Hockey, Men's Sports

Pioneers Retain Gold Pan for 7th-Straight Season with Shootout Victory at Colorado College

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The Gold Pan is staying home. For the seventh consecutive season, the #8 Denver Pioneers (16-11-3, 12-6-1 NCHC) have laid claim to the traveling trophy that is awarded annually to the winner of the Battle for the Gold Pan between DU and Colorado College (11-12-4, 5-8-4 NCHC). With the 3-2 shootout victory in Colorado Springs, clinched by freshman Kristian Epperson in the second round and goalie Johnny Hicks, who made all three saves, the Pioneers have already earned seven of the 12 possible points in this year’s rivalry series. The shootout victory also means they gain a point on 1st-place North Dakota, which has two games in hand on the Pioneers.

The first two periods were dominated by special teams, with each of the first three goals – two for CC and one for DU – scored on the power play. It wasn’t until Jake Fisher scored with just two minutes left in the middle frame to tie the game at two that either team found the back of the net at even-strength. Denver’s much-maligned power play unit finally came through, trailing 2-0 after Klavs Veinbergs bookended the first intermission with his power-play goals for CC, as Rieger Lorenz scored his second goal in as many games.

It was Fisher’s even-strength goal, as it turned out, that clinched the  Pioneers’ 7th-straight Gold Pan. And it was a bit…fluky. After a bad CC turnover at the DU blue line, he gathered the puck off of Fisher Scott’s skate after whiffing on his original shot and found wide-open twine behind CC goalie Jackson Unger, who had reacted and committed to the original shot. It wasn’t the prettiest tying-goal the world has ever seen, but it counted just the same, and with both goalies pitching third-period shutouts, it was the goal that mattered most.

Three-on-three overtime was a predictable slog (seriously, can we find a better way to do this?) with a few ten-bell saves breaking up the unending monotony of both teams prioritizing possession over generating scoring chances. The waning moments of overtime provided the only drama that the five-minute period had to offer as CC, already on a power play, took a penalty of their own on a DU breakaway, which was saved by Unger with four seconds left. After the ensuing faceoff and quick buzzer, Sam Harris speared a CC player in the groin and was issued a five-minute major and game misconduct after the Tigers challenged the play. Absent supplemental discipline from the NCHC, the only effect of the call was that it barred Harris from participating in the shootout.

Thanks to the efforts of Hicks and Epperson, the penalty issued to Harris did not matter, and the Pioneers laid claim to the extra NCHC standings point on top of the Gold Pan.

Rest easy, Pios. The Gold Pan is staying home for another year. Now, attention can turn to more hardware in the coming weeks and months.

Highlights

Top photo courtesy of DU Athletics

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