The No. 7 Denver Pioneers hockey team (18-5-5, 8-7-4-3) looks for its first home sweep since early January in the final meeting of the season between Denver and Miami. The Pioneers beat the RedHawks 7-3 on Friday. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. MT on Saturday in Magness Arena.
 
DENVER: LAST GAME
DU 7, MIAMI 3 (February 21, 2020)
• Friday: The Pioneers snapped their four-game losing streak and scored the most goals in a game since Feb. 25, 2017 vs. St. Cloud State
• Tyler Ward scored a first-period hat trick, Cole Guttman had two goals and one assist and Ian Mitchell had one goal and two assists. Magnus Chrona made 20 saves
• Denver went 3/6 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill
 
RACE FOR HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
• The top four teams in the NCHC standings host a best-of-three first-round series in the conference playoffs on March 13-15
• Denver is 4th in the NCHC standings, four points behind Western Michigan (3rd) and four points in front of St. Cloud State (5th) with five games remaining in the regular season. The Pioneers' magic number to secure home-ice advantage outright in the first round of the NCHC playoffs is 12 between Denver points earned and fifth-place team points lost for the remainder of the season
• The Pioneers have had home-ice advantage for the first round of the conference playoffs for 16 of the last 20 seasons, including each of the last five. Since 1999-00, Denver is 12-4 in advancing to the second round of the conference tournament when hosting a first-round series and 10-1 in the last 11 seasons
 
DENVER: UP NEXT
Feb. 28-29 vs. St. Cloud State (St. Cloud, Minn.)
• Denver is 52-46-6 all-time against St. Cloud State with a 21-21-4 road record
• The Pioneers swept the Huskies (6-3 W, 5-3 W) on Jan. 10-11 in St. Cloud, Minn. earlier this season
 
MIAMI: SNAPSHOT
• Miami ranks 7th in the NCHC, two points ahead of Colorado College (8th) and 10 points behind Omaha (6th)
• The RedHawks are on a 10-game winless streak (0-8-2) with their last win coming on Jan. 10 vs. Colorado College
• Gordie Green leads Miami with 30 points (10-20-30), scoring 14 of those points on the power play
• The RedHawks' power play converts at 22.3% (21/94), 17th in the NCAA
• Defensively, Miami allows the 4th-most goals per game in the NCAA (3.69) and operates at 75.0% (87/116) on the penalty kill, 56th in the NCAA
 
MIAMI: UP NEXT
Feb. 28-29 vs. Omaha (Oxford, Ohio)
• Miami is 23-19-7 all-time against Omaha with a 12-8-4 home record
• The RedHawks went 1-0-1 (3-3 T, 4-1 W) against the Mavericks on Nov. 22-23 in Omaha, Neb. earlier this season 
 
DENVER VS. MIAMI
• Denver is 18-12-3 all-time against Miami and 8-5-3 against the RedHawks on home ice
• The Pioneers swept the RedHawks (3-2 W, 5-2 W) on Jan. 24-25 in Oxford, Ohio earlier this season. Denver is 4-1-0 in its last five games against Miami and 7-2-1 in its last 10
 
FAVORABLE FINISH
• The Pioneers are 7-0-0 this season against the teams remaining on their schedule and have outscored their upcoming opponents, 32-14
 
HIGHS & LOWS
• The Pioneers entered the weekend having lost four straight games for the first time since December 2015. Prior to the four-game slide, Denver was on an 11-game unbeaten stretch, its best single-season unbeaten streak since the 2016-17 season (13)
• The last time the Pioneers lost five or more consecutive games was during the 1999-2000 season when Denver dropped nine straight games
 
HOT STREAKS & UPCOMING MILESTONES
• Bobby Brink is on a six-game point streak with three goals and four assists
• Ryan Barrow has played 98 career games and is on pace to play his 100th career game on Feb. 28 at St. Cloud State
• Michael Davies played his 150th career game on Feb. 8 vs. Minnesota Duluth
• Liam Finlay played his 150th career game on Feb. 15 at North Dakota and has 91 career points
 
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
• The Pioneers are 18-0-1 when scoring three or more goals and 0-8-4 when scoring fewer than three goals
 
NEED FOR THE LEAD
• Denver is 10-0-2 when scoring the first goal of the game, 4-0-2 when leading after the first period and 14-0-2 when leading after the second
• Conversely, the Pioneers are 8-8-3 when allowing the first goal of the game, 5-6-1 when trailing after the first period and 1-8-2 when trailing after the second
 
POWER-UP
• The Pioneers' power play has scored at least one goal in seven of the last eight games, going 10/34 (29.4%)
• Denver has converted at 28.6% on the power play in the last 16 games after converting at 18.3% through the first 15 games of the season
• Emilio Pettersen and Ian Mitchell share the team lead in power-play points (14)
 
