The Minnesota Wild selected Buium with the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NHL draft at The Sphere just off the Las Vegas Strip. The University of Denver defenseman will eventually play his home games in the same building where he just won the 2024 NCHC and NCAA championships in March and April.

Minnesota originally had the No. 13 pick, but traded up a spot before selecting Buium.

“Seeing them trade up, I had a pretty good feeling that it could be me,” he said. “I couldn’t be more honored for them to make that decision to go up and get me.”

Buium became the fifth player selected in the first round in DU program history and the first Pioneers player to go in the first round since Henrik Borgstrom in 2016.

A San Diego native, Buium had an incredible year ahead of this draft. He was the No. 1 defenseman on the NCAA-champion Pioneers, helping DU knock off Boston University and Boston College at the Frozen Four to claim the program’s record 10th title. Before that, he won a gold medal with Pios coach David Carle and the United States at the IIHF U-20 World Junior Championship in January.

Buium began the season as a potential first-round pick, but his great freshman year and solid work at the WJC helped him steadily climb draft boards to where he was projected as a likely top-10 selection and even into the top-five on some experts’ draft lists.

“I think for me, I’m not really looking at that,” Buium said about a question related to the other high-profile defensemen who went high in the draft. “I was just waiting for the team that wants me for who I am as a person and a player. I’m very fortunate the Minnesota Wild traded up to pick me.”

There were multiple surprises in the top 10, which in part led to Buium sliding to No. 12.

“My mind was thinking with every pick, that’s just another log on the fire for his fuel, knowing how competitive he is,” DU coach David Carle said. “And I think the Wild got a really good player at No. 12.”

Buium had 11 goals and 50 points in 42 games for the Pios. Not only did he prove to be an offensive dynamo at the college level, but he earned praise for his 200-foot game and ability to defend players who were older, bigger and stronger than him.

Buium is expected to return to the Pios for his sophomore season. He had approximately 80 friends and family members in attendance, including older brother Shai, another defenseman on this year’s DU title team who was drafted in the second round by Detroit in 2021. They coordinated a hearty “Zeev! Zeev! Zeev!” chant shortly after his selection.

“It just felt so special,” Buium said. “To hug my mom and my dad, they made so many sacrifices for my brothers and I. Then to hug my two brothers, who mentored me this entire time, it feels even better.

“It’s a moment I can’t fully explain, but it was awesome.”

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A year ago, Buium was the top recruit in the University of Denver’s incoming freshman class, but he arrived with a fraction of the hype of players like Macklin Celebrini at Boston University and the trio of Will Smith, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault at Boston College.

Now, as Buium prepares for the NHL draft combine next week in Buffalo, N.Y., he is considered one of the top players in the 2024 class and should be one of the first 10 players selected next month in Las Vegas.

“It’s been an unbelievable year. I couldn’t have written it up any better,” Buium said. “It was such a unique year. Something I’ll never forget. I’ve looked back a little bit now just because everything’s kind of calmed down and I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. Hopefully, when I’m 30 or 40 (years old), I can look back and finally understand how special it was.”

Buium was considered a potential first-round pick when his freshman season began with the Pioneers. He was a top defenseman at the United States National Team Development Program, and he is the younger brother of a quality prospect.

As his freshman season progressed, everything changed. He became not only one of the best first-year defensemen in college hockey, but one of the best regardless of age.

Buium helped the United States win gold at the IIHF U-20 world junior championship. He helped the Pios claim an NCAA-record 10th national championship, beating both BU and BC at the Frozen Four in the process.

“He had as dominant of a freshman year as you can have in college hockey,” DU coach David Carle said. “Really proud of him and all the things that he was able to accomplish — the winning, the team play.

“His play has shown that he’s deserving of being drafted as high as he will be. I don’t think there’s a player in the draft that impacts the game shift-to-shift like he does, with how much he’s on the ice. And when I say anyone in the draft, I mean everyone in the draft. … We think really highly of him and whatever team ends up drafting him is getting a great person first and an excellent hockey player.”

Buium had 11 goals and 50 points in 42 games for the Pioneers. The San Diego native had three goals and five points in seven games for the U.S. team at the WJC, despite seeing very little time on the power play.

