David Carle’s Denver dynasty has another championship.

For the third time in the last five years, the Pioneers are the kings of college hockey.

After winning a double-overtime thriller against No. 1 overall seed Michigan in a national semifinal, DU doubled down and made its trip to Las Vegas count with a 2-1 win over Wisconsin in the national championship game at T-Mobile Arena.

It’s the 11th title in program history — two more than any other program in college hockey — and it came on a weekend where the four programs with the most championships all-time battled it out for the sport’s biggest prize.

The Pios had to take down multiple Big Ten teams with far bigger budgets and boosters to do it, but that made the latest championship all the sweeter for the program that has become the standard in college hockey.

“To me, we’re the thing that everybody wants. You want a smaller school who doesn’t have this behemoth budget and fan base and alumni base to still be able to be successful,” Carle said. “I think we’re the proof of concept that it’s still possible.

“You don’t have to be big in hockey to be good. You have to invest and you have to care and have the right people to do great things. In a sports landscape, in college athletics, I think a place like Denver should really be celebrated.”

There will be plenty of celebrating long into the night in the Entertainment Capital of the World, for sure.

“(Carle) said we have a 1:30 (a.m.) flight back home. That’s a lot of runway for our guys,” Lorenz said with a laugh. “We’ll enjoy our night.”

It looked for a while on Saturday afternoon like DU’s flight back to the Mile High City wouldn’t be a happy one.

Just like on Thursday against Michigan, the Pios were doubled up on shots by Wisconsin and were trailing 1-0 after two periods in the winner-take-all title game.

There wasn’t a ton that changed tactically, but they found their legs and an equalizer through senior Rieger Lorenz, the most experienced player on the ice, after he buried a rebound attempt to tie the game with over 12 minutes remaining.

“Our first 40 (minutes) definitely wasn’t even close to good enough,” Lorenz said. “We needed a big spark there. Glad I could give the guys that little bump.”

It was a boost the team desperately needed after registering a season-low two shots on goal in the first period and failing to generate many chances in the second as well.

“It’s a 60-minute game for a reason,” Carle said. “These guys, we saved our best period for last. We found a way to make one more play.”

That one extra, championship-winning play came from freshman Kyle Chyzowski, who capped his excellent postseason with the game-winning goal with under six minutes left as he barely tipped a shot by defenseman Boston Buckberger past stellar Badgers goaltender Daniel Hauser.

But DU got a better performance from its freshman netminder as Johnny Hicks completed an unbeaten freshman season by stopping 29 shots against the Badgers, earning Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player honors for his effort across the two games in Las Vegas.

The Kamploops, British Columbia, native took over for an injured Quentin Miller early in a game against St. Cloud State on Jan. 24 and the Pios haven’t lost since, riding the momentum from the stellar play by their 5-foot-10 goaltender to a title.

“We all believe in Johnny, but none of us knew Johnny would do what Johnny did over the last 16, 17 games,” Carle said. “It was that spark of urgency the group needed. Won the game (against St. Cloud State) 6-0 (and) we didn’t lose after that.”

It’s the third national championship for the Pios since Carle took over as head coach less than a decade ago, and even though rumors about the NHL likely coming calling again are going to intensify, there’s plenty of belief inside the DU locker room that the program isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be the last one in this dynasty,” senior forward Samu Salminen said. “I’m sure that these younger guys who came in, they’ve bought into this very well. Obviously they were huge pieces (of) our team this season. I’m so excited to see those guys playing again next year and doing it again.”