\u201cHe didn\u2019t talk to the coaching staff, he didn\u2019t talk to other players \u2014 he went completely mute the day of the game,\u201d recalled Ryan Papaioannou, who coached Hicks for two seasons on the Bandits. \u201cThe first time I noticed it, we were at a morning skate and I said something to him about a drill, and he just nodded to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater, when he would walk in (the locker room), he\u2019d have to walk by my office to get there. He would just turn and look at me and nod. It took some getting used to for (the coaching staff) but then you watch him work on his craft and you see how he plays, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Great, don\u2019t talk to anybody. We don\u2019t care.’\u201d<\/p>\n
With DU, the freshman has strayed slightly from his muted gameday approach \u2014 he carries a quiet, man-of-few-words confidence instead \u2014 but not much else has changed as Hicks has emerged as the Pioneers\u2019 stalwart between the pipes.\n<\/p>\n
The Kamloops, British Columbia, native<\/a> has been a driving force behind DU\u2019s resurgence after the Pioneers were treading water through the first half of the season. The team\u2019s finishing stretch saw the Pioneers claim the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, then dominate the Loveland Regional<\/a> with a pair of wins over Cornell and Western Michigan by a combined scored of 11-2.\n<\/p>\n Since Hicks took over in net<\/a> for an injured Quentin Miller on Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State, he hasn\u2019t been beaten, with a 14-0-1 record that is the best-ever career start for a DU goalie in the modern statistical era.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t too sure of (my ability to lead DU to another Frozen Four), to be honest,\u201d a ho-hum Hicks said. \u201cI was more focused on my process. Everything has worked out so far, and I think we\u2019re just all very excited for what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n Red-hot Hicks Hicks was the Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Faceoff tournament, capping his play there by stopping a career-high 41 shots in DU\u2019s dramatic double-OT win<\/a> over Minnesota Duluth. Then Hicks followed that up by earning Most Outstanding Player again at the Loveland Regional.\n<\/p>\n Entering next week\u2019s Frozen Four, Hicks leads the country with a 1.125 goals-against average<\/a> as well as a .958 save percentage.\n<\/p>\n This all coming from a guy who, judging by the fact that both Miller and Paxton Geisel got starts in net in 2025-26 before Hicks did, played the first part of the season as the team\u2019s No. 3 goalie.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s continued to elevate his game time and time again,\u201d DU defenseman and senior captain Kent Anderson said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t play a game the first half of the year, but if you came to watch practice or saw him in the gym, you\u2019d think he was the starting goalie \u2026 he was preparing like he was going to be that guy every day.\u201d<\/p>\n That preparation included visualization drills before each game, long before the song \u201cJohnny B. Goode\u201d became an arena anthem during the Pioneers\u2019 run through four Frozen Faceoff home games at Magness Arena, and then again when it blared at Blue Arena in Loveland.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe very moment he was called upon to get put in that game (on Jan. 24), it was clear he was ready,\u201d DU goalie coach Ryan Massa<\/a> said. \u201cHe had a built-in sense of calm \u2014 not nervous, not anxious, making really good, clean saves right out of the gate despite being called upon suddenly after seeing your starting goalie rolling and playing game after game.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no hesitation whatsoever, and he\u2019s never looked back from that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Small stature, big confidence Hicks\u2019 wild success this season is juxtaposed with the fact that he\u2019s the opposite of what hockey\u2019s central casting would tab as a typical dominant goalie.<\/p>\n At 5-foot-10, 157 pounds, if you see Hicks in street clothes, you might mistake him for the equipment manager. He has an artsy side that he leans into off the ice, including playing the guitar (he\u2019s dreamed up a handful of acoustic songs) and painting landscapes of his native British Columbia.\n<\/p>\n But when he puts on the pads, he does it with the intention and fire of a young man raised on the game. Hicks started his hockey journey as a 3-year-old, when his dad, Derek, would shoot on him in the full-size hockey net perched in their living room. By the time he was 11, he was skating so much on the sheet of synthetic ice in the family garage that the ice, which had a lifetime warranty, developed a hole after just over a year.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an all hockey, all the time atmosphere that Johnny grew up in,\u201d Derek Hicks said. \u201cWe\u2019d blast music and play hockey every night in the living room. He couldn\u2019t get enough of it.<\/p>\n \u201cAs he got older, he would skate all day in the garage, and when he came in for breaks, he would be drenched in sweat. He would put his skate guards on, wouldn\u2019t take his pads off, and there\u2019d be John, sitting on the living room couch with all his gear on just taking a little break before he went back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n He was a renowned youth goalie across Western Canada, but around the same time he was skating a hole in that synthetic ice, his size became an issue. Not in Hicks\u2019 eyes, but in the evaluations of coaches.