He has the chance to be the highest selection in the NHL draft to have played for DU. The Pioneers have had four first-round picks in school history. Craig Redmond, who played for the Pios in 1982-83, was the No. 6 pick in the 1984 draft. Henrik Borgstrom, who was the most recent first-round pick to play for the Pios, went at No. 23 in 2016.

Shai Buium was the No. 36 pick by Detroit in the 2021 draft. Zeev said he has tried to avoid looking at where he’s been ranked or where mock drafts say he might go, but he is very likely to be selected before where his older brother was three years ago.

“We are definitely competitive with each other. If that happens, I’ll definitely give him some (grief)” the younger Buium said. “He’s been the biggest help and I’ve leaned on him a lot for sure. He’s just told me to be yourself. Don’t be anything different, because you want a team to take you for who you are.”

While he might have begun the 2023-24 season as a fringe first-round pick, a lot has changed. Both Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked Buium in the top five of the 2024 draft prospects in their most recent updates. Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis placed Buium at No. 6 earlier this month. ESPN’s Rachel Doerrie has him at No. 7.

Regardless of where he’s drafted, Buium confirmed Thursday that he is, as of now, planning to return to Denver for his sophomore season. That has become the typical development path for the top NCAA defensemen.

Cale Makar, Jake Sanderson, Owen Power, and both Quinn and Luke Hughes have all been drafted in the top seven since 2017, and all of them played two seasons of college hockey before turning pro.

“I don’t think that would hurt me at all,” Buium said. “I’m a young kid. I love this place a lot, too. We want to defend our title as well. I think that’s a challenge I want to attack. You never really know what can happen with the draft. We’ll decide after the draft, but for me right now my feet are here.”

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The University of Denver coach, fresh off a second national championship in three seasons, revealed Thursday that he did interview for one of the many NHL openings this offseason. But it wasn’t the one that people think.

“I did talk to a team. It was probably three or four weeks ago,” Carle said. “That’s the only team I feel I interviewed with. It was not the team that the report was out on that we saw earlier this week. The team I did interview with, we went through a good process and I ultimately bowed out.”

ESPN reported New Jersey spoke to Carle about its opening, which the Devils filled last week with former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. Six NHL teams have hired a new coach since the end of the regular season, plus two clubs have removed the interim tag after a midseason firing.

Carle did not reveal which team he interviewed with, but did confirm that he spoke with another NHL team two years ago as well. He alluded to the ESPN report as a bit of a misunderstanding. He did have a conversation with the Devils, but it did not feel like an official interview to him.

“I talk to GMs regularly about players on our team and not every conversation is an interview,” Carle said. “Did we talk about my plans and my future? Yeah, we did a little bit, but I don’t think it was an interview or should it be taken that way.”

Carle noted the lack of stability among NHL head coaches as one reason he’s not itching to make that jump. Twenty of the 32 NHL teams have changed coaches since January 2023. Only four, including Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, have been at their post since before February 2022.

That’s not the only reason Carle remains in Denver. He knows the job he has now is a pretty good one.

“I love being here,” Carle said. “We have all the resources to be able to continue our success. We have great alignment, from our board to our chancellor to our athletic director. We’re very well taken care of. I view this as a top-five job in all of North America when it comes to hockey. I’m not in a rush to leave here.”

Carle has already amassed an impressive resume before his 35th birthday in November. He has led the Pios to the Frozen Four three times in six seasons since taking over for Jim Montgomery.

His .690 winning percentage in the regular season is the best among active NCAA coaches and sixth all-time. It’s better than Montgomery’s and George Gwozdecky’s during their time at DU. Carle is also 10-2 in NCAA tournament games.

That winning percentage is second all-time to an NCAA legend, Herb Brooks, who was 8-1.

“For me personally, I think he’s going to be one of the best coaches of all time,” DU freshman defenseman Zeev Buium said. “He’s so smart and he’s so young and he still has so much experience. To see what he’s doing and how he handles all of us and the way he coaches, it’s a very special and unique coach. He’s the best coach I’ve ever had and I’d play for him for years if I could.”

The Pioneers will lose several key contributors from this title team, but Buium said Thursday he is leaning toward returning. That would give DU one of the best defensemen and one of the best forwards in the country because Jack Divine decided to return for his senior season.

