Johnny Hicks’ 23rd and final save of the night was arguably the biggest of his freshman season.

The thud of a puck bouncing off the left pad of the Denver freshman goaltender was quickly overpowered by the cheers of an appreciative Magness Arena crowd — one that went into an even bigger frenzy just seconds later as Rieger Lorenz scored an empty-net goal to seal a 3-0 win for the No. 7 Pioneers in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series against Miami (Ohio) in the quarterfinals of the NCHC tournament.

“He’s a great kid and I love to see him doing so well,” sophomore forward Sam Harris told The Denver Gazette. “It’s really awesome to see him coming up with those big saves, and we need those. We won’t be able to win without him.”

Even though Hicks has been on point since stepping into the lineup with an incredible 9-0-1 record and save percentage of .961, No. 2 seed DU needed every save the British Columbia native had in him against the No. 7 seed RedHawks. 

The Pios opened the scoring midway through the first period with a redirected goal from freshman Clarke Caswell, but they spent nearly the entire final 50 minutes trying to get a second goal to create some breathing room.

“It’s playoff hockey,” Harris said. “It’s what we play our entire regular season for is to come into these games. No game is gonna be easy, so for us to step up to the plate and match their physicality was great.”

Goaltender Matteo Drobac stopped 33 shots on the night and got 13 blocks from his teammates in front of him to give Miami a shot to tie it up with an empty net late.

“You don’t get to script up how the game’s gonna go, per se, but I thought mentally we were involved and we were into it all night long,” DU coach David Carle said. “I loved how we started the game. Their goaltender played excellent, especially early. Their best stretch (was) at the start of the third period and we weathered it pretty good. Johnny was there when we needed him, but we were really connected and didn’t get outnumbered on the outside much.”

DU has been led by its defensive corps for the majority of the season as that veteran-heavy group has produced at both ends of the ice, but Friday’s playoff opener was a little bit of a different challenge with junior Garrett Brown (week-to-week) out with an injury, leaving just five defensemen to handle the 60 minutes of ice time.

“We’ve kinda just been really gelling together as a (defensive) corps in practice,” sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft told The Denver Gazette. “I thought we did a really good job. Also, the forwards have been helping a ton. It takes everyone, for sure.

“I think we kinda knew going into it, playoff hockey, especially in this conference, is gonna be hard. Once it started getting physical, I think we’re comfortable playing that game.”

This is about the time of year when DU starts to buck the trend that it is an offense-first team that you can push around in a tight game. 

Sure, the Pios are once again top 10 in the country in goals per game and have more shots on goal this season than all but one team nationally, but they were able to deliver the sturdy performance required to get their first playoff shutout since the 2024 national championship victory over Boston College.

“We probably don’t get enough credit for our checking and our physicality, but I thought we did a good job tonight of getting in the way and making sure they had to come through us getting to our net,” Carle said.

It also helps having the hottest goalie in the country in Hicks.

“He’s been phenomenal,” Ashcroft said. “He puts in the work every day, we all see it. He’s a rock back there.”