College club team UNLV shocks reigning NCAA men’s hockey champions Denver in exhibition game

This might be one of the strangest upsets in hockey history.

On Saturday, the Denver Pioneers, the defending NCAA champions, lost an exhibition game in a shootout. However, it wasn’t to just any team. It was against the UNLV Skatin’ Rebels, a club college program.

The Rebels play at the Division 1 level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the highest level of college hockey under the NCAA. DU has faced ACHA teams in the middle of the season in the past, usually taking care of business.

That wasn’t the case on Saturday at Magness Arena.

UNLV stormed out of the gate with three goals in the first period and found themselves up 5-1 on the No. 5 team in the country heading into the third period, thanks to two goals from Preston Brodziak. Denver turned things on in the third, scoring five times in the final 20 minutes of regulation, including two from Chicago Blackhawks prospect Aidan Thompson, to force overtime.

Overtime solved nothing, so a shootout was needed. Rebels netminder Jeremey Forman stopped all three DU attempts, with Mattias Dal Monte scoring the lone goal in the skills competition to seal the upset.

The final shots on goal were 64-17 in favor of the Pioneers, with the shot attempts reported to be 101-24. Forman ended up making 58 saves.

While some might scoff at the loss in a meaningless game, with some thinking that it could’ve been attributed to a poor lineup being put forth by Denver — especially since Minnesota Wild draft pick Zeev Buium and head coach David Carle are with Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championship. However, the other 12 NHL draft picks on the team’s roster were in action on Saturday, along with goaltender Matt Davis, who played hero during the Frozen Four last spring. He allowed four goals on 11 shots before being pulled halfway through the game.

Sure, the defeat won’t hurt DU’s overall record or Pairwise ranking for the upcoming NCAA Tournament, but losing to a team a whole tier beneath them, with all of the potential NHLers on its own roster, is a significant shock.

There have been whispers that UNLV is trying to gain NCAA status, especially since they’ve faced other NCAA programs like Lindenwood and Alaska-Anchorage, among others. However, nothing has yet to materialize.

The Rebels are in Colorado Springs on Sunday to face Colorado College. No way the team from Sin City could do it again…right?