The Pios are also welcoming a pair of potential impact players via the transfer portal. Samu Salminen and Eric Pohlkamp are both NHL draft picks who had productive seasons elsewhere in 2023-24.

The transfer portal and name, image and likeness have transformed college sports, and the rules for team-building and roster management will likely demand more adaptation in the near future.

“We’re trying to be forward thinking and progressive on what we need to do to make sure that we’re staying competitive in the marketplace and continuing to attract not only the best players, but the best people,” Carle said. “… Are there other places that spend more money and have more bells and whistles than we do? There certainly is, but we need to make sure that we’re continuing to drive it forward.

“We don’t intend on going anywhere from our place as being the best program in college hockey.”

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The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a series of DU hockey bobbleheads on Friday to commemorate the Pioneers’ record 10th NCAA national championship.

Each of the three limited edition bobbleheads, which are now on presale and are expected to ship this fall, will be capped at 2,024 sales. Two of the bobbleheads are a generic hockey player in the Pioneers’ red and white jerseys, while the third is a “BobbleLogo” that features the official national championship logo on a hockey puck base.

The two traditional bobbleheads are $35 and the “BobbleLogo” is $30, while all three can be bought for $90. They are available for purchase at the Bobblehead Hall’s website.

DU surpassed Michigan with its 10th title by beating Boston College 2-0 in the national championship on April 13 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Before that, the Pioneers defeated UMass, Cornell and Boston University in the NCAA Tournament, and also won the NCHC Frozen Faceoff en route to finishing the year 32-9-3.

The title win improved DU to 10-3 in championship appearances, while goalie Matt Davis was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after allowing three goals in four games and posting a 35-save shutout against Boston College.

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Rizzo inked a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, while Buium agreed to a three-year pact with the Detroit Red Wings that starts in the 2024-25 season, the teams announced on Wednesday,

Rizzo, 22, was the Pioneers’ No. 3 scorer this past season with 44 points (10 goals, 34 assists) and finished his DU career with 126 points (39 goals, 87 assists) over 107 games as the 102nd member of DU’s 100-point club.

The Burnaby, British Columbia, native was originally selected by Carolina in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL draft, but had his rights traded to the Flyers last year. Sidelined by injury for 14 games toward the end of this past season, the junior forward rejoined the Pios in time to play in the Frozen Four and secure his second national title.

Buium, 21, appeared in all but one of the Pios’ 44 games this season, putting up career highs in goals (7), assists (29) and points (36). Picked 36th overall by the Red Wings the summer before his freshman year in 2021, the San Diego native tallied 75 points (14 goals, 61 assists) in 120 games for DU. Like Rizzo, he leaves Denver with a pair of championship rings.

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“Absolutely,” Pios goaltender Matt Davis said Monday night inside the bowels of Magness Arena, home of the best college hockey program that ever lived. “I mean, (we got) three (championships) in seven (NCAA tournaments).

“Guys might as well get four in eight.”

No program — not Michigan, not North Dakota, not Wisconsin — got to 10 NCAA titles before DU. No school had won three within a seven-year span since BC from 2008-2012. And no team has nabbed four titles over a decade’s worth of Frozen Fours since the Wolverines did it all the way back in the late 1950s.

“I feel like it’s just the guys that we get in Denver,” Davis, the cat-quick and affable Alberta native confided before he celebrated DU’s 10th championship at Magness.

“We just recruit winners. And anyone that comes here knows what the goal is: You want to win a national championship. And yeah, I mean, that’s why you come here.”

You come for gold banners, the nine that stood watch Monday as DU captain McKade Webster stepped to the microphone with cool shades and a puckish grin.

“I’ll start us out,” Webster said. “How about Matty Davis?”

Matty smiled at that one.

The crowd went nuts.

“MAT-TY!”

“MAT-TY!”

Matty stood. On his own two feet instead of his head, this time.

By the way, have the Avs called yet?

“Georgie is awesome,” Davis said of beleaguered Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. “He’s a great goalie. But, yeah — (the NHL is) not something I’m too focused on right now. I’m just focused on these guys and hanging out.”

Who’s the most famous person to reach out in the last 35-40 hours?

A pause.

