 saves in his second career start. No. 1 netminder Matt Davis did not dress. He’s considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

The Tigers were off to a 5-1 start, their best record after six games in 11 years. They also looked like an upset-minded bunch in the first 20 minutes.

Evan Werner opened the scoring for the Tigers at 6:09 of the first. He cut from left to right in the middle of the Pioneers’ zone and snapped a shot back against the grain past Hayk.

The Denver bench was not happy with the lack of a penalty call on the play that led to Werner shaking free — Sean Behrens had the puck along the right wall near the Pioneers’ bench, and coach Matt Carle felt he was separated from it illegally.

The rest of the first period had some hallmarks of a rivalry showdown — plenty of big hits, scrums after nearly every whistle … and a lot of misplaced passes and pucks bouncing off sticks.

Once both teams settled in, the Pioneers — ranked No. 2 in both of college hockey’s national polls entering the weekend — took complete control.

The Tigers will need to group. Denver only needs a split of the four-game series to retain the Gold Pan. The two sides play Saturday night at Ed Robson Arena and then have another home-and-home at the end of the regular season in March.

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But for the Pioneers to break a tie with Michigan for all-time NCAA Division I championships by claiming their 10th this season, they’ll need the Buium brothers to play a pivotal role.

Shai Buium, a junior, is a linchpin on the back end for the Pioneers, while his younger brother, fellow defender and freshman Zeev Buium, is expected to make an impact in his draft-eligible season. Shai helped propel DU to the NCAA title two years ago, and Zeev is a notable rising talent who at 17 is the second-youngest college player in the country.

“Shai’s primed and ready to go to take a huge step for us,” DU captain McKade Webster said. “He’s going to be one of our best defensemen, a huge penalty-kill guy. He’s obviously a power-play guy. He’s going to have to take steps into playing 25 minutes a night at every single position (on defense) and taking pride in shutting down teams’ first lines and also scoring goals and making assists.

“And you can tell Zeev, even as just a freshman, he’s in the same mold — an unbelievable skater, tough, and very intelligent with the puck.”

In 38 games as a sophomore last year, Shai underscored his reputation as an offensive defenseman with four goals and 17 assists, including three power-play goals and one game-winner. Selected by the Red Wings in the second round of the 2021 NHL draft, Shai said he’s embracing the “good pressure” that comes with being a centerpiece on a team with national title-or-bust expectations.

“Players come here because of the rich tradition and to vie for a national championship, and what’s why Zeev and I are both here,” Shai said. “We want to be the only one up there atop (the all-time title list). That’s our focus as brothers and as a team.”

While Shai is established, Zeev will have to earn his keep among 10 freshmen on the roster — DU’s largest incoming class in five years. The fresh-faced Pioneers are tied with Harvard for the second-youngest team in the country with an average age of 20.9.

Will Zeev, coming off a two-year stint in the United States National Team Development Program that culminated with a gold medal at the 2023 U18 World Championship, be ready to live up to the expectations attached to his last name?

The youngest Buium says that if his driveway history with his older brothers in San Diego is any indication, he’ll be ready.

“We all grew up playing roller hockey in the long, flat driveway and cul-de-sac in front of our house, and we’d be out there at all hours, playing 1-on-1, playing 2-on-1,” Zeev recalled. “Shai and (oldest brother Ben) were really hard on me as a kid. I hate to lose, they hate to lose. They would team up on me every once in a while, just to give me a hard time, but that really shaped me into who I am today.

“It was a lot of me playing defense against them, me strapping on the pads and them ripping tennis balls at me, roller pucks. I was never a kid who cried about it. I enjoyed it, I liked it, and it sounds crazy but it was fun to me. That helps me a lot in my game now. When I get hit on the ice, when I get blown up, I just get back up on my feet. I feel like I have a really strong mental side of my game, and that inherent aggressiveness, and a lot of that comes from my brothers beating up on me, being hard on me as a kid.”

