COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team continues this year's Gold Pan series with Colorado College on Saturday as the teams face off at Ed Robson Arena for the second of four games in the season series.
Saturday's game begins at 6 p.m. MT and will be televised regionally on AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain and will be available on NCHC.tv. It will be televised in Canada on TSN 5.
The Pioneers (20-7-0, 11-4-0 NCHC) and Tigers 10-14-1 (6-8-1 NCHC) began the Gold Pan series last Friday at Ball Arena, with DU earning a 2-0 win in front of 17,952 in attendance at the home of the Colorado Avalanche.
Jared Wright scored for Denver early in the first period in that contest off a pass from
Kyle Mayhew for the eventual game-winner, and
Connor Caponi tallied in the middle stanza to provide some insurance on the scoreboard after receiving a feed from
McKade Webster.
DU goaltender
Magnus Chrona made all 23 saves for the shutout, his fifth straight against the Pios' in-state rival. Tigers netminder Kaiden Mbereko made 39-of-41 saves, including stopping all 16 shots in the third period.
The Pioneers won both games last season at Ed Robson Arena in the rink's inaugural campaign, and Denver has now won each of the last eight matchups against Colorado College and is 12-1-1 in the past 14 meetings.
DU presently holds the Gold Pan and can retain the trophy for a fourth-straight season with a win on Saturday.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Colorado College is 10-14-1 on the season and has lost its last four games after defeating then-No. 3 St. Cloud State 4-2 on the road on Jan. 13. The Tigers are 3-8-1 away from Ed Robson Arena this season and are fifth in the NCHC standings with 20 points and a 6-8-1 conference record. Hunter McKown is CC's leading scorer with 19 points on 14 goals and five assists and the only one with double-digit tallies. Bryan Yoon is the team's top-scoring defenseman with 14 points (1g/13a) and leads the Tigers with 13 helpers on the year. Goaltender Kaiden Mbereko has played most of the games in net for CC, making 18 starts and posting a 6-10-1 record, 2.42 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and three shutouts.
HISTORY VS. CC: Denver and Colorado College have played the second-most games in college hockey (333 games), with only Michigan and Michigan State having faced each other more (335). DU owns a 191-121-21 mark in the all-time series and is riding an eight-game winning streak over CC. Denver is 12-1-1 in the last 14 matchups and has only officially lost five games against its in-state rival since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. The Pioneers posted shutouts in four of the last five meetings, including in the first three contests of last season's series. DU has won each of the last seven meetings played in Denver against Colorado College, has an overall home record of 109-54-11 and a 160-96-21 mark in conference play.
CONNECTIONS: Denver Director of Hockey Operations
Travis Culhane spent two seasons in the same role for Colorado College (2019-2021) ... Tigers assistant coach
Peter Mannino is a former DU goaltender that won the 2005 National Championship and took home the MVP award at that year's Frozen Four ...
Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills) and Chad Sasaki (Cypress) are both from Orange County, California …
Casey Dornbach and Brett Chorske are each from Edina, Minnesota … Noah Prokop and
McKade Webster were teammates with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers in 2017-18 … Ethan Straky skated with
Kent Anderson in Green Bay in 2021-22 and was teammates for two seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program with
Sean Behrens and
Jack Devine from 2019-2021 …
Behrens and
Devine were also at the U.S. NTDP in 2019-20 with Hunter McKown and played with goalie Kaiden Mbereko at the program from 2019-2021 … Mbereko and Stanley Cooley were teammates of
Aidan Thompson with the USHL Lincoln Stars last season, while Thompson skated two seasons at Lincoln with CC's Noah Laba and Gleb Veremyev from 2020-2022 … Cooley played with
Mike Benning on the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints from 2018-2020 … Ray Christy and
Shai Buium played a few games together for the Sioux City Musketeers in the 2019-20 USHL season …
Tyler Haskins skated with Nate Schweitzer with the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede in 2020-21 …
Jared Wright and Cade Ahrenholz were teammates last season with the USHL Omaha Lancers … Ryan Beck skated with
Tristan Lemyre and
Lucas Olvestad in 2021-22 with the Dubuque Fighting Saints … CC has four players from Colorado on its roster—Kaiden Mbereko (Aspen), Jack Millar (Westminster), Noah Prokop (Highlands Ranch) and Brian Yoon (Parker)—while
Aidan Thompson is Denver's lone representative from the state (Fort Collins).
IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 4 in both national polls after the USCHO.com poll USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings were released on Monday. DU has been inside the top five all season in each weekly table. In the Pairwise Ranking that determines the field for the national tournament, Denver is No. 7.
RECORD ATTENDANCE: With an attendance of 17,952 at Ball Arena, Friday's game marked the highest-attended indoor NCAA hockey game of the season and the largest crowd to watch an indoor contest since Feb. 10, 2018 when Michigan and Michigan State skated in front of 19,515 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Overall, the DU-CC matchup at Ball Arena was the second-highest attended college hockey game of the season behind only the 22,500 that witnessed the outdoor contest between Boston College and UMass at Fenway Park on Jan. 7 in Boston.