“I’m not really sure,” Davis said. “I mean, it might be my cousin. He’s an NBA player.”

He is?

“Dillon Brooks,” Davis said.

You tell him you’re the most famous athlete in the family right now?

“Oh, I’m not, not at all,” he chortled. “Not even close.”

He is in John Scavarda’s house. Few in crimson and gold have hung for this one longer than John, DU Class of ’55, now 90 years young and living out in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

I’d reached out to him late Saturday afternoon, shortly after Rieger Lorenz put the Pios up 2-0 on Boston College, so confident was I that Davis was well on his way to a shutout.

His wife picked up and handed him the phone. He promptly but politely shooed me away, given that the NCAA championship still technically hung in the balance.

“We’ve got more than a period left,” John huffed. I laughed.

Scavarda was in a more celebratory mood Monday morning.

“Oh God,” he cackled. “I never thought I’d live long enough to see them win another one.”

Scavarda’s a treasure. He can see a hundy over the hill. His hearing comes and goes. But the man’s as sharp as a skate blade. John served as DU’s manager from 1951-55, just two years after the program launched under Vern Turner. Which means he also served as de facto team trainer and occasional traveling secretary.

“By today’s standards, we would not be a Division I (program),” he recalled. “We had 16 scholarships, one coach and no trainers. I was everything for the first four years there. I did the taping.”

The Pios had a doctor at home games in those days. For road trips, though, Scavarda was basically it.

“I had to go over to the home (bench) and ask them to help us if somebody got hurt,” he recalled. “(Coach) Neil Celley was a nice guy, but he wouldn’t spend money.”

DU’s sweaters were so dicey in those days, John said, he got together with a friend in the art department at DU to help design new sweaters.

“We didn’t buy new equipment,” Scavarda said. “They opened an account for me with a shoe shop and I went down there and they dry-cleaned everything. Oh God, it was fun.”

DU skates in a different tax bracket now. Matty Ice handed me his ’22 championship ring Monday, a dazzling beast with 70 stones and the word “PIOS” lasered into the band. It felt like a bejeweled paperweight or a stone ripped from the knuckle of Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet.

“For the past 75 years, I think this community has supported us at an unbelievable level,” DU coach David Carle said before the celebration. “And we’re so thrilled for them to be the first to 10, and to be able to celebrate that here.”

Scavarda has seen a heck of a lot in nine decades. He plans on living long enough to see another title run for his alma mater, too. Just as long as the administration can keep Carle, who led Team USA to gold at the World Juniors this past January, in crimson and gold.

“I just couldn’t believe what I saw (in St. Paul),” John said. “I hope to (heck) the coach stays a few more years, because I think the NHL will come after him.”

Ten was pure zen.

Eleven would be heaven.

DU-nasty, baby.

“Are you allowed to talk about the ‘D’ word?” I asked Carle, who’s signed through the ’26-27 season.

“What’s the ‘D word?'” he replied.

“Dynasty,” I said.

“Oh, yeah. I don’t know,” the straight-laced coach said with one of those measured, Carle semi-grins. “I’ll let you guys use those (words).

“But I can tell you we’ll still be hungry for more next year. And maybe we can start using it.”

Maybe?

“That’ll be the first (goal) that’s set come summertime,” Davis cracked. “Yeah, Coach does say (dynasty).”

Davis already has pucks in his glove and stars in his eyes. We ain’t seen fire rainin’ in the sky like this for a long, long, long time.

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The Pioneers, who are coming off an NCAA-record 10th national championship, and the Gophers are among the top programs in college hockey. The two teams have combined for 15 national titles and 42 Frozen Four appearances. In 2023-24, they had a total of 25 NHL Draft picks on their rosters.

This will be the fourth time DU has been involved in the Hall of Fame Game. The Pios hosted it twice at Magness Arena and played Minnesota in the contest at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., back in 2004. It’ll be DU’s second-ever game at Ball Arena, following a tilt against Colorado College in 2023.

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Doors open at 6 p.m., with the first 1,500 to arrive receiving a commemorative championship poster. The celebration starts at 6:30 p.m.

Fans will get a chance to have their picture taken with DU’s trophies from the 2023-24 season, and there will also be an opportunity to get autographs from the team.

