A look at Denver
After splitting the weekend’s series against St. Cloud State, the Pioneers climbed to the No. 3 spot in the all-important PairWise Rankings and clenched home ice for WCHA playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.
Denver are 20-10-4 but dropped to the No. 2 position in the WCHA standings with 35 points, just one point behind North Dakota.
The Pioneers have now clinched either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the WCHA playoffs on March 13-15.
Despite foregoing the Gold Pan Trophy, they are still looking to win the MacNaughton Cup. Denver could win the cup outright with a win as long as Wisconsin sweeps the Fighting Sioux this weekend.
The Pioneers could share the title with the Sioux with a tie against CC and a Wisconsin sweep, or a win and a Sioux tie and a loss in Madison. If DU and UND finish as co-champions, the Sioux will earn the top seed fo rthe WCHA Playoffs because they own the tiebreaker over Denver.
Leading the Pioneers in scoring is sophomore Anthony Maini who is tied for third in WCHA scoring with 11 goals and 28 assists for a total of 39 points.
Players to watch
Freshmen Patrick Wiercioch and Joe Colborne rank second for Denver and are tied for fourth in WCHA rookie scoring.
Colborne netted the game tying goal last time DU met CC.
Sophomore goaltender Marc Cheverie leades the WCHA in minutes played and is second for goals against average, save percentage and win percentage.
A look at Colorado College
The Tigers are 116-10-9 and have dropped to No. 17 in the PairWise rankings after losing three points to North Dakota over the weekend with a 4-4 tie and a 3-4 loss.
They are now No. 3 in the WCHA with 30 points, five points behind DU.
The Tigers have not won an NCAA National Championship title since 1957, while DU has won seven titles since 1958.
Colorado College needs to win this weekend’s game to clench home ice for the WCHA playoffs.
The Tigers have held possession of the Gold Pan Trophy for three consecutive seasons and beat DU 3-2 in November and tied 2-2 in October and 3-3 in November, both in overtime.
Colorado College has battled numerous injuries and illnesses, but the team is finally starting to get better and they have the most full lineup that they’ve had since Thanksgiving, according to head coach Mike Eaves.
Players to watch
Senior Chad Rau leads Colorado College in scoring and is ranked No. 7 in the WCHA for scoring with 12 goals and 15 assists for a total of 27 points. Rau is ranked No. 5 in total WCHA goals, No. 6 in power-play goals and No. 16 in assists.
He netted Saturday’s game-tying goal against the Fighting Sioux and tallied one power-play goal and an assist.
Sophomore Richard Bachman has recorded three shutouts this season, all before the new year, but stopped a total of 41 shots last time the two teams met.
Junior Mike Testwuide will be playing his last game against his brother, Denver captain J.P. Testwuide, for both teams’ final game of the regular season.
