Josh Berlo knows more than most about how to celebrate a college hockey program’s national championship success, and he’s at a university that knows what that’s like better than anyone else.
The current Denver and former Minnesota Duluth athletic director has had a hand in celebrating four men’s Frozen Four titles. Denver’s ninth in program history came in 2022, a couple months before Berlo arrived in the Colorado capital, and after the Pioneers won again last season, Berlo and DU’s athletic administration quickly started thinking about how they would mark the Pioneers becoming the first NCAA Division I men’s hockey team to reach double figures.
The 10th national championship banner was raised into the Magness Arena rafters Saturday, ahead of Denver’s second 5-2 win over Northeastern in as many nights. After Pioneers captain Carter King took a pregame lap around the rink with the trophy his team won April 13 in St. Paul, Minn., he scored twice and matched his career-high four points front of a Magness record crowd of 7,051.
Berlo credited Angel Field, Denver’s senior associate AD for external operations and service, for leading coordination efforts for Saturday’s ceremony, which capped the university’s week-long homecoming festivities.
“We had gotten back from the Frozen Four, we had a celebration for our fans who couldn’t be there, and the team immediately started preparing to celebrate the 10th championship in the classiest and the most celebratory way possible,” Berlo said.
“I made some remarks about the totality of the achievement and the significance of it as something that goes back 75 years with four different coaches winning championships here across generations of athletes, and we had a really energetic recap of the last game, and a lot of people’s Apple watches were vibrating with alerts based on the noise level of Magness Arena. It was a cool and special moment, and I appreciate the contributions of all our staff that put that together.”
And of course, Saturday’s celebrations weren’t only special to those working at, or playing for, the university.
“It’s critical to have the fans be a part of it, and many of our attendees have been generational season-ticket holders, and there’s also the student body with their classmates on the hockey team,” Berlo said. “This was about engaging the people that are part of our community that get behind the program and power it to do something special.
“Our objective was to make this a very inclusive event for all who have contributed to this success, and celebrate their role in it, whether it’s somebody who likes wearing a Denver hoodie, or if it’s the staff or the student-athletes themselves and the leadership of their program.”
DU officials had taken notes from recent celebrations six miles down the road for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. Between that and what Berlo saw following Minnesota Duluth’s titles in 2018 and 2019, there wasn’t much mystery as to how Saturday’s ceremony would go.
“There’s certainly a playbook that we use on how to celebrate these things,” Berlo said. “Doing it pregame, having a video introduction, those elements are key in making sure you engage as much of the student body as possible, and you don’t want to dedicate a milestone when perhaps the students are on a holiday break or something of that nature, and we look at what other folks do.
“We raised the banner out of a box and had a smoke machine and prominently had the banner on one of the end lines and then moved it to the side where it hangs with the other nine. We played to the pageantry of the moment, and we’re certainly always looking to make it more exciting, but I think we nailed this one from the feedback I got.”
Scaled-down versions of the 2024 national championship banner were also handed out to fans in attendance Saturday. Berlo doesn’t have one of those, but he’s fine with that.
“I get to walk out of my office every day and see the real one,” he said. “That’s good enough.”