DU beat Boston College, 2-0, on Saturday to win the program’s 10th national championship, surpassing Michigan for the most in college hockey history. It was the Pioneers’ second national title in three seasons.

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There was Ryan Leonard, the eighth pick in the 2023 NHL draft who had 31 goals as a freshman and might score hundreds more in the NHL. There was the puck coming to him. And there was King, with the best view in Xcel Energy Center of the wide-open net.

Then Matt Davis dove into his view.

“That was the best save I have ever seen in my entire life,” King said Saturday night, shortly after the University of Denver defeated Leonard’s Boston College Eagles, 2-0, in the 2024 NCAA championship game.

Davis saw the puck to his left, before BC’s Gabe Perreault sent it across to his right with Leonard waiting. Will Smith, the third member of the Eagles’ incredible trio of future NHL stars, started the play.

His first thought?

“Uh oh,” he said.

Here was the moment that the No. 1-ranked Eagles began their comeback. Those three freshmen were about to create more magic, just as they have together for their country in international play and across what will likely be their lone NCAA season.

Davis denied them. The score remained 2-0.

Matt Davis makes a diving glove save for Denver and @Buccigross loses his mind pic.twitter.com/yoV81UTwGj

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 13, 2024

Massimo Rizzo turned to his roommate Aiden Thompson and offered a simple observation.

“We are winning this game,” Rizzo said, per Thompson.

Sean Behrens couldn’t believe it. He looked to the big screen on the scoreboard, watched the replay and still couldn’t believe it.

It was a signature moment, the type of save that will be featured on highlight reels in Denver and at every future Frozen Four for as long as people play this sport. It was also an exclamation point for Davis, who just authored one of the greatest postseason runs in college hockey history.

This was not a great defensive team for much of the season. When people pondered if the Pioneers, who have been ranked high for much of the year and entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 3 overall seed, could actually claim a record 10th championship, the discourse often turned to uncertainty in net.

“We all knew about our goalie,” Thompson said. “He’s a stud. He showed it in these games, but we knew it from the beginning. He’s a great player. He just showed the world this weekend.”

The entirety of the postseason run was remarkable. Davis went 8-0. He stopped 219 of 229 shots for a .956 save percentage.

He got better as the NCAA Tournament began. Four wins, three goals allowed.

Davis went to a different level at the Frozen Four. He faced two of the four best offenses in the country this season. They combined for 69 shots. He made 68 saves, including 23 of his 35 against the Eagles in the third period.

“He got hot down the stretch, but the performance he put on two days ago and tonight … I’ve never seen anything like it,” King said.

The first great chance for Boston University came on a breakaway for Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey Baker Award and will be the No. 1 pick at the 2024 NHL draft. Davis stoned him.

Boston College’s first great chance was a shot off the post, but the Eagles’ first shot on goal was a breakaway for Smith, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks. Smith scored 80 seconds into the semifinal against Michigan, a game the Eagles won 4-0.

Davis stoned him, too. Toss in The Save on Leonard, and there will be stories told about this weekend in the Davis family and among Pioneers alums for generations to come.

“Superhuman,” DU coach David Carle offered. “It’s incredible what he did. A lot of big-time saves in those games. It’s not like we weren’t giving up any chances. Did we get better defensively? Yes. Did we get more predictable? Yes. But there’s many moments in all these games that he could have cracked and he didn’t.”

This was Davis’ first season as the No. 1 goalie for the Pios. He missed two months in the middle of the season with an injury.

This season ended with Davis as the Most Outstanding Player at the Frozen Four. The chances of him ever paying for a meal or a beverage at Stadium Inn or The Pioneer Bar are about the same as Boston College’s shooting percentage in the title game.

“It just makes me think of everyone who has come here before us,” said Davis, who gave multiple shoutouts to his goalie coach, Ryan Massa, and his sports psychologist Stephen Gonzalez, after the game. “Our alumni group is awesome. It’s a lot of unbelievable people who have given a lot to this program. I’m so proud and happy to honor them like this.

“I mean, we had a lot of valleys this year, that’s for sure. But man it feels good to be on the summit.”

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Read the full story here: A perfect 10 – Matt Davis, DU Pioneers shut down No. 1-ranked Boston College to claim record 10th NCAA title