DENVER – The No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team hosts the No. 6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs this weekend in another top-10 showdown at Magness Arena.
Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT and Saturday's start time is at 6 p.m. MT. Both games will be streamed live and on demand on NCHC.tv.
The Pioneers are coming off a sweep of the then-No. 7 St. Cloud State Huskies, winning 8-5 on Friday night in comeback fashion before posting a 2-0 shutout on Saturday.
On Friday, the Pios erased deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 and went on a 5-0 run late in the game to earn the victory.
Bobby Brink had a career-high five points (1g/4a) while sophomore
Carter Savoie recorded his second hat trick of the season. On Saturday,
Carter King scored his first collegiate goal early in the second period before the Pios gained some insurance with a power-play marker from
Cole Guttman late in the third period. Goaltender
Magnus Chrona stopped all 22 shots to post his fifth shutout of the season in the 2-0 victory.
Minnesota Duluth tied St. Cloud State 2-2 on Tuesday night, with the Huskies earning the extra conference point in the shootout. UMD led 2-0 after two periods, but SCSU rallied in the third period to force extra time, including tallying the game-tying goal with 59 seconds remaining in regulation. Prior to the one game at St. Cloud, the Bulldogs split last weekend's series at home against Western Michigan, winning 5-4 on Friday and losing 3-2 on Saturday.
Denver played Duluth earlier this season on Dec. 10-11 in Minnesota, with the Pioneers winning 5-0 on the first night before falling 6-2 the following day. That was DU's last loss, as the Pioneers are currently riding an eight-game winning streak and 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1), both season longs.
These will be the final two contests of the regular season between the Pios and Bulldogs, and it will also wrap up a four-game homestand for DU. The Pioneers have been in a stretch where they played nine-of-12 outings at Magness Arena.
DU is 127-86-13 all-time against UMD, including sporting a 77-38-5 record at home in the series.
CONNECTIONS: Bobby Brink (Minnetonka) and
Lane Krenzen (Twig) are both from Minnesota, with Brink also being from the same hometown as UMD's Luke Loheit …
Massimo Rizzo played with Loheit with the BCHL's Penticton Vees in 2018-19 …
Shai Buium and
McKade Webster both attended high school at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault …
Buium played with the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers with Minnesota Duluth's Carter Loney in 2020-21 … UMD's Quinn Olson and DU's
Matt Davis and
Carter King are all from Calgary, Alberta … Olson was teammates with
Jack Works on the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers in 2018-19 …
Krenzen played on the NAHL's Austin Bruins with the Bulldogs' Ben Almquist in 2018-19 … Freshmen
Sean Behrens and
Jack Devine were at U.S. National Team Development Program with Connor Kelley during the 2019-20 campaign.
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved up to No. 3 in the nation in both the DCU/USCHO.com coaches' poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine media poll. In the Pairwise Rankings that help decide the national tournament field, the Pioneers have been in the top 10 for most of the past three weeks and are also rated at No. 3 in the nation. Only No. 1 Minnesota State and No. 2 Quinnipiac are ahead of Denver in all three rankings.
WINNING WAYS: Denver's eight-game winning streak is the program's longest since beginning the 2019-20 season also on an eight-game run, while its 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1) is its longest since going 11 games without a loss from Dec. 7, 2019-Jan. 25, 2020 (8-0-3). DU also had a seven-game winning streak from Nov. 12-Dec. 10, marking the first time since the 2004-05 championship season that the team had multiple win streaks of seven or more games in a campaign. The Pioneers also improved to 13-0-1 at Magness Arena this season, the longest unbeaten stretch to start a season at home in the modern era, with only the 1960-61 (23-0-1) and 1967-68 squads (19-0-0) having betters runs.
HOME COOKING: In addition to being unbeaten at home this year, the Pios are 20-2-1 in their last 23 games in their friendly confines and own a 30-6-2 record at Magness Arena since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. DU scored four or more goals in each of its first 12 home games this year, a run that ended with the 2-0 win on Saturday.
TO THE BRINK: Junior forward
Bobby Brink is tied with Minnesota State's Nathan Smith for the national lead in scoring with 41 points and is first in the country at 1.57 points per game. He is on a career-long 10-game point streak (3g/17a) and has recorded 32 points (6g/26a) in his last 18 contests dating back to Nov. 12 vs. Western Michigan. His 10-game point streak is the longest by a Pioneer since Henrik Borgstrom also had a 10-game run from Oct. 20-Nov. 18, 2017 (11g/9a). His 41 points are the most by a Denver player since Borgstrom in 2017-18 (52) and his NCAA-leading 32 assists are the most at DU since Troy Terry had 34 in that same 2017-18 campaign.
MEGA MAGNUS: Magnus Chrona recorded his fifth shutout of the season on Saturday, the most by a Pioneer goalie since Tanner Jaillet also had five in 2017-18. Chrona now has eight clean sheets in his career, tied with Wade Dubielewicz for the sixth-most in program history. He has started 20 consecutive games for Denver, while his eight-game win streak and 10-game unbeaten streak are both career longs.
BEHR-ING DOWN: Freshman defenseman
Sean Behrens extended his career-long point streak to eight games (2g/10a) after recording four assists last weekend, including tying a personal best with three helpers on Friday (also had three assists on Oct. 16 vs. Air Force). Behrens, who began his college career this year with a five-game assist/point streak, is third in the country among rookie D-men with 25 points and is second in assists with 22.
FROM THE PORTAL: Fifth-year senior
Cameron Wright leads DU with 17 goals this season, the most in a campaign by a Pioneer since Jarid Lukosevicius had 19 in 2018-19. His 17 tallies rank tied for seventh in the country and are tied with Arizona State's Colin Theisen for the most in the nation by a player that transferred during the summer. Wright spent the previous four years with Bowling Green, where he recorded a career-high 20 goals in 2019-20.
UPCOMING MILESTONES:
- Cole Guttman is 1 goal away from 50 in his career; he will be the 60th player in program history to reach the mark.
- Cameron Wright is 3 assists away from 60 and 5 games away from 175 in his career.
- Kyle Mayhew is 2 games away from 100 in his career.
- Carter Savoie is 2 games away from 50 in his career.
AWARD NOMINATIONS: DU 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.
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.
TICKETS: Single-game tickets for the 2021-22 campaign are on sale and can be purchased here.
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