Shai and Zeev made their brotherly debut this weekend in the Pioneers’ opener at Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday and Sunday, the first time they’ve ever officially suited up together in their lifetimes intertwined in the sport.

“We’re cherishing this year,” Zeev said. “But yeah, we’ve already also started talking about how it’d be pretty cool to see each other in the NHL one day. We are living in the moment but (still looking ahead).”

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Zeev doesn’t have the size of Shai (6-4, 210), but their style of play is similar. Like his older brother, Zeev is a heady player and has plenty of offense in his game. He led all defenseman on his U18 team with 40 points (five goals, 35 assists) last season.

“We both think the game really well and that’s something we pride ourselves on,” Zeev said. “As kids playing in that front driveway, that’s something we cultivated. You have to get creative, and that’s helped a lot now that we’re on the ice, because you see that little stuff we’ve always worked on (on the blacktop) come through, especially on offense.”

With the Buium brothers ready, and head coach David Carle having guided the Pios to four NCAA Tournament appearances in his first five years on the bench, the rest of college hockey is seeing the same championship potential in DU once again. The Pioneers opened the season ranked in the top five in both national preseason polls and were also voted the favorites to three-peat as champions of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Forwards Massimo Rizzo, Aidan Thompson, Tristan Broz and Webster will be counted on to lead DU’s offense, but Webster emphasized that “depth is going to win us a championship.”

“We have 14 forwards that can play every single night and at pretty much any spot in the (offensive) lineup,” said Webster, who worked his way up from a fourth-line, penalty-kill reserve to starter and captain over the past several years. “Our third- or fourth-line guys, they can be slotted in (on the first couple lines) and we won’t miss a beat.”

DU’s schedule is stiff this year with a dozen nonconference games against eight opponents, with six of those on the road. That includes games at ranked opponents Providence and Boston College later this month before NCHC play begins with the Gold Pan rivalry series against Colorado College on Nov. 3 and 4.

All of which, Carle is not afraid to say, is just a precursor to what really matters at Magness Arena: raising banners.

“For a lot of places, 30 wins is a great season and it’s nothing to bat an eye at,” Carle said. “But we are evaluated on the national tournament and how we perform in that. To our standard, we didn’t live up to that last year. So there was certainly a bitter taste in our mouth throughout the summer, and throughout the spring and getting into camp.

“If you don’t begin with the end in mind, why start? It’s critical and it’s how we operate. We know the standard here and we don’t shy away from it.”

DU Hockey schedule 2023-24

* NCHC game

Wood, a fourth-round draft pick in 2013, has spent his entire career in the Devils’ organization as a bottom-six wing, accumulating 148 points in 402 games for New Jersey. He scored 27 points in 76 games last season.

With the six-year deal, the only Avalanche players who will be under contract longer than Wood are Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin. Wood won’t be an unrestricted free agent again until 2029, the same summer as Gabriel Landeskog.

The Devils granted Wood permission to speak with other teams before July 1, according to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on June 27. Wood is coming off a one-year deal with a $3.2 million salary cap hit. He turns 28 in September.

A relentless skater who fits the style of Colorado’s bottom six, Wood has had trouble staying out of the box for much of his career. He had 76 penalty minutes in 2022-23 despite averaging only 12:06 per game on the ice, adding to a total of 427 penalty minutes in his eight NHL seasons.

The 6-foot-2 left-handed shooter was born in Buffalo and raised in Massachusetts. He played one year of college hockey at Boston College under Jerry York, the winningest coach in NCAA hockey history.

Wood joins Ross Colton, Ryan Johansen and Jonathan Drouin as offseason newcomers to the Avalanche’s forward corps. The Avs entered free agency aiming for one-year contracts to maximize the brief window in which $7 million extra are available to them in long-term injured reserve cap space. But Wood was a fascinatingly abrupt long-term investment in the middle of the nickle-and-diming.

Avs UFAs leaving

As expected, the Avalanche officially lost longtime defenseman Erik Johnson and center J.T. Compher when free agency opened.

