3rd Annual DU Veterans Ball

David Carle

Head Hockey Coach

University of Denver

The ninth head coach in program history, Carle has led the Pioneers to the 2022 and 2024 NCAA National Championships, four Frozen Four berths and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in each full season (five total).  Denver’s national championship victory in 2024 was the program’s 10th in its 75-year history and set the NCAA record for the most-ever by a college hockey team.

 

At the time of his hire at DU, Carle was youngest head coach in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey at age 28.  He became the fourth-youngest coach in history to win a D-I national title in 2022 (32 years, 5 months, 0 days) and is the youngest ever to win two national championships following the Pioneers’ victory in 2024 (34 years, 5 months, 4 days).  He is the 20th coach in NCAA history to win multiple national championships and the first to do so since Scott Sandelin of Minnesota Duluth (2011, 2018, 2019).

 

In his seven years at the helm of the program, Carle has led Denver to a 179-74-17 overall record and an 83-49-11 mark in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play. His .694 winning percentage is presently the highest all-time among Denver hockey coaches, and Carle’s 179 victories entering 2024-26 are three shy of tying Ralph Backstrom (182) for third place on the program’s all-time list.

 

The Pioneers began 2024-25 with the best start in program history with wins in each of their first 12 games, breaking the record that was previously held by the 2001-02 squad (9-0-0). The 12 wins to start the season were the most by a defending national champion since 2000 and were more than double the previous best start by a reigning champ in that time (North Dakota in 2016-17 and Union in 2014-15 both won their first five contests). The season-opening stretch was part of an overall 21-game winning streak by the program that dated back to March 9, 2024 and went through Nov. 16, 2024, which was the longest across multiple seasons in school history. Overall, the 21-straight wins fell one shy of tying the longest overall winning streak in the program record book (22, Jan. 5-March 16, 1968).

 

Carle, 35, coached in his 250th career contest on Jan. 25, 2025 at Minnesota Duluth, and his.696 winning percentage through his first 250 games (166-68-16) was the second-best mark among all DU coaches behind only Armstrong’s .728. Carle was also at the helm of Denver becoming just the sixth program to reach 1,600 wins on Nov. 2, 2024 at Yale and the team skating in its 2,800th game on March 14, 2025 against Colorado College.

 

Carle led the United States National Junior Team for the second-straight year in 2024-25 and helped the Americans to another gold medal at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in January in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was the first time that Team USA had won consecutive World Junior Championships and marked the seventh title in the country’s history. Carle is the only U.S. coach to win multiple World Juniors and is the third NCHC head coach to lead the Americans to gold at the tournament, joining former St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko (2017) and North Dakota and Omaha coach Dean Blais (2010 w/Omaha).

 

He was just the second Denver bench boss to lead the U.S. World Junior squad, joining Marshall Johnston in 1977.  In his debut behind the bench for USA Hockey in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2024, the United States defeated the host nation in the final to capture its sixth gold and came 20 years to the day of the country’s first championship at the under-20 tournament (Jan. 5, 2004).

 

During the 2023-24 campaign where the program won its NCAA-record 10th national championship, the Pioneers also won their third NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship following back-to-back campaigns where they captured the conference’s Penrose Cup as regular-season champions (2021-22, 2022-23).

 

DU went 32-9-3 in 2023-24 and ended the year on a nine-game winning streak and went 20-4-2 in the final 26 outings after the holiday break. The Pioneers were the highest-scoring team in the nation at 4.6 goals per game and became a stingy defensive squad in the postseason as they only allowed three goals against during the NCAA Tournament, including a 2-0 shutout victory in the National Championship Game against Boston College on April 13, 2024.

 

Carle surpassed his predecessor, Jim Montgomery (125), for sole possession of fourth place on the school's all-time wins list on Nov. 25, 2024 and earned his 125th career victory in 13 fewer games than Montgomery. The Alaskan coached in his 200th contest on Dec. 9, 2024 at Western Michigan and picked up his 100th career victory on Dec. 10, 2022 at Minnesota Duluth (160th game). He was the second-fastest to reach the century mark behind Armstrong (125), and his .666 winning percentage at the time (100-47-13) was also the second-best mark among DU coaches in their quest for 100 wins (Armstrong, 100-34-9, .731).

 

Denver recorded its second-straight 30-win campaign in 2022-23 (30-10-0), and the Pios also won their second consecutive Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions after posting a 19-5-0 mark in league play.  It was the first time in program history that the Pioneers won 30 or more games in back-to-back campaigns, while the 19 conference wins were the team’s most since 2009-10 in the WCHA.

 

During the program’s then-record-tying ninth championship season in 2021-22, Carle and the Pioneers sported a 31-9-1 record and won its second-ever Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions with an 18-6-0 mark in conference play.  The program went 17-1-1 at home and 22-1-1 in the state of Colorado during the campaign, which began with the Pioneers winning each of their first eight home contests—the longest streak to begin a season since Magness Arena opened in 1999 and tied for the third-longest in school history.  Overall, DU began the year on a 15-game unbeaten streak at home, the third-longest in program history and the longest since the 1967-68 season.  Carle was named the Coach of the Year by USCHO at the end of the season and was at the helm for the program’s 1,500th victory on Oct. 8, 2021, helping Denver become just the fifth college hockey team to reach the milestone.

 

In his first season as head coach in 2018-19, Carle guided the Pioneers to a 24-12-5 overall record and their 12th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, which included the program’s third berth in the Frozen Four in a span of four seasons (2016, 2017, 2019).

 

Prior to being named head coach, Carle served four and a half seasons as an assistant coach with the Pioneers under Jim Montgomery. He joined the program on Jan. 1, 2014 following a season and a half as an assistant coach with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) with then-head coach Derek Lalonde.  While in Green Bay, Carle assisted the Gamblers to a 37-23-4 record, a second-place finish in the USHL’s Eastern Conference and a franchise-record 15-consecutive wins on home ice.

 

During his tenure as an assistant coach with the Pioneers, Carle helped Denver to a 115-51-23 record, a 66-32-14-8 mark in the NCHC, one NCHC regular-season title (2016-17), two NCHC Frozen Faceoff titles (2014, 201), five NCAA Tournament appearances (2014-2018), two Frozen Four appearances (2016, 2017) and the 2017 National Championship.

 

Carle served four seasons as a student assistant coach with the Pioneers from 2008-2012 after being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the primary disease of the myocardium muscle of the heart, and being forced to retire from his playing career.  Carle graduated from the University of Denver in 2012 with a business administration degree in finance.

 

As a player, Carle was a defenseman at Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Minnesota, where he helped the Sabres capture back-to-back national titles in 2007 and 2008 and was recruited to play at Denver.  A 2008 NHL Draft-eligible prospect, Carle was drafted that year by the Tampa Bay Lightning (seventh round, 203rd overall) despite his diagnoses.