Friday's game also marked the second-highest attended college hockey contest in the state of Colorado, with only the Battle on Blake outdoor game between Denver and Colorado College at Coors Field on Feb. 20, 2016 having more fans in the stands at 35,144.
TENZER STREAK LIVES: The Pioneers were the first team in the country to reach the 20-win mark with its victory over the CC Tigers on Jan. 27, doing so in 27 games. Denver has now won at least 20 games in each of the last 21 full seasons, dating back to the 2001-02 season. The Pios only played 24 total contests in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
The "Tenzer" Streak is named after former DU Director of Hockey Operations David Tenzer, who spent 16 seasons with the program from 2001-02 (the start of the streak) until retiring in 2017.
MAGNUS MONTH: Goaltender
Magnus Chrona finished the month of January by starting all seven games and ranking first among conference keepers in shutouts (3) and saves (165). He ranked second in the NCHC in wins (4) and save percentages (.932) and was third in goals-against average (1.79).
CHRONA CAGING THE TIGERS: Magnus Chrona has now shutout the Tigers in each of his past five starts against them and presently owns a 306:07 shutout streak against CC that dates back to Feb. 25, 2021, stretching three seasons and six games.
Chrona guarded the pipes in the first three meetings last year against Colorado College, posting shutouts in each contest—
Matt Davis played the series finale.
The Denver netminder owns two active shutout streaks of at least 100 minutes against single opponents, as he also hasn't allowed a goal in 151:15 against Miami University dating back to Oct. 29 of this season.
IN THE CHRONA ZONE: Magnus Chrona has posted shutouts in three of his last five games, including consecutive clean sheets for the second in his career on Jan. 13-14 against Miami.
Chrona earned his fourth shutout of the season and 13th of his career on Friday and moved into a tie with Gerry Powers (1966-1969) for second place in school history. He is two shy of matching the program record of 15 held by Peter Mannino (2005-2008), who is currently an assistant coach with the CC Tigers.
Last season, Chrona recorded six shutouts, tied for third-most in a campaign in the school annals and one behind the record of seven accomplished by both Adam Berkhoel (2003-04) and Gerry Powers (1967-68).
The Swede had his season-long 132:36 shutout streak come to end on Feb. 20 against St. Cloud State, finishing as the 12th-longest shutout streak in program history and coming one year after going on the school's third-longest perfect stretch (198:10) from Jan. 15-28, 2022. Chrona joined
Wade Dubielewicz (3) and
Peter Mannino (2) as the only goalies in the Denver annals to go on multiple runs of at least 120 minutes.
BATTLE FOR THE GOLD PAN: Denver leads the Gold Pan series 1-0 and can earn the trophy for a fourth consecutive season with a victory on Saturday at CC since it presently holds the hardware, which has been in awarded every season since the 1993-94 campaign. For the Tigers to win the trophy this year, they'll have to win the four-game season series outright.
After Saturday's contest Ed Robson Arena, the teams wrap up the regular season against one another with a home-and-home weekend on March 3 in Denver and March 4 in Colorado Springs.
BATTLE AT BALL, AND EVERYWHERE ELSE: The Pioneers played their first-ever regular season game on Friday at Ball Arena, home of the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Denver did play an exhibition contest at the then-called Pepsi Center on Oct. 6, 2012 vs. the University of British Columbia in order to accommodate a U.S. Presidential Debate that occurred the same week at Magness Arena.
Ball Arena marked the 14th different venue that the Pioneers and Tigers played each other in, with DU owning a winning record in 11 of them. The teams have played in five different rinks in the Denver area, including Coors Field in 2016 for the Battle on Blake and at McNichols Arena, the former home of the Avalanche (also at Magness Arena, DU Arena, Denver Coliseum). DU and CC have squared off against one another in four arenas out of state, with three in Minnesota (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul Civic Center and Target Center) and the other in Columbus, Ohio, at Nationwide Arena in April 2005 in the Frozen Four national semifinals (the Pioneers won en route to their second consecutive national title). The teams have also faced each other at the Air Force Academy's Cadet Ice Arena, Broadmoor Ice Palace, World Arena and Ed Robson Arena in the Colorado Springs area.
REWIND: BATTLE ON BLAKE: DU and CC faced off at Coors Field on Feb. 20, 2016 in what was the first outdoor hockey game in the state. Played on the diamond of the MLB's Colorado Rockies and in conjunction with the NHL Stadium Series between the Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings held a week later, the Pioneers earned a 4-1 victory in front of a crowd of 35,144—a record for any DU athletic event. Jarid Lukosevicius and Colin Staub both scored early in the first period and Danton Heinen and Dylan Gambrell netted markers early in the third to lead the Pioneers to the 4-1 victory. Cole McCaskill scored the lone goal for the Tigers with 4:57 remaining in the second period. Will Butcher added two assists for DU, which received 19 saves from Tanner Jaillet and five from Evan Cowley late in the third period. Denver went on to reach the Frozen Four in Tampa that season (the same site as this year's final four) and won the championship the next year in 2017.