Johnson signed a one-year, $3.25 million deal with the Buffalo Sabres, nearly halving the $6 million average annual value of his previous contract in Colorado. Compher signed a five-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings at a $5.1 million AAV, a pay bump from his $3.5 million in Colorado.

Johnson, a 2011 trade acquisition from the St. Louis Blues, was Denver’s longest-tenured professional athlete. Compher was coming off a career year with 52 points and a 13th-place finish in Selke Trophy voting.

Center Lars Eller also landed elsewhere, on a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins worth $2.45 million AAV. Eller spent half a season in Colorado after getting traded at the deadline by Washington.

Goalie Jonas Johansson signed a two-year contract with the Lightning at a $775,000 AAV. He almost signed with Swedish club Farjestad BK earlier this offseason, but the transaction was canceled. Colorado picked up Johansson off waivers in October 2022, and he appeared in two NHL games for the Avalanche, winning both.

Carle, 33, recently completed his fifth season with the DU Pioneers, leading them to a 30-10 record and an NCAA Tournament berth. Denver won the NCAA championship in 2022.

“It’s a great honor to have the chance to represent our country on the international stage,” Carle said in a news release. “I’m Iooking forward to the challenge ahead and building a team that will give us an opportunity to bring home a gold medal.”

Team USA will play in the IIHF World Junior Championship, which takes place Dec. 26, 2023 to Jan. 5, 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Americans will start in Group B with Czechia, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland.

“We’re thrilled to have David leading our National Junior Team,” U.S. national junior team general manager John Vanbiesbrouck said in a news release. “He’s done a terrific job at Denver and is one of the bright young coaches in our country.”

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Mazur, DU’s leading scorer this season with 22 goals in 40 games, is one of three Pioneers to have professional contract signings announced over the past two days. Senior captain Justin Lee (six goals, seven assists) signed an AHL deal with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the 2023-24 season, while fifth-year senior Kyle Mayhew agreed to a deal with Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate.

Lee and Mayhew, both defensemen, will play out the remainder of the 2022-23 season on professional tryouts with their respective American Hockey League clubs. Mazur will join the Grand Rapids Griffins, also of the AHL, for the rest of the season on an amateur tryout.

The 6-foot, 173-pound Mazur played for the United States in both IIHF World Junior Championships in 2022, including the one canceled due to COVID-19 in December 2021. Chosen by the Red Wings with the 70th overall pick of the 2021 NHL draft, he was named one of Team USA’s three best players in the August tournament after scoring a team-high five goals.

The Pioneers’ season came to an abrupt end last week with an upset loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The team finished the season 30-10-0 and won the program’s 15th regular-season conference title.

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With its season on the line in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, top-seeded University of Denver was shut out for the second game in a row, falling 2-0 to fourth-seeded Cornell on Thursday night in the Manchester Regional.

The loss ends DU’s national title defense two wins short of the Frozen Four, with the Pios finishing their season on a 121-minute, two-second scoreless streak. Their last goal came near the end of a 7-2 win over Miami (Ohio) in the NCHC playoffs. A 1-0 loss to rival Colorado College followed in the NCHC semifinals, which likely pushed them out to the regional in Manchester, New Hampshire, as the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We were still playing our game, so that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” sophomore forward Carter Mazur told reporters after the game. “We ran into two hot goaltenders at the time, so that’s another reason, but we still need to find ways to put the puck in the back of the net and we didn’t do that.”

Goaltender Magnus Chrona (25 saves) did his best to keep the Pios in the game, making a number of difficult stops over the final two periods, including on a penalty shot in the third. But two first-period goals from the Big Red were the difference.

The two teams were actually even on shots on goal at 27-all, but Cornell’s Ian Shane came up with some dazzling saves to keep the Pios off the scoreboard.

“They’re a really good team,” Mazur said. “They pressured us pretty well and we really couldn’t adjust to that until the second period. They were just a really physical team, and I felt like we started to match that in the second and third and their goalie also stood on his head and played a really good game.”

