Photo by: Michael Furman
This weekend brings two more conference games for the Pioneers. Michigan Tech (4-18-0 WCHA, 5-22-1) will be in town to face the Pioneers (14-4-4 WCHA, 20-6-4) on Friday and Saturday night.
DU has the WCHA regular season championship in sight with a one-point lead over St. Cloud St. and two more games to play this season.
This weekend’s games could be a preview of the first round playoff match-up for the Pioneers. Michigan Tech currently sits in last place in the conference with eight points.
“This weekend needs to be handled like any other weekend. Michigan Tech is a tough team and plays hard. We need to be ready to play an intense series,” said senior captain Rhett Rakhshani.
Last season DU swept the season series, winning all four games by a combined score of 19-5.
Michigan Tech should be well rested, though, after having last weekend off.
Denver, on the other hand, must be on an emotional high after sweeping Minnesota in a dominating performance. This marks the first time that DU has ever swept Minnesota in a season series.
DU also swept North Dakota in all four games they played this year.
Joe Colborne had a great weekend, scoring four goals, including a hat trick on Saturday night.
He gave a lot of the credit to his line mates, seniors Rakhshani and Tyler Ruegsegger.
“They make me look better out there,” Colborne said.
“I am lucky to be playing with two of the best players in college hockey and they did most of the work. Rhett made two unbelievable passes on the first two goals. I had the easy job of just putting them in. Still it was an awesome feeling,” said Colborne.
Marc Cheverie was within two minutes on Friday and within a minute on Saturday night of a shutout.
“Chevy” made 76 saves on 78 shots over the weekend. The Denver net minder has stopped 121 of the last 124 shots he has faced, as he makes his case for the Hobey Baker award.
This season, Cheverie has stopped 136 of 138 shots he has faced from the Golden Gophers.
The other Hobey Baker candidate on DU is Rakhshani. Currently tied for eighth in the nation in points with 39, Rakhshani had a four-point weekend as well. He had one goal and three assists helped DU sweep Minnesota.
The Pioneers are still chasing No. 1 Miami of Ohio in the national and PairWise rankings.
Over the weekend, the RedHawks coasted past Bowling Green, outscoring them 13-4 in the two games.
Denver still remains No. 2 in both polls.
The Pioneers are on a six- game winning streak, and they will look to continue that against Michigan Tech.
The games will be in Magness Arena on Friday night at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Follow the games live at duclarion.com.
