DENVER – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team travels to Oxford, Ohio, this weekend to wrap up the four-game season series against the Miami RedHawks. Friday's game begins at 5 p.m. MT and Saturday's starts at 3 p.m. MT, with both contest available to be streamed on NCHC.tv.
These are DU's only games out of the state in a two-month period, as the Pioneers last played away from Colorado on Dec. 10-11 at Minnesota Duluth. Denver is in a stretch where it is playing nine-of-12 on home ice. After this weekend, the squad will next play on the road on Feb. 18-19 at Western Michigan.
The Pioneers are coming off a weekend sweep of the Colorado College Tigers, winning 5-0 last Friday and 4-0 on Saturday.
Denver's victories stretched its winning streak to four games, unbeaten streak to six (5-0-1) and is now 12-1-1 in its last 14.
Ryan Barrow and
Brett Stapley led DU with a goal and an assist each on Friday night at home, while
Cole Guttman scored twice,
Bobby Brink had three assists and
Carter Savoie had a multi-assist game as well in DU's victory on Saturday at Ed Robson Arena. Goalie
Magnus Chrona stopped all 35 shots he faced on the weekend, making 19 on Friday and 16 on Saturday.
The Pioneers will be wrapping up their four-game season series against the Miami RedHawks after sweeping the first two games back in November at home, as DU earned 4-1 and 7-1 victories against the RedHawks on Nov. 19-20. Denver is 8-1-0 in its last nine outings vs. MU, and the Pioneers will be playing its first games in Oxford since Jan. 24-25, 2020 (W 3-2, W 5-2). Denver owns a 22-13-3 all-time record versus Miami and is 8-5-0 at the Goggin Center.
Miami dropped both games last weekend at St. Cloud State, falling 11-1 on Friday before losing 8-0 on Saturday. The RedHawks are 0-6-1 in their last seven games, with their last victory coming in a 7-4 win at Mercyhurst on Dec. 12. MU is 1-12-1 in conference play, with its only victory coming in its NCHC opener on Nov. 5 at Omaha (W 4-3). Derek Daschke leads Miami in scoring with 16 points (2g/14a) while Matthew Barbolini is tops on the team in goals with eight.
In addition to its No. 5 ranking in both the DCU/USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Polls, Denver entered the week fifth in the Pairwise rankings and is currently leading the NCHC standings with 27 points and a 9-3-0 record.
CONNECTIONS: DU's
Ryan Barrow played on the Langley Rivermen with Alec Capstick from 2015-2017 …
Sean Behrens and
Jack Devine were teammates with Red Savage at the U.S. National Team Development Program for the past two seasons …
Connor Caponi spent two years as a teammate with Joe Cassetti with the Waterloo Black Hawks from 2018-2020 …
Cole Guttman (Los Angeles) and PJ Fletcher (Dana Point) are both from Southern California …
Guttman was a teammate with Miami's Scott Corbet from 2016-2018 with Dubuque Fighting Saints …
Justin Lee was teammates for half a season with Matthew Barbolini with the Lincoln Stars in 2018-19 …
Carter Mazur played on the Tri-City Storm with Nick Donato from 2019-2021 …
McKade Webster played with Dylan Moulton on the Green Bay Gamblers in 2019-20.
GOLD PAN STAYS IN DENVER: Denver secured the Gold Pan trophy for a third straight season with its two shutout wins last weekend. With DU previously holding the trophy, the team just needed a season series split to retain the trophy—the Pioneers and Tigers close the season against one another on March 4-5. Denver has now won the Gold Pan 16 times since the trophy's inception.
SHUTOUT RARITIES: The Pioneers became the first team in the 72-year history of the rivalry with the Tigers to sweep a weekend series with a pair of shutouts. Denver had posted back-to-back shutouts versus Colorado College two times previously (March 4 and 19, 2005; Jan. 20 and Nov. 22, 1968), but last week marked the first time that DU did it consecutively on the same weekend. Dating back to last season, Denver has recorded three straight shutouts against CC—also a first in the all-time history.