DU finishes the campaign 30-10-0 having won the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions — the program’s 15th regular-season conference title. The Pios entered the NCAA Tournament with the nation’s sixth highest scoring offense at 3.85 goals per game, but went cold when they could least afford it.

As a result, DU’s quest to surpass Michigan for most men’s hockey national titles (both have nine) will have to wait another year.

“Winning championships is not easy, and our group last year found a way to do that,” DU head coach David Carle said. “Obviously all these players who are graduating were a part of that. They’ll walk together forever as champions with last year’s group.

“When we recruit student-athletes to Denver, we talk a lot about playing in this tournament, playing in big moments, getting to Frozen Fours and hanging banners. We fell short of that goal this season, but those seniors were a part of a group that did that a year ago

“Adding to the legacy of the tradition that is Denver hockey is not an easy thing to do, but they are one of a group of nine that have done it.”

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Then he remembered the aftertaste. And how sweet it felt at this time a year ago.

“Yeah, I feel like it’s the exact same (vibe) as last (March),” Mazur, the DU Pioneers’ top goal-scorer, said earlier this week at Magness Arena in advance of the 30-9 Pios’ first test in the NCAA men’s hockey regionals, Thursday at 3:30 p.m. against Cornell (20-10-2).

“It’s kind of a blessing in disguise really. (We) get extra rest because of it, but it does (stink) to lose the trophy. But we’re kind of focused on the big goal — win the national championship. So it’s nice to have that bitter taste in your mouth heading into these (regional) games.”

DU will be looking to rebound from a 1-0 upset loss back on March 17 to rival Colorado College in the NCHC semis. The Pios suffered the same fate at Frozen Faceoff in March 2022, then rode that taste all the way to the program’s ninth national title.

And this spring, coach David Carle is hoping a bitter Mazur makes for a better Mazur. The Pios are 42-5-0 since the start of the ’21-22 season when the lithe sophomore records at least a point in a game. They’re 19-11-1 in the 31 games in which the Michigan native has been held to a goose egg in the box score.

“We kind of battled adversity kind of a lot throughout the year,” Mazur reflected. “And I feel like that’s just another step. I felt like every game that we … lost, we kind of took a good step in the next game. So it’s kind of a good thing in a way that (the Frozen Faceoff loss) happened, but it’s just tough to happen in that moment.”

In what Pios faithful are hoping is a portent of good things to come, No. 1 goaltender Magnus Chrona practiced Tuesday at Magness before the team flew east.

The 6-foot-5 senior’s postseason performances last spring became the stuff of DU legend — stopping at least 90.7% of opposition shots in all appearances after March 18 and recording 27 saves during a 5-1 win over Minnesota State in the national championship game.

“It’s a one-and-done situation, goaltending is huge,” Carle said. “I know George Gwozdecky said it back in ‘04 about (goalie) Adam Berkhoel, like, ‘It’s a goaltender’s tournament.’ We have the best goaltender in the tournament and I think we feel that way with Chrona in goal.

“He’s got big-game experience. He rises to the occasion (and) has throughout his career. And, you know, we expect the same of him here (at regionals) this weekend.”

Any concerns about his health?

“No concerns at all,” Carle replied.

Is he completely 100%?

“No concerns at all,” Carle deadpanned, this time with a smile.

The winner of DU-Cornell is slated to take on either Boston University or Western Michigan for the regional crown and a berth in the Frozen Four on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“I feel like we kind of have the feeling of last year,” Mazur continued. “So we kind of want to take it into this year’s (NCAA) tournament. We want to have the same outcome and we want to have the same feeling, for sure.”

“Flattering?”

Is it flattering, I’d asked, when folks whisper that the DU hockey coach, with two Frozen Fours and an NCAA national championship on his resume by the age of 33, is NHL material?

To this, a ginger eyebrow raised quizzically. Those sea-blue eyes narrowed into a salty squint.

“Flattering?” Carle replied, chewing on the premise like a piece of rotten fruit. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that.”

From the heart, ideally. Surely it crossed your mind, back in the day?

