COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team secured the Gold Pan trophy for a fourth-straight season on Saturday night with a 4-1 victory over the Colorado College Tigers at Ed Robson Arena.
 
Since the Pioneers held the trophy previously, they only needed a split in the season series against their in-state rival to earn the hardware while the Tigers had to win the series outright. The teams wrap up the regular season against one another on March 3-4 in Denver and Colorado Springs.
 
DU goaltender Magnus Chrona had his impressive shutout streak come to an end against CC on a penalty shot early in the third period, but junior defenseman Mike Benning tallied a crucial power-play goal minutes later to give the Pios some insurance on the scoreboard.
 
Hunter McKown broke Chrona's season-long run of 133:39 with the one-on-one attempt at 4:04 of the third period after it appeared he was hooked during a breakaway chance. The marker was the first one that the senior netminder had allowed against Colorado College in 350 minutes and 11 seconds—an achievement that stretched across seven games, five complete shutout performances and three seasons. Brian Hawkinson recorded the last marker for CC against Chrona on Feb. 25, 2021 at World Arena.
 
Chrona didn't allow another puck to get past him after McKown's as he made 22 saves to earn his 17th victory of the season.
 
Senior Casey Dornbach, senior Justin Lee and sophomore Carter King (empty net) joined Benning with tallies in the game for Denver in front of a crowd of 3,892—the highest-attended CC game ever at Ed Robson Arena, which opened in fall 2021.
 
Dornbach scored with 11 seconds left in DU's second power play of the night midway through the opening period, and Lee gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission at 15:06 of the frame.
 
After having 15 shots in the first period, DU was held to only three in the middle frame, but CC didn't do much better in the category as it only mustered four pucks on net.
 
The Pioneers recorded their second man-advantage goal of the evening 3:52 after McKown had cut the Tigers' deficit to 2-1 on the penalty shot, as Benning's one-timer from the left circle beat Kaiden Mbereko before the goaltender could slide across the crease.
 
Mbereko finished with 23 saves on 27 shots for Colorado College. DU's Matt Davis played the final 35 seconds in net after some rough stuff in front of Chrona in the last minute of regulation.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers face another rival next weekend as they host North Dakota for a two-game set at Magness Arena. The teams square off on Friday at 7:30 p.m. MT in a nationally-televised outing on CBS Sports Network before wrapping up the season series on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pioneers have now won nine straight games over the Tigers and are 13-1-1 in the last 15 matchups.
• Saturday's game marked the 334th all-time meeting between DU and CC, the second-most played rivalry in college hockey behind only Michigan and Michigan State (335).
• The Pioneers finished 2-for-5 on the power play, the eighth game this season they have recorded multiple markers with the man advantage.
• Magnus Chrona now has three shutout streaks in his career of 120-plus minutes, just the second goaltender in program history to accomplish the feat (Wade Dubielewicz).
• Chrona's 133:39 shutout streak bested his previous season high of 132:36 set last month from Jan. 7-20. It is the 12th-longest shutout streak in program history.
• Casey Dornbach scored his 12th goal of the season, matching a career high that he set in 2019-20 as a sophomore at Harvard.
• Justin Lee scored his fourth goal of the season, tying a personal best from his sophomore campaign of 2020-21.
• Mike Benning recorded his eighth goal of the year, tied for the seventh most in the nation by a defenseman. He is now two goals away from tying Will Butcher for 10th place in school history for a blueliner
• Hunter McKown's penalty shot was the first attempt by an opposing team on DU since Stanley Cooley of CC last season on March 5, 2022. It was the first penalty shot goal allowed by the Pioneers since Danny Kristo of North Dakota on Feb. 24, 2012.

GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
8:53 DU (1-0) – PPG, Casey Dornbach knocked in a rebound from left crease off Shai Buium's initial shot.
15:54 DU (2-0) – Justin Lee fired a wrister from high in the zone that went far-side, top corner.
 
2nd Period
No Scoring
 
3rd Period
4:04 CC (2-1) – PSG, Hunter McKown beat Magnus Chrona with a last-second backhand attempt during a penalty shot.
7:56 DU (3-1) – PPG, Mike Benning found twine with a one-timer at the left circle off a pass from Massimo Rizzo.
18:18 DU (4-1) – ENG, Carter King buried his shot into an open net.
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On using his timeout before a 5-on-3 power play: "Here tonight, it just felt like it was a big moment in a game. They had just scored on the penalty-shot goal. They had a little momentum off of that at 5-on-5, so it settled everything down and get us on the same page. Mike scores a Mike Benning goal."
 
On less physicality than last game vs. CC: "A big part of that was the second period. There were eight faceoffs in the second period, and when there aren't a lot of whistles, there aren't a lot of opportunity for the extracurriculars after the whistles. I didn't think it was overly chippy, outside of the end."
 
On playing tighter games recently: "When you put up seven (goals) three nights in a row (last month), teams start to take notice. We generally always get teams' best because of what we did a year ago, and I think people are hyper aware that if they relax defensively that there's opportunities that we can put away. We're also getting into February and late January, we have eight games remaining. You get down to single digits (for games played), I think the level of urgency defensively without the puck starts to get ratcheted up a little bit. We saw that in both games against CC were tight-checking, and certainly the game opened up a few times tonight and over the course of last Friday. Generally speaking, the ice, especially in the O-zone, was harder to find."
 
 
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