DENVER – The No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team won the NCHC Penrose Cup as regular season champions on Saturday night with a 5-2 win over Colorado College at Magness Arena.
 
Denver earned its second Penrose Cup in program history with its weekend sweep of CC and the No. 4 North Dakota Fighting Hawks only getting two points in their set at the No. 20 Omaha Mavericks. UND lost 4-1 on Saturday after winning in overtime on Friday.
 
The Pioneers (25-8-1, 18-6-0 NCHC) and Hawks (22-12-1, 17-6-1 NCHC) will share the Penrose Cup after they both finished the National Collegiate Hockey Conference season with 53 points, but DU will be the No. 1 seed for the NCHC Tournament by gaining the tiebreaker with more conference wins (18-17). Denver won its first and only other NCHC regular-season trophy in 2017, but Saturday marked the first time the Pios enjoyed the hardware on home ice.
 
Denver begins its best-of-three series against the No. 8-seed Miami RedHawks on Friday at Magness Arena in the NCHC Quarterfinals. Tickets are on sale now. The Pioneers went 4-0 against the Miami RedHawks this year, winning 4-1 and 7-1 at Magness Arena on Nov. 19-20 and 5-4 in overtime and 4-2 on Jan. 28-29 in Oxford, Ohio.
 
DU secured the trophy with its seniors playing starring roles in their final home regular-season game. Ryan Barrow tallied the game-winner, while Cole Guttman and Brett Stapley had a goal and an assist each. The trio, along with Kyle Mayhew and Cameron Wright, were recognized before the game in an on-ice ceremony
 
Sophomore Carter Savoie led the Pios with two goals and an assist, and NCAA-points leader Bobby Brink contributed two helpers as well.
 
Freshman goaltender Matt Davis made 24 saves in his fourth start of the season and improved to 3-1-0 on the year. After only facing eight total shots in the first two periods, he stopped 16 in the third frame against CC (9-22-3, 6-17-1 NCHC). Davis also denied a penalty-shot attempt by Stanley Cooley with 6:27 left in the first period.
 
The Pioneers led 2-0 after the first period with Savoie and Stapley scoring, and Barrow extended the lead to three with his seventh marker of the year just 18 seconds into the middle frame—the fastest goal to begin a period this season by the squad.
 
Savoie added his second tally of the night with 1:18 left in the second before Marc Pasemko scored for Colorado College at 1:28 of the third period. It was the first goal by CC against Denver this season and ended a 287:35 shutout streak dating back to Feb. 25, 2021, as the Pioneers had previously recorded four straight shutouts against the Tigers.
 
Guttman didn't let the Colorado College comeback get any further as he scored nearly three and half minutes later after incepting a pass in the defensive zone and tallying on a short-handed breakaway to make it a 5-1 game.
 
Cooley did end up finding the back of the net for the Tigers, scoring on a power play with 1:27 remaining.
 
Denver has now won seven straight games against Colorado College and six in a row at home in the all-tine series. DU outscored CC 19-2 this year as it won all four games to earn its first season sweep of CC since 2016-17 (6-0).
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Counting its time in the WCHA, the Pioneers have now won 14 regular-season conference championships.
• Denver improved to 190-121-21 all-time and 108-54-11 when hosting Colorado College.
• Carter Savoie has points in each of the last three games and now has 20 goals on the year, tied with Cameron Wright for the team lead.
• Bobby Brink has registered a point in 17 of his last 18 games.
• Mike Benning has three straight games with an assist.
• Ryan Barrow's goal 18 seconds into the second period was the fastest strike to begin a period by the Pioneers this season (previous: Bobby Brink, 0:20, 2nd period, Jan. 15 vs. Omaha).
• Cole Guttman scored the fifth short-handed goal of the season for the Pioneers and the first of his collegiate career.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
8:31 DU (1-0) – PPG, Carter Savoie scored on a wrister from the slot off a pass by Bobby Brink.
12:25 DU (2-0) – Brett Stapley ripped a shot from the slot after Carter Savoie fed him the puck
13:33 CC (2-0) – PS, no goal – Stanley Cooley couldn't convert on his penalty shot attempt as Matt Davis made a glove save.
 
2nd Period
0:18 DU (3-0) – Ryan Barrow tallied from the right circle with a one-timer.
18:43 DU (4-0) – After DU controlled the puck in the CC zone for some, Carter Savoie registered his second marker of the game off a pass by Bobby Brink.
 
3rd Period
1:28 CC (4-1) – Marc Pasemko took advantage of a giveaway and scored unassisted from the high slot for the first goal of his career.
5:05 DU (5-1) – SHG, Cole Guttman intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and sprung himself onto a breakaway where he scored five-hole.
18:33 CC (5-2) – PPG, Stanley Cooley tallied with the man advantage in the closing minutes.
 
TICKETS: NCHC Playoff tickets are available now by clicking here. NCAA Regional tickets are also available for the Loveland Regional by clicking here. 
 
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