INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE   Updated: April 12, 2026     When the clock hit all zeroes in Las Vegas Saturday night, gloves flew, the Denver Pioneers rushed off the bench and joined the mob on the ice, and David Carle congratulated and embraced his staff. The Pioneers had just won the program's 11th NCAA title with a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin in the Frozen Four championship game, and it kept alive the intriguing celebratory possibility of the Avalanche and Pioneers pulling off a second NHL and NCAA sweep in five seasons for Colorado hockey in 2026.     Meanwhile, back in Denver, the Avs were, well, playing out the string as they were about to face the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena. After their 3-2 overtime loss to the Knights, they had three more relatively meaningless regular-season games remaining after having already clinchd the Presidents' Trophy, the No. 1 Western Conference playoff seed and home ice through the postseason.   Carle and Avalanche coach Jared Bednar have been part of pulling off that off before, in 2022, when the Avs beat Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Finals and DU routed Minnesota State 5-1 in the Frozen Four championship game. The current tally: Since Carle succeeded Jim Montgomery at DU, the Pioneers now have won three Frozen Four championships -- 2022, then again in 2024 and 2026.   Both coaches have intriguing bave intriguing backgrounds, and I've told their stories.  The links are below. First, a bit of setup.    My piece on Bednar ran in the Denver Post as the Avs were about to open their first training camp under the new coach in 2016. Yes, it has been that long ago. Bednar  is second to the Lightning's Jon Cooper in NHL head-coaching security in their current jobs. The Avalanche has been patient enough to avoid the temptation of firing Bednar in the bump-in-the-road circumstances thatr routinely trigger coaching changes and recycling in the NHL. That especially was the case in his first season, when the Avalanche was historically awful, with on.y 48 points despite scraping the salary-cap ceiling. And there have been perhaps four times when the conventional NHL witlessness called for saying it was time for a change from Bednar to the next voice.   My story on Carle was in Mile High Sports Magazine as MHS announced its choice of Carle as Colorado's 2022 College Coach of the Year. Now that he a third NCAA championship on his coaching resume, he like;ly again will be "mentioned" as a possibility for NHL jobs. But this is a still-young (36) coaching veteran who is under contract at DU and has both noticed and understands the lack of respect the NHL shows its coaches. There might be a time when he pronounces himself ready for another challenge, to work at the NHL level -- a level he wasn't able to shoot for as a player because of the medical circumstances I describe in the profile below. But that will be down the road.             Theese are older stories, but they remain among the definitive profiles on the two coaches. Click on each name to read them.   Jared Bednar: Paying his dues ... and then some.    David Carle: Making  the most of a horrible break