Last night, a whopping 16 penalties were called between the #6 Denver Pioneers (14-5-1, 7-3-0 NCHC, 21 pts) and the #15 Omaha Mavericks (14-8-0, 4-5-0-1 NCHC, 11 pts). Tonight though, referees Brian Hankes and Timm Walsh decided 16 wasn’t enough, upping the amount to 20 and 36 total on the weekend. It was a weekend of ugly, disjointed hockey due to a severe lack of five-on-five play but on the scoreboard, where it matters most, Denver came out of the weekend with a sweep of their surprise opponent in the Mavs. Goaltender Magnus Chrona shined in a chippy game two on Sunday night to earn the 4-0 shutout in the Pios’ 14th victory of the season, their 10th at Magness Arena this year.

Ask any coach and they will tell you that without five-on-five play, in games where you’re constantly going back-and-forth between the power play and penalty kill, it is extremely difficult to generate any kind of rhythm or momentum. That’s exactly what fans and players alike had to contend with this weekend. On Saturday night, there were 32 penalty minutes on those 16 penalties, and tonight, an incredible 54 PIM on the 20 infractions. For two teams that have had great success with the man advantage this season, you might have thought would translate to a high-scoring, offense-centric game, but that was not the case. Last night, Omaha had the only power-play goal and on Sunday, Denver had the game’s only three, two of which came on Omaha’s two major penalties.

Even if it hits on 20, the dealer probably has blackjack

— Spencer Gaskell (@SpencerMAV) January 17, 2022

Despite all the penalties, many of which likely wouldn’t have been called in any other game, both goaltenders, Isaiah Saville for Omaha and Chrona for Denver, found a way to shine. Saville made 33 saves on 37 shots, many of which should be shown on his career highlight reel, and Chrona stopped all 32 of Omaha’s shots sent his way. In many respects, until the Pioneers pulled away with two power-play goals in the latter stages of the third period, including Mazur’s with just 49 seconds left, tonight’s game was a goaltending clinic put on by the two netminders.

It's really too bad the officials have stolen the story tonight because both Magnus Chrona and Isaiah Saville have been awesome tonight.

— LetsGoDU (@LetsGoDU) January 17, 2022

Chrona’s play was as good as it has been all season to this point and hopefully is a sign of things to come. The turning point of his game came in the second period with Denver leading by two and Omaha went on a two-minute five-on-three power play due to four minor penalties that were called after a review – a violation of NCHC rules which state that only major penalties can be called as a result of a review and no penalties had been called prior to the review – of a post-whistle scrum, three of which were against Denver. During this two-minute stretch, Omaha peppered Chrona with shots but the Swede stopped every single one of them and looked as calm as ever along the way.

Offensively, though, Denver’s three power-play goals were less a function of a great power-play unit clicking on all cylinders and more to do with the fact that they were handed 10 opportunities – five in the third period alone – by Walsh and Hankes. Carter Savoie got the scoring started with a nice snipe from the right circle in the first period more than three minutes into a major penalty against Joey Abate for boarding. Denver’s other two goals with the man advantage came in the third period, the first from Antti Tuomisto on a wrist shot from the point and the last one from Carter Mazur who tipped a Carter Savoie shot just past Saville and barely crossed the goal line. Denver’s only even-strength goal came from Brett Stapley more than 5 minutes into the second period off of a bad Omaha turnover forced by Savoie behind the Mavs’ net. Savoie led the way with three points on his goal and two assists while Sean Behrens added two assists of his own to lead the Pioneers on the scoresheet. Six other Pios tallied a point in Chrona’s shutout effort.

It’s difficult to take anything much of value away from this game other than it was nice to see Denver on the winning side of a weird game like this. We may never see another game with this many penalties called and for our sake, we should all hope that’s the case. It was an ugly series of hockey with tonight’s 20-penalty debacle punctuating it. Fortunately, Denver was on the winning side of it, but there won’t be much tape worth watching from this series at all. In the end, though, despite Timm Walsh and Brian Hankes doing their best to steal the spotlight from the players and teams, Denver solidified themselves as a top-three team in the country in terms of the Pairwise Rankings and moved into sole possession of second-place in the NCHC, just three points behind first-place North Dakota and three points clear of third-place Western Michigan, with their first matchups of the season against archrival Colorado College looming next weekend.

Highlights

Carter Savoie tallies his 13th goal of the season & his 6th power-play marker to give Denver the early lead. pic.twitter.com/b5dZBPtSWA

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) January 17, 2022

A strong forecheck and steal by Carter Savoie sets up Brett Stapley, and the BC native doesn't miss.

2-0 Pioneers pic.twitter.com/8qDRlUFc9G

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) January 17, 2022

How Antti found twine. pic.twitter.com/NHmh8Af8cH

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) January 17, 2022

3rd PPG of the night and an extra one for good measure late. 4-0 DU pic.twitter.com/gEGPGpqyGm

— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) January 17, 2022

Top photo of Tuomisto & Chrona courtesy of Denver Athletics