It was a memorable night for Colorado Hockey, both in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Denver Pioneers made their 11th appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four. The Pios went through Cornell and defending 2025 champs Western Michigan the prior week before heading to Las Vegas. The Pios faced off against the Michigan Wolverines, who return to the Frozen Four for the fourth time in five years. That includes the 2022 national semifinal, which Denver won, 3-2 in overtime, on the way to their ninth national championship. The 1-seed Wolverines (32-7-2) lost 4-3 in double overtime to the 2-seed Denver Pioneers (27-11-3) in the national semifinal of the 2026 NCAA Hockey Tournament on Thursday, April 9, at T-Mobile Arena. The game-winning goal in the second overtime period came from Denver Senior Kent Anderson, with the sudden-death goal sending the Wolverines home. Denver will take on a hot Wisconsin, who came in to beat North Dakota 2-1 in the other national semifinal matchup. The two will play in the national title game on Saturday. 
season record. The Avalanche simply don’t believe in the Presidents Trophy Curse like many other teams do, Colorado’s four Presidents’ Trophy wins include 96-97, 00-01, 20-21, and 25-26. In both the 96-97 and 00-01 season they went on to win the Stanley Cup. This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs begin next Saturday April 18th, and the Avalanche are still waiting to find out who they’ll take on in the first round.
