The Denver Pioneers Hockey program announced today its full schedule for the 2021-2022 season. The schedule in its entirety can be seen in the tweet below and in the image above.
🗓️is set for 2021-22.
No time like the present to renew your season tickets
📱- 303-871-4625
✍️- https://t.co/NDoUFEQTN1#PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/AjHzMDQj6x— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) June 2, 2021
The nonconference portion of the schedule is roughly the same as the 2020-2021 season’s was going to be after the Wisconsin series cancellation, which was not due to Covid, rather a scheduling issue with Wisconsin Football. Then, all hell broke loose with the pandemic and nonconference play was canceled as a whole. Now, this season, with nonconference play back in our lives, the Pioneers pick right back up where they left off with essentially what would have been their schedule a year ago.
The Pioneers will open their season at Magness Arena against Arizona State and their 768 different uniform combinations for Homecoming the second weekend of October before remaining in Colorado to play a home-and-home series with Air Force the following weekend. The Pioneers will also return to Boston for their seemingly annual east coast swing to play Providence and Boston College, both of whom were originally on the schedule a year ago. Denver will then finish its nonconference slate over New Year’s Weekend against Alaska Fairbanks.
DU’s NCHC schedule, by contrast, may give the Pios a bit of a break as they only have to play defending conference champion North Dakota and 2021 National Finalist St. Cloud State twice each. The Fighting Hawks will not make a return trip to Denver after the rivals square off in Grand Forks to open conference play in November while the Pioneers will not make the return trip to St. Cloud. The Pios and Huskies play at Magness Arena on January 14 & 15.
Denver, of course, will be looking to rebound after a subpar season a year ago, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.
You can buy/renew your season tickets at the link in the tweet above or click here for instructions.
This is a pretty good schedule for the Pios:
-Always love it when DU goes East to show the flag.
-Few games over student breaks, which is good for home ice advantage.
-A winnable series over ASU at homecoming and a nice December return trip to the desert (which is good for DU alums, if ASU plays the DU game (s) in Glendale)
-No UND invasion of Magness
Bring it on!
Dunker sees smart and favorable scheduling. If we get back to our 20+ win form and get 1 win on eastern swing, we will likely have a high enough PW ranking to make NCAA tournament. Goaltending will be the big X factor.
Let’s go Pios
Under Gwoz, we played brutal non-conference schedules that made us game-tested for the NCAA tournament. Now we play cupcakes and as a result play soft against the big boys and in the playoffs. It seems like a cheap way to merely keep racking up 20-win seasons rather than build a truly battle-tested team for when the games really count.
The NCHC meat-grinder league schedule is more than enough battle-testing to make any good team ready for the post season. DU didn’t get to the NCAAs last year because the NCHC meat grinder just ground them up. If that DU team last year were in any other league, they’d have been a 20-win team and NCAA-bound.
The non-league schedule is really about (1) getting as many home games as you can get to make your AD and accountant happy, and (2) challenging yourself with some good road opponents that will give you enough wins, yet also help you in the PWR.
This schedule this year fits those two objectives.
The home series against ASU, and UAF will help to fill the cash registers, at the Ritchie Center, even if the opponents are not so glamorous. The AFA H/H series is not optimal, but it’s a money-saver that has some local interest. And the PC/BC road swing is fantastic – it gives us great competition, East Coast visibility and a great bonding opportunity. The road series at ASU is nice for our desert DU Alumni (assuming it can be played a suitable rink).
I will say I am not a fan of playing teams from Alaska. That’s one of the reasons the NCHC was founded a decade ago (to get away from Alaska trips and obligations), but given DU’s coaching staff is LOADED with ties to Alaska, it’s not surprising that DU has been looking there to fill gaps.
I would like to see DU play the following teams at Magness:
– Harvard (DU hasn’t faced the Crimson since the 1986 Frozen Four)
– Michigan (DU has not played the Wolverines at home since 1980!)
– Penn State (The Nittany Lions have never played in Magness)
– Wisconsin and Minnesota (Old WCHA foes!)
– UMass-Amherst (Growing rivalry with those guys)
– Any other Ivy League team (adds some academic lustre to a home slate)