Update: They won.
You could cut the tension inside the University of Denver's Magness Arena with a knife on Thursday night. Hockey fans covered their faces with their hands, shrieking and squirming as they watched their Pioneers hockey team clash with the Boston University Terriers in a sudden-death overtime period.
The place erupted when the Pioneers made their second goal of the night, clinching their place in the NCAA's Frozen Four finals and making the mostly empty arena feel like the center of the world.
"I love this school so much," freshman Anneliese Gracey said. "The students are so invested in every sport."
DU will face Boston College in the finals at 4 p.m. MST on Saturday evening in Minnesota, where the semifinals were also held. It's the second time in three years that the Pioneers have made it to the top of the tournament. If a win this year is anything like their victory in 2022, Denver's University neighborhood will likely transform into a party.
"We burned a couch down when we won the last championship," Kelvin Lam, a sophomore, told us. "It's gonna be crazy. Everyone's going to celebrate."
"It'll be just nuts," his classmate, Max Dailey, added. "I definitely do think the campus is going to be up in arms if we do win. I'm sure there's going to be parties down the block."
DU's administration is planning another watch party at the arena on Saturday, where doors open at 3 p.m. Dailey said the bars will definitely also be hopping; there will be official watch parties at the Campus Lounge, the Cherry Cricket, Cochino Taco, the Pioneer, Sam's No. 3 and the Stadium Inn.
"Crimson and Gold Tavern, I'm sure the older kids will be celebrating and drinking," he said.
Jesse Velasquez, who attended the party at Magness on Thursday, said he's planning to return Saturday. But he has some complicated feelings leading up to the game.
"I have a hidden agenda. I'm a BC alum," he told us after the Pioneers' victory. "I was waiting for this, so I could come back on Saturday. Both of the teams – you can't get better than that! So that's great, I'm super excited."
Denver is a hockey town through and through, he said, though he doesn't expect the broader city to really notice if the Pioneers take home the national title.
"It's a very close-knit community," he said. "Outside of the university, you don't really see it very much, unless you're a diehard hockey fan."
But DU "double" alum Tracie Sheppard, who spent most of Thursday night yelling at Magness' jumbotron, said the city once worshipped its college hockey, and is remembering how to do it again.
"I remember, even as a little little kiddo, coming to DU hockey games was a big big deal. Before Magness, it was this huge wooden arena and open seating and you would just pack and cram that place to cheer for DU. They've always been the hometown heroes," she told us. "I think the city maybe forgot, but when we went to the championship and won the same year as the Avs, the same year as the high school team, the same year as the peewee team, I think Denver woke up to, 'Holy cow, we have an amazing, record-winning team in Denver right here.'"
But she won't be around to see any possible pandemonium on Evans Avenue if (or when, she'd prefer to say) they win.
"We already have our tickets booked to Saint Paul."
