Club UNLV Beat Defending NCAA Champions Denver in Shootout

The University of Denver, defending NCAA Division 1 champion, returned from a two week break on Saturday night. The Pioneers hosted an exhibition at Magness Arena against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a non-varsity program that competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. Despite missing a player and head coach the game was expected to be one sided.

UNLV led 5-1 going into the third period and eventually tied the defending champions before winning in the shootout.

This is one of, if not the, biggest win any ACHA or non-varsity team has ever achieved against an NCAA member. The only other recent example of this happening was when ACHA Liberty University beat a then-transitioning into NCAA Long Island University in January 2021.

“We found a way to win. For this to be our program’s first Division I win against the defending national champions team, who previously beat us 10-0 the last time we played here, we’re ecstatic,” UNLV coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener said.

“I told them (the team) beyond getting married and having kids, this is probably one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Heading into the game, Denver knew it would be without two pieces of its regular roster. Defenseman Zeev Buium and head coach David Carle both shipped off to Ottawa to play with the United States men’s national junior ice hockey team in the 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Despite this, Denver was playing behind a nearly 100% roster and coached by assistant Tavis MacMillan.

The Pioneers are ranked #5 in NCAA and are fifth in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) with losses to Arizona State, Western Michigan, and Colorado College.

On the other side, UNLV entered the game also coming off a two week break. Through 19 games, the team has only lost three games with two coming against Lindenwood University’s NCAA program at the start of the season. Besides that, the team has been highly efficient and rode into Denver on a 14-game winning streak.

The Rebels are ranked #3 in the most recent ACHA Division 1 rankings and are currently atop the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL), a conference which also includes non-varsity programs such as the University of Oklahoma, University of Colorado, and San Diego State University. The program, which was formed in 2005 and reached the ACHA D1 National Final last season, has aspirations of following schools like Penn State University and Arizona State University from ACHA into NCAA Division 1.

“My staff and I know we’ve assembled a team that could make that jump,” UNLV coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener told the Las Vegas Sun back in November.“It’s just about when. Obviously, we have to bring in some more transfers and get some kids on the portal, but we’re closer than most people think.”

The first period quickly tilted in favor of the visitors. Pioneer goalie Matt Davis allowed three goals off of five shots in the first 15 minutes to go down 3-0. Justin Stathopoulos, Mattias Dal Monte, and Hayden Siegel each scored – with Dal Monte’s coming off an atrocious defensive blunder six and a half minutes in.

Kieran Cebrian salvaged something from the period with just under three minutes to play, capitalizing when UNLV keeper Jeremy Forman blocked a long shot from Eric Pohlkamp. Cebrian made two point blank attempts and finally lit the light to give most of the 6,000 plus at Magness something to cheer about. It was Cebrian’s first goal of the season.

The momentum did not last into the Second Period. Denver goalie Davis allowed another regrettable goal two minutes in when Preston Brodziak got a break down the right side of the ice. His shot from the far side of the faceoff circle hit off Davis but trickled in to make it 4-1 UNLV. This season the Calgary, Alberta native had won 13 of the 16 games he’d played this season and only been averaging about two goals per game. Instead he was pulled for Sophomore Freddie Halyk after half an hour.

The home team’s offense tried to come alive looking to cut into the lead. UNLV’s Forman was peppered with shots, including three power plays which he helped clean sheet for the period. The end of the second power play saw Mason Kelly exit the box and jump on a long puck in the Denver end. He played around Halyk and punched in UNLV’s fifth goal from the left side.

The Third Period was where things started to finally go the Pioneer’s way. Cale Ashcroft, Aiden Thompson (PP), and King all scored within the first ten minutes to pull the defending National Champions within one goal. The Rebel’s scored again a minute later off Heath Mensch, but another power play goal by Rieger Lorenz once again made it a one goal game.

Aiden Thompson scored a brace with 3:23 remaining and regulation play ended tied, thus temporarily avoiding embarrassment for Denver.

After five minutes of extra time, the exhibition could have ended in a tie officially. However both teams kept playing to decide a winner in a shootout. Both teams couldn’t find the netting in the first two rounds. Carter King had a weak tuck shot saved by UNLV’s Forman, while the Rebel’s Preston Brodziak had a direct face-on shot blocked by Denver’s Halyk. The Pioneers’ Sam Harris went high next round and the Rebels’ Heath Mensch went wide. In essentially sudden death, Denver’s Jack Devine was unable to beat Forman head-on.

UNLV’s Mattias Dal Monte third round attempt saw him score past Halyk’s left side to give the Rebels’ a program-defining shootout win over Denver, 7-6.

Denver, a team with 13 NHL draft picks, went 2-for-5 on power plays against a school with zero  players on scholarship that plays out of the Vegas Golden Knights’ practice arena. If the Pioneer’s had won, no one would be talking about this game. Instead, no one will ever forget it.

UNLV has another game against an NCAA foe tonight, when they travel to face #8 Colorado College at Ed Robson Arena. Denver meanwhile will have to wait until the new year to rebound when they travel to #4 Maine for a two-game series. The Denver Hockey said it best after the game; “The good news, it doesn’t count. Though we’ll probably drop in the polls because of it.”

“I told (the players) no matter what else happens for the rest of the year, you do in life, this moment will always be with you,” Vignieri-Greener said. “In 20 years, you can look back and call these 25 guys and say, ‘Hey, we did something special that no one thought we could do.’”