“Yeah, I mean, maybe when I got into coaching (initially),” Carle told me in November just outside the home locker room at Magness Arena, from which his 30-9 Pioneers departed Tuesday for the NCAA men’s regionals in Manchester, N.H.

“But I felt like getting the Green Bay assistant job (in 2012) was my dream job at the time. And then getting back here as an assistant coach happened way quicker than I ever thought it would. And doing this (as a head coach) happened way faster than I ever thought it would.

“I always feel a strong sense of obligation to (DU) for taking care of me when they did. I felt the same sense of obligation when they hired me back to be an assistant coach, when they hired me to be the head coach, and when they signed me to the extension.”

You know that extension the Pios announced last August? The one that pushed Carle’s contract into 2027?

It’s looking smarter all the time.

Wisconsin’s just entered only its third men’s hockey coaching search in 41 years, and the cheeseheads who follow the Badgers have already roped Carle onto their short lists.

Madison is a big-time Big Ten job, a blue-blood gig with blue-blood salary — former coach Tony Granato was reportedly making $600,000 when he was let go after seven seasons at the helm.

Then again, who needs blue blood when you’re already sitting on a pot of gold?

Carle’s wrangled the No. 9 recruiting class in the country for 2022-23, according to CollegeHockeyNews.com. He’s knocking on the door of his third Frozen Four berth in five seasons.

The only thing harder than reaching the top of the mountain is doing it again the next year — especially when you’re trying to scale that puppy with a giant target pinned to your backside. Carle warned his guys all the way back in their first team meeting, that a.) no dance partner was going to just roll over and let the Pios rub their bellies simply because they were the national champs; and b.) you’d best be ready to take everybody’s best shot.

“We knew we were going to get everyone’s best game this (season),” Carle reflected Tuesday. “That’s happened. We’ve taken some on the chin. We haven’t played our best in moments. But we’ve always addressed that openly and honestly, looked in the mirror and found ways to respond.”

Despite nicks, dings, bruises and everyone’s ‘A” game, DU topped the NCHC during the regular season with a 19-5-0 league mark anyway. The Pios never lost more than two tilts in a row, with a pair of tough roadies at UMass (0-2, Oct. 14-15) and at St. Cloud State (0-2, Jan. 20-21) accounting for four of those nine defeats.

“I mean, unless like you get a big offer from an NHL team. There really is no point in leaving,” Noah Lederer, a DU sophomore and co-chair of the Pios’ infamous Whiteboard Club, told me earlier this season. “I mean, he’s gonna stick around. We need him.”

From the DU record book to grocery store commercials, the man’s become part of the fabric here, part of the furniture. Carle joked that other than the year-and-a-half he spent as an assistant with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL from 2012-14, he’s lived within two miles of Magness since 2008.

“A lot of what we talk about and what I try and live, along with obviously what we preach to the players is, ‘Being two feet in where you are,’” Carle told me all those months ago. “And I can tell you that that is where I’ve always been. And that’s where I am today.

“I just (take) an immense amount of pride in the program, and what it’s done for our family, myself individually, what it’s done for me. And I would say that there’s just a lot of pride and a sense of responsibility to try and do right by the program, each and every day that I come to work …

“I always feel a sense and a debt of gratitude and responsibility, I would say, to prove (DU) right.”

So far, so good. Don’t ya think?

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The Pioneers were given the No. 1 seed in the Manchester Regional and will open NCAA Tournament play at 3:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPNews) against Cornell University at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Boston University and Western Michigan will play in the region’s other semifinal at noon on Thursday (ESPN2). The semifinal winners will face off in the regional final at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU) for a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four.

Denver has a 30-9-0 overall record and won the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions with a 19-5-0 mark in league play. The Pioneers lost to Colorado College 1-0 on Friday in the NCHC semifinals.

The defending national champions are the No. 4 national seed. Minnesota (Fargo, N.D.), Quinnipiac (Bridgeport, Conn.) and Michigan (Allentown, Pa.) hold the top spots in their respective regionals.

