“[Denver] is the hottest team in the country right now.”

The University of Denver once that again on Friday, Nov. 21, night at Mullett Arena in Tempe, as the No. team in the country ran away with a 7-1 win over Arizona State.

Senior forward Samu Salminen led the Pioneers with a goal and three assists, while junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp found the back of the net twice along with an assist.

With the two goals Friday night, Pohlkamp’s goal tally for the season inflated to 10, putting him tied for sixth in the nation.

Denver took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission behind goals from Pohlkamp and Salminen. The Pioneers quickly got on the board once more, as junior defenseman Boston Buckberger scored just 26 seconds into the second period.

After Pohlkamp’s second goal made it 4-0 with 12:24 to go in the second period, Powers pulled freshman goalie Samuel Urban from net. Urban finished with 16 saves on 20 shots.

Urban’s replacement had struggles of his own between the pipes, as senior goalie Connor Hasley allowed three goals on 13 shots.

“You hate to blame it on goaltending,” Powers said. “They’ve been really good for us. I don’t think they were terrible, but we need better goaltending than we got tonight.”

A slew of penalties told the story in the third period, as the officials dished out a combined 90 penalty minutes and seven players were tossed for 10-minute misconduct violations.

The Pioneers also capitalized on a slashing penalty by the Sun Devils, as freshman forward Kyle Chyzowski picked up his first collegiate goal on a penalty shot to give Denver a 6-1 lead with just under seven minutes to play.

Additionally, the Pioneers picked up a goal each from senior forward Rieger Lorenz and freshman forward Kristian Epperson.

The lone goal for ASU came from the stick of senior forward Bennett Schimek, who buried his 6th goal of the year on a power play in the second period. It was Schimek’s third straight game with a point for the Sun Devils.

Despite the final score, ASU seemingly responded earlier in the second period when sophomore forward Cullen Potter’s wrister at an open net was ruled a goal on the ice.

However, video review showed that Potter’s shot never crossed the line into the net after banging off the right post, wiping the goal from the scoreboard.

Even though the goal was disallowed, Potter joined Schimek as the only Sun Devils with a point in Friday’s contest, as he assisted on Schimek’s goal.

ASU and Denver face off again tomorrow, Nov. 22, at 5:00 p.m. MST at Mullett Arena in Tempe. The Pioneers, who improved to an undefeated 5-0 record in NCHC play on Friday, are looking for their seventh straight win.

Despite the lopsided result, Powers still has belief in his squad to secure the split

“We have gotta focus on polishing up process stuff for us, and it can easily go our way tomorrow.”