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CINCINNATI — The NCAA Tournament top-seeded Denver Pioneers went through an hour-long practice here Friday at U.S. Bank Arena to prepare for Saturday’s Midwest Regional hockey opener against Michigan Tech. At DU’s ensuing news conference, the Pioneers were not entertaining any thought that this game is the biggest mismatch in the 16-team field.

“They’re an excellent team,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said of the Huskies (24-11-2), who would not have qualified for the tournament without using their automatic bid as Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff champions. “They don’t give up odd-man rushes. They have great structure and are really well-coached by Mel Pearson.”

Denver (29-7-1) needs to go 2-0 in Cincinnati to make a return trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, which is at the United Center in Chicago April 6-8. If the Pioneers get past Michigan Tech, they will face the winner of regional No. 2 seed Union (25-9-3) vs 聽No. 3 Penn State (24-11-2) on Sunday in the regional final.

Montgomery noted that Michigan Tech will undoubtedly try to defend by having more bodies closer to freshman goalie Angus Redmond. Blocking shots and keeping it a low-scoring affair is the Huskies’ best chance to pull off an upset.

DU, meanwhile, wants to keep the tempo high.

“We went to play the game at our pace and play to our strengths,” Montgomery said. “If we do that, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to have success by having a lot of puck-possession time and spending a lot of time in their end.”

Denver’s top three scorers are underclassmen: freshman Henrik Borgstrom (21 goals, 38 points) and sophomores Dylan Gambrell (26 assists, 37 points) and Troy Terry (19 goals, 36 points). The trio did not play well in last week’s 1-0 loss to North Dakota at the National Collegiate Hockey Conference semifinals in Minneapolis. But Montgomery is confident in his three young forwards.

“We’re talking about guys who have played in big-time tournaments and the sophomores were part of what we did last year — Terry and Gambrell were incredible at regionals,” Montgomery said. “And I think the experience from last weekend against North Dakota, for our entire team but also our top-end forwards, it was a slap in the face and it was like, ‘OK, life is not going to be easy all the time.’ I continue to believe that loss was good for us.”