DU has a 7-5-0 all-time record against Cornell. The teams have met four times previously in the national tournament, with both teams winning twice. The Pioneers defeated the Big Red 4-3 in the 1969 National Championship Game.

Cornell has a 20-10-2 overall record and 15-6-1 mark in conference play. Cornell swept its quarterfinal series against Clarkson in the ECAC Tournament before falling 1-0 in overtime to Harvard in the conference semifinals on Friday in Lake Placid, New York.

The 2023 NCAA Frozen Four is April 6-8 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

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DU teammate Sean Behrens was competing for Team USA in the highly anticipated World Junior Championship semifinal against Canada.

“He’s been fun to watch there,” said DU captain Justin Lee, a Manitoba native.

“But …” Lee paused. “I’ve gotta cheer for Canada here tonight.”

OK, how about polling another Canadian in the room?

“I want Sean to do good,” fellow blueliner Mike Benning said. “He’s one of my good buddies, and obviously I want him to do well. But I think I’ve gotta go with Canada.”

They got their wish that night with a 6-2 result in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but Behrens and the U.S. ended the tournament on a high note, unseating Sweden in an 8-7 overtime thriller to win bronze. For the DU defenseman and coveted Avalanche prospect, it was a bittersweet finale to his World Junior eligibility.

Behrens returned to Denver with hardware after twice missing the opportunity to play in the prestigious tournament.

“One of the best experiences of my hockey career,” he said. “From the tournament to the atmosphere to winning a bronze medal, it’s a dream come true to play in that tournament. And to be able to win that last game was something that’ll stick with me.”

A positive COVID-19 test prevented Behrens from joining Team U.S.A. in the first attempt at a 2022 tournament last winter. But a surge in cases caused the event to be halted and rescheduled for the summer, giving him new hope. A few months later, he joined his DU teammate Carter Mazur at the postponed event — but Behrens’ role was a healthy scratch and depth player. He barely saw ice him. When he did, he quickly got injured and was out for the tournament.

Anxiety about missing another was natural. Behrens turns 20 in March, aging out of WJ eligibility.

This time, he was a pillar of stability. He averaged the second-most ice time (19:58) on the U.S. roster, finishing plus-five over a seven-game run.

Third try’s a charm.

“Going into that World Juniors, I thought to myself, it’s something where you look at how easy it is for something to be taken away, or for you to not get an opportunity,” Behrens said. “And I thought just going into this one over Christmas, it’s my last chance. Last run at it.”

Any worries dissipated quickly when he scored a goal in the group stage opener. It was a one-timer from the blue line, threaded through traffic to give the U.S. a 2-1 second-period lead against Latvia. He added an assist in the win, which helped him climb the lineup to the top pairing by the end of the group stage.

It was also his mom’s birthday.

The only problem: She wasn’t there. Her flight to Halifax had been canceled the day before. The family was stuck in Toronto and didn’t arrive until the day after Behrens’ big moment.

“Going into that game, you think you can kind of give back to your mom,” Behrens said. “It was an awesome feeling being able to get that one.”

Behrens didn’t score for the remainder of the tournament after his mom arrived, but he was one of Team U.S.A.’s most reliable two-way players. The knockout stage was packed with more memorable experiences. Behrens was struck by the atmosphere in the Canada semifinal — during which he went up against consensus future No. 1 draft pick Connor Bedard — and by the sheer chaos of the third-place win over Sweden.

“I can’t remember the last time I was in an 8-7 game,” he laughed. “That was crazy.”

Back in Denver, the Barrington, Illinois, native has 14 points (12 assists) in 22 games. He returned with the lessons from the last year on his mind — “never knowing when your last chance is going to be, your last opportunity,” he said — and has maintained  contact with the Avs in the meantime.

“They’ve given me a lot of pointers throughout the season,” he said.

The Avalanche’s top defensive prospect estimates he went to six games during their championship season, but he hasn’t made it to a game since.

After his emergent performance on the international stage, the only mystery is whether his next Ball Arena appearance will be in the stands or on the ice.