MEGA MAGNUS: Junior goaltender
Magnus Chrona has backstopped the Pioneers to three consecutive shutouts, marking the first time that DU has won with three-straight clean sheets in 19 years. DU last did it on Dec. 27, 2002 vs. Miami (6-0), Dec. 28, 2002 vs. New Hampshire (4-0) and Jan. 10, 2003 vs. St. Cloud State (4-0). Chrona has started 14 consecutive games and is currently on a career-high 183:16 shutout streak. He has already set a new personal best with three shutouts this season and now ranks tied for seventh in school history with seven in his career (Sam Brittain, 2010-2014; Stephen Wagner, 1996-2000).
COLE REACHES CENTURY MARK: Senior captain
Cole Guttman recorded three points over the weekend versus Colorado College, including tallying his first multi-goal game of the season on Saturday night. His second marker of that contest was his 100th career point, making him the 101st player in program history to reach the century mark and the first since Jarid Lukosevicius in 2018-19. Guttman is the fourth active NCHC player record 100 points and play his whole career in the conference. Omaha's Taylor Ward, Western Michigan's Ethen Frank and St. Cloud State's Easton Brodzinski are the other three players to reach 100 points while playing their entire career in the NCHC. Guttman, who has 45 goals and 55 assists in 121 games, is the second player on DU's roster to reach 100, joining fifth-year senior and transfer
Cameron Wright, who accomplished the feat previously with Bowling Green.
UPCOMING MILESTONES:
MORE WEEKLY AWARDS: After sweeping last week's NCHC Player of the Week honors, two Pioneers picked up more hardware this week as
Cole Guttman was named the conference's Forward of the Week and
Magnus Chrona was named co-Goaltender of the Week. DU has won a league-high 18 player of the week awards this season.
HOBEY BAKER NOMINATIONS: DU's top line of senior
Cole Guttman, junior
Bobby Brink and sophomore
Carter Savoie are among an initial 77 players nationally to be nominated for this year's 2022 Hobey Baker Award, which is given annually to college hockey's top player. The list will be cut down to 10 on March 17 and the three "Hobey Hat Trick" finalists will attend the award ceremony on Friday, April 8 during Frozen Four festivities in Boston.
MIKE RICHTER WATCH LIST: DU's
Magnus Chrona was named to the watch list last week for the Mike Richter Award, given in the top division-I goaltender. He is one of six keepers in the NCHC and one of 28 in the nation to be listed for the honor, which will be announced during the Frozen Four. Chrona ranks in the top 10 nationally in wins, shutouts and goals-against average.
HOME COOKING: Denver improved to 11-0-1 on home ice this season following its win last Friday vs. Colorado College at Magness Arena. The Pioneers' 12-game home unbeaten streak to start the season is tied for the third-longest in program history, as the 1973-74 team also began that campaign 11-0-1. Only the 1967-68 (19-0-0) and 1960-61 squads (23-0-1) have had longer home unbeaten stretches to start a year. Denver began the season on an eight-game winning streak, which was longest in the modern era and tied for the third-longest to start a campaign in the team annals (also 1958-59). The stretch was also the longest ever at Magness Arena, which first opened for the 1999-00 season.
FRESHMEN AT THE TOP OF THE CHARTS: Denver's
Carter Mazur and
Massimo Rizzo are among the top scoring freshmen in the country, as Mazur ranks second (11) and Rizzo third (10) in goals by a freshman. Only Ohio State's Georgii Merkulov has found the back of the net more than DU's duo (14). In points, Rizzo and Mazur are tied for third among freshmen with 24, trailing only Arizona State's Josh Doan (29) and Merkulov (27). Rizzo (1.2) and Mazur (1.1) rank second and third, respectively, in points per game by a first-year player.
TOP OFFENSE AND DEFENSE: Denver is
first in the nation in scoring, averaging 4.64 goals per game. The Pios have scored four or more goals in 18-of-22 contests this season, including in all 16 wins and in all 12 games at home. DU also
ranks second in the NCAA with 37.5 shots for per game, as only Penn State averages more (39.0). The Pioneers have also been strong on limiting defensive chances, as they are
tied for fifth in the country shots against per game at 24.3. DU has held opponents to 30 or fewer shots in 18-of-22 games. Denver, St. Cloud State (7th in shots for, 9th in shots against) and Quinnipiac (3rd in shots for, 1st in shots against) are the only teams in the country that rank in the both the top 10 in shots for and shots against.
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