\n<\/p>\n At 14, he went to Delta Hockey Academy,<\/a> a school specifically for hockey players. Because of his smaller size and the coaches\u2019 unfamiliarity with his game, Hicks was placed on the school\u2019s second-level 15U prep team. But one outing that season showed Hicks\u2019 mettle, when the young goalie rose up despite his team being drastically outmatched.\n<\/p>\n Hicks faced 104 shots in a game where his opponents \u201cstopped tallying their shots (in the stat book),\u201d according to his father\u2019s accounting. He allowed just six goals for a 94% save percentage, and turned all of the Delta coaches\u2019 heads in the process.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe was definitely the best goaltender in our program that year, even though he was on our second team,\u201d Delta Hockey Academy president Ian Gallagher said. \u201c(In that game) he proved he has endless compete. He\u2019s got a no-victim mentality. And that game also demonstrated he\u2019s never looked at his size as a disadvantage, because he took every challenge and measured himself against the best every single time he could, even when he was under constant attack that day.\u201d<\/p>\n Hicks has continuously made up for his lack of size with athleticism, positioning, puck control, reads and reaction time.\n<\/p>\n With that toolbox, he proved snap judgments made about his game because of his frame to be a \u201cstigma,\u201d as he called it, with a grin. He did it at Delta, where he emerged as the starter on the school\u2019s top 17U prep team his second year there. He did it for the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL, where he was a two-team MVP. And he did it for the Brooks Bandits, where he went 26-3-0 with a 1.98 goals against average and seven shutouts in 2023-24.\n<\/p>\n And in 2024-25, when he made the jump midway through the season from Brooks to the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League \u2014 which is part of the Canadian Hockey League<\/a>, the country\u2019s top junior circuit \u2014 he continued to excel with a 10-4-1 record and .909 save percentage. When the NCAA decided to permit CHL players to play Division I hockey beginning in 2025,<\/a> it opened the door for Hicks, who was originally committed to Tennessee State, to land on Buchtel Boulevard.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAs an undersized goaltender you have to compensate in other areas, and be very good in those areas,\u201d Massa said. \u201cJohn\u2019s athleticism and his intelligence level and his speed at which he can read and react has allowed him to compensate for that lack of size.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s also a one-save goaltender, which is especially important when you play dynamic, high-powered teams. You have to be a one-and-done goaltender, and you can\u2019t give them opportunities to feed off rebounds and chaos. John has shut teams down this year by taking away those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n 11th on deck? Now, the Pioneers hope Hicks can ride the momentum to a record-extending 11th national title. DU takes on Michigan on April 9<\/a> in the Frozen Four semifinal at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the winner to face either North Dakota or Wisconsin for the national championship two days later.\n<\/p>\n All four teams left feature freshmen goalies, including North Dakota\u2019s Jan \u0160punar, the NCHC\u2019s Goaltender of the Year.<\/a> But DU is counting on Hicks to be the ultimate X-factor in net. In 2025, the Pioneers lost the Frozen Four semifinals 3-2 in double OT to Western Michigan, a year after winning their record 10th national title.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re only halfway home, so we haven\u2019t done anything yet,\u201d DU head coach David Carle said. \u201cI don\u2019t think (this team) is satisfied with just making it to a Frozen Four.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 Hopefully (Hicks) will stay focused, not see what too much of what (the media) is saying about him and stay in his own head and in his own routines\u2026 Our team\u2019s played better in front of him. So it\u2019s all kind of bottled up into a good little recipe, and the job is to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n![\"Western](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TDP-Z-DUHockey-032926-rs023.jpg\")
Western Michigan Broncos forward Liam Valente (23) and Denver Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks (31) shake hands after the game at Blue FCU Arena on Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Loveland, Colo. Denver Pioneers beat the Western Michigan Broncos 6-2 in the NCAA Regional Playoff game. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak\/Special to The Denver Post)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TDP-Z-DUMagnessArena-032126-rs-007.jpg\")
Denver Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks (31) skates to the bench during the second period during a break in play at Magness Arena on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Denver Pioneers played the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 2026 NCHC Frozen Faceoff. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak\/Special to The Denver Post)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TDP-Z-DUHockey-032926-rs017.jpg\")
Denver Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks (31) finds the puck to cover it in the second period at Blue FCU Arena on Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Loveland, Colo. Denver Pioneers played the Western Michigan Broncos in the NCAA Regional Playoff game. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak\/Special to The Denver Post)<\/p>\n