Hockey, Men's Sports

Pioneers Take Care Of Business vs. Tigers to Earn 5-Point Weekend

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Friday night’s shootout victory in Colorado Springs, the game that clinched the Gold Pan for DU, provided all the drama the #8 Denver Pioneers (17-11-3, 13-6-1 NCHC) had to worry about this weekend. In game two against the Colorado College Tigers (11-13-4, 5-9-4 NCHC) in Denver, the Pioneers never trailed and coasted to a 4-1 victory, which earned them a five-point weekend to stay two points back of first-place North Dakota. After recording just one win in an eight-game stretch from December 13 to January 23, the Pioneers are now on a five-game unbeaten streak, dating back to the 6-0 drubbing of St. Cloud State two weeks ago.

The Pioneers clinched their 7th-straight Gold Pan on Friday night, so there wasn’t much beyond NPI positioning and NCHC standings points for the Pioneers or Tigers to play for on Saturday, and it showed…at least for the visitors.  The Pioneers outclassed the Tigers from start to finish, outshooting them 39-18 along the way. CC, quite frankly, never looked interested.

And DU was perfectly happy to take what ended up being a stress-free victory. Kristian Epperson and Garrett Brown got the festivities started in the latter half of the first period, scoring goals less than two minutes apart off of some juicy rebounds from CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko. The only time the game felt even slightly in doubt was in the waning seconds of the opening period as Fisher Scott took full advantage of DU’s only bad defensive lapse in transition, roofing a shot from an empty high slot. Rieger Lorenz scored five minutes into the second, though, capping yet another stretch of dominant play by the hosts, and effectively ended any hopes of a CC comeback. Lorenz has now scored in three straight games.

Late in the second period, with the result still technically in doubt, Philippe Blais-Savoie speared Sam Harris, clearly in retaliation for the same thing Harris did to a Tiger at the end of overtime last night. David Carle challenged the play as the teams headed to intermission, and after a lengthy review, Blais-Savoie was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct – the same punishment Harris received in game one – for the infraction. As a result, Denver opened the third period with a five-minute power play, and Harris cashed in himself just 50 seconds in off of a perfect feed from Boston Buckberger to make it 4-1.

It was about as stress-free a night as DU could have asked for in this rivalry. Outside of Scott’s late first-period goal, the Tigers never threatened to make this a competitive game, and freshman goalie Johnny Hicks made easy work of a low-volume game.

The victory allowed the Pioneers to effectively keep pace with North Dakota and Western Michigan, both of whom won in regulation tonight. The Fighting Hawks have 42 points, the Pioneers 40, and the Broncos 35. UND and WMU each have two games in hand, which will be played in two weeks – North Dakota hosts St. Cloud State while Western Michigan visits Colorado College. WMU hosts UND in the final weekend of the season, though, which may decide the Penrose Cup.

It was a good weekend for the Pioneers, earning five important NCHC standings points and taking home their first hardware of the season. Now, as it appears they have turned a corner from their December/January rough spell, their attention turns to bigger, more important goals. At #11 in the NPI with just four regular-season games left before the NCHC Tournament, their NCAA Tournament status is getting stronger by the week, and Denver hosts the Loveland Regional this year, which means if they make the field of 16, they’re guaranteed to play their first and possibly second round games just up I-25. And to think this line of thought was out of the question just three weeks ago…it’s amazing how quickly things can change if you catch fire at just the right time.

Highlights

Top photo courtesy of DU Athletics

3 thoughts on “Pioneers Take Care Of Business vs. Tigers to Earn 5-Point Weekend”

  2. Overall a very good weekend and outcome ( gold pan)

    The remaining schedule , Omaha and Arizona St, is tough in that their poor npi means we have no room for error, winning 4 of 4 or at least 3 , may be needed ( too many variables of what other teams do and who wins conference tourneys) but the pios (due to coach carle) appear to be on track and doing all they can control- playing solid hockey

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  3. Mission accomplished this weekend. 5 of 6 league points, retention of the Gold Pan, no drop in the NPI, still in 2nd in the NCHC, and of course, it’s always fun to beat CC.

    I didn’t see Friday’s game, but DU controlled the game last night from start to finish. “Stress-free” is a good way to describe it. CC made the game somewhat interesting when Scott scored right before the end of the 1st period, but other than that, DU was in complete control, and CC never really looked threatening or inspired last night.

    Only 4 games left in the regular season. Keep the momentum going fellas!

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