Minnesota Tops Denver in OT in Hall of Fame Game - College Hockey News

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November 30, 2025
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by Christian Moreno/CHN Reporter
DENVER — With the annual USA Hockey Hall of Fame game being held at Colorado's Ball Arena, two old WCHA rivals, Minnesota and Denver, renewed acquaintances Saturday. The teams have had somewhat opposite fortunes so far this year, but in a wildly-entertaining contest, Minnesota showed it could be on its way to getting back to its old self.
After multiple Denver comebacks, Minnesota won 6-5 in overtime thanks to a game-winning goal from freshman Javon Moore, just his third goal of the season.
“It was great, I thought the crowd was great, and both teams were getting after it. Two perennial power programs, and it was really fun.” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said.
The Gophers had the goal advantage of 3-1 after two periods of play, all while getting heavily outshot by Denver, 35-16. The final shots ended up 52-25 in favor of Denver, including 3-1 in OT. But Minnesota had the one that mattered.
“Not many times your goaltender gives up five goals (Luca Di Pasquo) and still think he’s your best player, but he was our best player tonight. They’re one of the best teams we’ve seen this year,” Motzko said.
Denver rallied twice in the third period, rattling off four goals, with their top defenders Eric Pohlkamp and Boston Buckberger leading the way. Buckberger potted two goals, and Pohlkamp scored once while putting 10 shots on goal in the game.
It wasn't pretty for Denver, with goalie Quentin Miller having a rare off night, as the team drops to 9-5-1, including 1-3 in OT. But Denver coach David Carle liked his team's resilence, and thought there were plenty of positives to take out of it.
"Pucks were going in tonight. There were times we gave them some of their stuff too easy," Carle said. "That hasn't been us for most of the year, so I'm proud and happy at the resiliency and offensive development that we're seeing. And I think most nights we've been sound defensively."
But most of all, just hosting an event like this, in an NHL arena, in front of 12,000 fans in its home town, was special unto itself. Denver has obviously grown in stature even more than it already was thanks to recent successes on the ice, and it's just another opportunity to showcase that.
"This is a tough market. We're in with the Nuggets, Avs, Rockies, Broncos. There's every pro sports team in town here," Carle said. "I think we're really proud of the fact we have a great local following."
Minnesota, meanwhile, can use this as a springboard to what's been a roller coaster season so far. The Gophers, with a lot of new faces from last season, went 2-6 in October, and struggled to find any sort of offense to start the year.
“When you've got a really young team, and we had a really tough October, we were really banged up, and our guys battled, and that’s when we got banged up pretty good,” Motzko said. “It’s growing pains sometimes, you hate losses to teach you lessons, but we’ve had our share of them. But I’ll give our kids credit, our guys have battled.”
In fact, these are two of the younger teams in the nation. Denver has been able to withstand it, thanks to some veterans sprinkled in, but there are going to be bumps. Minnesota has a lot of new faces, plus has dealt with a lot of injuries.
But November has seen the Gophers take down two opponents that were highly-rated at the time: Penn State and now Denver. In November, they went 5-3 and have started to show signs of a quick turnaround.
“We’ve had some high-quality wins, and we’ve had some stinker losses, but when you’re a young hockey team, it’s hard to get it, and we’ve had an enormously hard schedule, which is hard on us. But, it makes us better,” Motkzo said.
The Gophers are led by their young, fast-paced offense of freshman forward LJ Mooney and sophomore Brodie Ziemer, as well as getting important contributions from senior Brody Lamb, leading the way with 16 points, and junior captain Jimmy Clark.
The goaltending has been an interesting piece; Luca Di Pasquo and Nathan Airey have split the games for the most part, as Minnesota has yet to find its go-to netminder early in the season.
December is a light month for the Gophers. They only have one series against Ohio State at the beginning of the month, before a gauntlet January where they play Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
“Our guys have kept it on the rails, especially with what we’ve been through, in their work ethic, tenacity, and how they want to get better. It’s been a fun group, and we’ve really enjoyed the climb, and we believe we are just scratching the surface to where we can get,” Motkzo said.
This win against Denver could be exactly what the Gophers need to get back on track, return to the winning ways of the previous few seasons, and fight for a spot in the NCAA Tournament come March.
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