University of Denver head coach David Carle praises Gavin McKenna’s hockey sense: ‘It really separates him’
The Denver Pioneers men’s hockey team have become a staple in the NCAA over the past few years, winning three of the past five Division One titles in 2022, 2024, and 2026.
Led by hockey coach David Carle, the Pioneers have posted a record of 179-74-17 since he took over as head coach in 2018. During that time, Carle has also won two World Championships, leading the United States of America to back-to-back titles during the 2024 and 2025 tournaments.
On Thursday, Carle joined Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and co-host David Pagnotta to discuss his most recent championship, how he’s maintained such a successful program, and what he thinks of projected number one overall draft pick Gavin McKenna.
“Honestly, in our world, it moves fairly quickly. You get 24-to-48 hours to enjoy it, then the portal opens Monday. We’re going through who is going to sign, who isn’t going to sign, and who will be with us. Eric Pohlkamp, Boston Buckberger, and Garrett Brown all signed NHL deals, a couple guys are in the portal, and three guys graduated. You really do have to turn your eye to the future pretty quickly on roster construction for the following year,” Carle said. “You certainly enjoy the night, and the next day, and we had a great celebration when we got back, but the world continues to turn. No one’s waiting for us to stop our celebrations.”
Since the 2020-21 season, Carle’s third year, the Pioneers have rostered a few current NHLers, including Bobby Brink, Zeev Buium, and Carter Mazur. Carle spoke about what it takes to ensure that the Pioneers continue to bring in talent and keep the program running strong.
“Your recruiting pipeline is just so critical. We have a ton of great staff here. Tavis MacMillan really heads up the charge on our recruiting efforts. He’s from Alberta and has a lot of great connections to Western Canada. He worked for the Winnipeg Jets for a number of years as an amateur scout and helped them draft the likes of Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck. Dallas Ferguson worked in the Western Hockey League, and he’s on our staff as well. They know a lot of people, have a lot of great connections within the recruiting pipeline,” Carle said. “That’s the most important thing because our roster turns over so much more than pro. We don’t get to sign guys to eight-year deals, so having those pipelines and eyes to the future is critical for your success. Having won three titles in five years with a lot of different players because of the turnover, to me, really is a testament to the type of people and players that we have the opportunity to bring in.”
“We recruited Gavin a little bit last year. Certainly, watched him a lot in Medicine Hat, and just an ultra-dynamic wizard. His sense to the game, I think, is what really separates him. When you watch him at Penn State, very few players know what they’re going to do with the puck or do on the ice, but Gavin has a sense of knowing what the other nine players are doing,” Carle said. “His ability to read the play, two, three steps ahead as a playmaker and distributor, is almost like when you watch [Nikita] Kucherov on the power play. He knows what he’s doing before he gets the puck, and he makes it look easy. He probably thinks it’s pretty simple, but to us, it’s like, how did he see that? To me, he’s got a lot of humility to own and understand that there’s weaknesses in his game. He’s grown a lot this year as a player playing the college game, and I think that mindset will serve him well when he enters the NHL next year.”