The Ties That Bind
By Jordyn Reiland | Web design by Erin Bannon
A Sit-Down With Coach David Carle
You could say championships—specifically, DU hockey championships—run in the Carle family.
Between David and his brother Matt, who played on the Pioneers’ 2004 and 2005 championship teams, the Carles have been a part of five of the hockey team’s 10 national titles.
Coach Carle has been with Denver hockey in some capacity from the day he first stepped foot on campus back in 2008. He has built an impressive resume as head coach over the last six seasons: two national championships, this year’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship, two Penrose Cups (for winning the NCHC regular-season championship) and three Frozen Four berths. He also led the U.S. to gold at the 2024 World Junior Championship back in January.
Carle was an assistant coach for the Pioneers for four and a half seasons under Jim Montgomery (including when they won the 2017 championship). Before that, he served as a student assistant coach, after his playing career was cut short due to a medical issue.
While each winning moment has been special in its own way, the historic feat of being the first college hockey team to reach 10 national titles has only strengthened the unbreakable tie that links Carle to DU’s program. As a quote on the wall in the locker room from legendary DU hockey head coach Murray Armstrong says, “A championship is something that no one can ever take away from you.”
“It’s been a huge honor to be the head coach of Denver with how much history our family has with the program and what the school has done for me,” Carle says.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Carle shared how DU has played an integral role in his story, the ways in which he has seen hockey change over time, the uniqueness of good-natured sibling rivalries, his advice to young athletes and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
On being a DU student and growing up in Alaska:
I majored in finance and did a minor in economics, so I spent a lot of time at Daniels (College of Business).
My family owns and operates KFC restaurants in Alaska, so business and real estate were always talked about at the dining room table at our house. My brother studied real estate construction management (at DU). My mom worked at the (KFC) stores, and my dad bought the restaurants from my uncle in the 1990s—it’s where they met—so we grew up working in the commissary and in the stores. Without the Colonel (Sanders), we wouldn’t be anywhere.
I loved (Daniels) professor Andrew Sherbo; he teaches some of our guys still today. I see him at Pete’s Cafe every once in a while—we’d go there a lot.
On his favorite DU tradition:
My favorite one probably would be the campout night (when students camp out for a chance to get free season tickets). I'm always so impressed by the kids who just tough it out through the night—they're sleeping on concrete.
On what the coaching staff looks for when recruiting and how it translates to DU hockey culture more broadly:
It’s a fine line—all of our players want to develop, they want to get better, and they also want to sign NHL contracts. That’s certainly always a part of the conversation, but when that's the lead, that to us is a red flag.
We believe that winning helps develop people and players, and learning how to play on big stages and perform under pressure when the lights are the brightest is really important to a player and a person’s development, first and foremost.
We’re trying to help people here, so when we see traits of selfishness in the recruiting process, that kind of raises an alarm for us. It doesn’t mean they’re not going to be good players, that they’re not going to play in the NHL or even win in college, but we've seen what works here and what doesn’t, and I think our job, especially now as we've won, is to be really protective of how we did that and to keep it moving forward.
One of the studies we've done is to look at how long it takes for a team to win a championship and then not make it to the NCAA tournament. On average, it's two and a half to three years; it’s a pretty short window. I think sometimes when you win, you can take the eye off the ball of what allowed you to be successful.
On the feeling of stepping into Magness for the first time as head coach:
I think by then I was kind of settled with it. I think the most nervousness I felt was when I accepted the job. All of the interviews were conducted in Chicago at the O’Hare Hilton, and I remember getting on the plane and thinking, ‘This is going to be a lot different.’
You have to almost convince yourself that you're ready for it, but when you finally actually get the job, it's a lot different—the challenges are the same, but now more eyeballs are on you. That was probably when I felt the most anxious, the first few weeks afterward, addressing the media and addressing the team.
Once you get on the bench, it becomes hockey again, and it's normal, and your instincts and all the knowledge you have take over.
It’s been a huge honor to be the head coach of Denver with how much history our family has with the program and what the school has done for me.
On being forever tied to the 10th national championship:
I’ve always felt indebted to the university for honoring my scholarship and keeping me through the heartache that I had, and that’s how I viewed it. So, I’ve never had an ego in the matter; it’s just been about trying to repay that. I think number nine helped do that, eight helped do that, but getting the 10th one and having the program be the first to 10, I’m so proud that we were able to do it—and that I was able to personally repay the debt.
We've heard from people who played in the ’60s about how cool it is to see the level of dominance over the last 20 years that they also experienced in their era. We’ve certainly had great teams and players come through, but to get back to the championship years, I think that's what's cool. Many of those guys on the ’68-’69 teams are still around, and they get the opportunity to see Denver back at the height of its power.
On (team captain) McKade Webster and his sister Makenna Webster, who plays hockey for Ohio State, both winning a national championship this year—and what it’s like playing in the same sport as a sibling:
Yeah, it was really cool. Obviously, my brother Matt played here, and we have a little brother that played up at Merrimack. You’re always keeping tabs on each other, so to see McKade and Makenna have that experience, for their parents, it’s unbelievable. You couldn't dream of that. I'm so happy for their parents, who are great people, to see them celebrating together, it was amazing.
And the Buium brothers (junior Shai and freshman Zeev), too—they played together. That's something that me and my brothers were never able to do, because of our age gap and then my retirement.
My dad would always say that your brothers are the people that you’ll know the longest in your life. That's the person you're going to know the longest, you don't meet your wife or your spouse until later in life. Your sibling, that's your person. So, for them to share that is so cool.
On highlights from Carle’s first year coaching the men’s national junior hockey team:
I believe we live in the greatest country in the world, so to be able to represent the United States was a huge honor —and to represent my community in Anchorage, Alaska. On the roster, everybody puts their hometown and, at the end of the day, we're all American, but we all have our own communities that we come from, and so being able to represent that was really cool.
What stands out is being able to do it with Zeev and Nick Meldrum (DU’s equipment manager), Travis Culhane (DU’s director of hockey operations) and Steve Miller, who helped recruit me to Denver (now associate head coach at Minnesota)—who would have dreamt that 12-15 years ago?
On Carle’s advice to young athletes:
Stay in the moment and just be two feet into where you're at. I think a lot of times in today's world, we get a little bit wrapped up about what's around the next corner—but what’s around the next corner is dictated by what you're doing today, and that's what's in your control currently, so I think that's critical.
When kids commit to Denver, we tell them, ‘Don't worry about Denver, we'll be fine. We have lots of good players here right now. You need to focus on trying to win a championship in Waterloo or Muskegon or Tri City or Fargo (or wherever they’re from)—that's going to be the best way for you to develop as a person and as a player, and when you're here, we're going to ask the same thing. There’s a time to think about your NHL contract, we'll carve out time for that, but you need to be invested two feet into your time here because that's how you're going to get the most out of yourself.’
On how the sport of hockey has changed:
The college game continues to grow. In the last few drafts, in the top five, there's been three or four college guys picked. That was nonexistent 12 years ago. We’re going to have another one where (Macklin) Celebrini, (Artyom) Levshunov and (Zeev) Buium are all going to go probably in the top five—from BU, Michigan State and Denver.
Certainly, we've been at the forefront of trying to continue to progress the game and adapt the college game and make it better from a marketing perspective—so that we can have players being talked about in the light that Caitlin Clark is. I think we're a few years away from that, but we're working on it.
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