HIGH-RANKING STATS
• Denver ranks 2nd in the NCAA in shots on goal per game (35.19) and 2nd on home ice (37.31). The Pioneers are 17-6-3 when outshooting their opponent and have done so in 26 of 31 games this season
• The Pioneers allow T-11th fewest goals per game in the NCAA (2.29)
• Denver's goal margin per game on home ice ranks 9th in the NCAA (+1.56)
• The Pioneers sophomore class ranks 2nd in NCAA scoring with 115 points (41-74-115), accounting for 42% of the team's production. Denver has three sophomores among its top-five scorers: Emilio Pettersen (8-19-27), Brett Stapley (4-19-23), Cole Guttman (12-11-23)
 
NATIONAL LEADERS
• Cole Guttman is T-2nd in the NCAA for game-winning goals (5) – (T-2nd NCHC)
• Ian Mitchell is T-10th in scoring among NCAA defensemen with 26 points (7-19-26) - (T-2nd NCHC defensemen) 
• Bobby Brink is T-7th in scoring among NCAA freshmen with 24 points (11-13-24) – (2nd NCHC freshmen)
• Bobby Brink is T-6th in goals among NCAA freshmen with 11 (2nd NCHC freshmen)
• Magnus Chrona is 3rd among NCAA freshmen with a 2.25 GAA (2nd NCHC goalies), 4th among NCAA freshmen with a .916 save percentage (1st NCHC goalies) and 3rd among NCAA freshmen with 14 wins (4th NCHC goalies)
 
BIRTHDAY MONTH
• The Pioneers have nine birthdays in February and eight birthdays in nine days from Feb. 15 - Feb. 23
• Kohen Olischefski (Feb. 1), Ryan Barrow (Feb. 15), Jay Feiwell & Tyson McLellan (Feb. 17), Liam Finlay & Griffin Mendel (Feb. 18), Hank Crone (Feb. 19), Lane Krenzen (Feb. 21) and Brett Stapley (Feb. 23)
 
TV TIME
• The Pioneers are on national television (CBS Sports Network) thrice in the final four weekends of the regular season: Feb. 14 at North Dakota, Feb. 28 at St. Cloud State and March 7 vs. Colorado College
• Denver will be on Altitude 2 on Feb. 22 vs. Miami
 
NCAA REGIONAL 2020 & 2021
• The Pioneers are set to host the 2020 & 2021 NCAA West Regional at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo. The 2020 regional is set for March 27-28
• 2020 will mark the first year in which an NCAA hockey tournament game has been held in Colorado since the 2008 Men's Frozen Four at the Pepsi Center in Denver
 
EXTENDING THE STREAK
• On March 15, 2019, the Pioneers became only the third team in NCAA history to compile 18-consecutive 20-win seasons. The last time Denver missed the 20-game mark was 2000-01 when the team went 19-15-4
• The Pioneers' streak of 18 straight 20-win seasons is the longest active streak in the NCAA. The NCAA record for consecutive 20-win seasons is held by Michigan, which had 25 from 1987-2012
 
HOME COOKIN'
• Denver is 36-12-8 at home since the 2017-18 season, posting a .643 winning percentage and taking points from 79% of its games
 
HOBEY HOPEFULS
• Ian Mitchell and Emilio Pettersen are among 75+ nominees for the 2020 Hobey Baker Award
• First-round voting can be conducted on hobeybaker.com/vote. First-round voting closes on March 9, 2020
• Denver has had two Hobey Baker winners in its history: Matt Carle ('06) and Will Butcher ('17)
 
GWOZDECKY INDUCTED TO DENVER ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
• Former head coach George Gwozdecky was named among 12 inductees for the 2020 Denver Athletic Hall of Fame class to be honored on campus May 16, 2020
• Gwozdecky posted a 443-267-64 record with the Pioneers from 1994-2013, winning back-to-back National Championships in 2004 & 2005, three WCHA regular-season titles, four WCHA playoff titles and posting 16 20-win seasons. He received the Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year in 2005
 
70TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
• The Pioneers are playing in their 70th Anniversary Season. Since its inaugural season in 1949, Denver has made 30 appearances in the NCAA tournament, 17 appearances in the Frozen Four and won eight National Championships, tied for the second-most titles among any college hockey program
 
UP NEXT: Denver Hockey presented by Centura Health closes its series with Miami on Saturday, Feb. 22. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. from Magness Arena
 
FROZEN FACEOFF TICKETS: Tickets for the 2020 Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn. are on sale now. More information is available here.
 
2020 DENVER ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME RECEPTION: Denver announced its 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame class in January. The inductees will be honored on the DU campus May 16. For more information, registration for the reception and donation information, click here. 

DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the hockey program can do so by clicking here. Your contribution will make a direct impact on the success of YOUR Pioneers. Thank you in advance for your unwavering support of our student-athletes and their quest for excellence.  
 
SHOP PIONEERS: Get dressed for Game Day! Get your Pioneers gear at ShopPioneers.com, the official online store of University of Denver Athletics.

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