IN THE NCHC: DU is first in the NCHC standings with 32 points and an 11-4-0 conference record. The Pioneers will play league opponents in each of their final eight weeks of the regular season.
MONTH-BY-MONTH: Denver finished the month of January with a 4-3-0 record and has posted at least a .500 record in 14 straight months dating back to January 2021. DU has been
greater-than .500 in 11 straight months.
UP FOR THE HOBEY: Three Denver players are nominees for this year's Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey's top player. Junior defenseman
Mike Benning and sophomore forwards
Carter Mazur and
Massimo Rizzo are three of over 80 players nationally that are up for the award.
Fan voting is live and runs through March 5 before 10 finalists will be announced on March 15. The three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be released on March 30 and the award will be given out on April 7 during the Frozen Four in Tampa.
Two DU players have earned the accolade previously: Matt Carle in 2006 and Will Butcher in 2017. Last season,
Bobby Brink was one of the three Hobey Hat Trick finalists.
CHRONA ON RICHTER WATCH LIST: Magnus Chrona was named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List on Jan. 12, as he was one of seven NCHC goaltenders and among 41 keepers nationally to be up for the honor. College hockey's goaltender of the year award will be narrowed down to approximately 15 players in the coming weeks, and the winner will be chosen on Friday, April 7 during Frozen Four festivities in Tampa, Florida.
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD
- Carter Mazur is tied for third in goals (17).
- Massimo Rizzo is tied for seventh in assists (22) & is tied for 10th for points (32).
- Mike Benning is tied for seventh among defensemen in the country in points (22) and is tied for ninth in goals (7) by a blueliner.
- Magnus Chrona is tied for fourth in wins (16) and tied for fifth in shutouts (4).
MASS-IVE STREAK: Sophomore forward
Massimo Rizzo had his career-long point streak end at 11 games on Jan. 20 at St. Cloud State. It was the second-longest point streak in the NCAA this season, as only Austen Swankler of Bowling Green has a longer one with a current 18-game run. Despite the overall personal-best stretch coming to an end, Rizzo still has a nine-game home point streak still active (5g/7a).
Rizzo recorded six goals and eight assists during his 11-game run that started on Nov. 26 vs. Omaha and was tied for the fourth-longest at DU since the 2005-06 season. Only Danton Heinen (18 games),
Bobby Brink (14 games) and Dylan Gambrell (13 games) have had better runs in that time. Rizzo has recorded at least a point in 21-of-26 contests this season.
BROZ BREAKING OUT: Sophomore
Tristan Broz has points in 11 of his last 14 games, which included a career-long, four-game point streak from Dec. 9-17 (3g/5a) and personal-best four-goal game on Jan. 14 vs. Miami—the first four-goal by a DU player since Kevin Doell on Feb. 21, 2003 vs. Michigan Tech. Broz, who transferred from the University of Minnesota in the offseason, has registered 18 (8g/10) of his 20 points on the season in the 13 games since Nov. 26 against Omaha.
HOME SWEET HOME: Denver is 14-3-0 at home this season, winning each of its last four contests. The Pios wrapped up a season-long six-game homestand from Dec. 16-Jan. 14 with a 5-1-0 mark and had 10 contests at Magness Arena in a 12-game stretch from Nov. 25-Jan. 14 (8-2-0). DU will play eight of its final 10 remaining outings in Colorado, as the only time the squad will be out of state is at Western Michigan on Feb. 24-25. The Pioneers are in midst of a stretch where they're playing five-of-six and six-of-nine at home.
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: The Pios are 37-6-1 in their last 44 contests at Magness Arena and sport a 45-10-2 record on the DU hilltop since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Denver went 17-1-1 during the 2021-22 season in its own barn and had a 22-1-1 mark in games in the state of Colorado, including winning both matchups at the Denver-hosted NCAA West Regional in Loveland, Colorado.
SEASON BENCHMARKS: The Pioneers owned a 16-4-0 record and an .800 winning percentage at the 20-game mark this season (games through Dec. 17), the program's best marks since also starting the season 16-4-0 (.800) in 2007-08. Denver sported a 14-4-0 record and .777 winning percentage at the halfway mark of its season prior to its games vs. Lindenwood on Dec. 16-17, which was also its best since 2007-08 (14-4-0, .777).
The Pioneers were 9-3-0 (.750) at their one-third mark this season, the team's most wins since 2012-13 (9-3-0) and its best winning percentage since 2019-20 (8-2-2, .750). Denver is playing 36 games this season instead of the usual 34 due to the exemption given to teams that participate in the Ice Breaker Tournament.
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