The No. 2 Denver men’s hockey team swept No. 14 in-state rival Colorado College this weekend, outlasting the Tigers on Friday for a 6-5 win in Honnen Arena at CC and following up with a decisive 6-2 victory on Saturday in Magness Arena.
Six different Pioneers picked up a goal in Friday’s win, half of which were from defensemen. Sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora posted 38 saves in the contest.
“Every time you win a game, no matter how you win it, it’s a good thing, especially in this league,” said head coach George Gwozdecky after Friday’s win. “Obviously, against our arch rival in a building we haven’t had much success in over the years, it’s a good thing. I’m sure both teams have a lot of things that they are going to look back on and say, ‘Boy did we mess that up.’ The Pioneers fought tonight, and it was a heck of a battle.”
Junior defenseman David Makowski opened the scoring for Denver early, capitalizing on the power-play opportunity to knock one in just over one minute into the game assisted by junior forward Nick Shore and sophomore defenseman Joey LaLeggia.
The defenseman scoring trend continued as sophomore defenseman Scott Mayfield found the back of the net to score his first goal of the season and fourth of his career off assists from freshman forward Grant Arnold and senior captain and defenseman Paul Phillips.
CC got on the board in the second period with back-to-back goals from senior forward Rylan Schwartz in the fifth and eighth minutes to knot the score at 2-2.
The Pioneers would soon regain the lead, which they would not relinquish, going on a four-goal run. Sophomore forward Matt Tabrum started the run with a goal just over a minute later, assisted by Makowski and freshman forward Quentin Shore.
Forty seconds later, senior forward Chris Knowlton extended the lead to 4-2 with his 25th career goal, assisted by freshman forward Gabe Levin and Phillips. LaLeggia followed up with a goal off assists from sophomores forward Daniel Doremus and defenseman Josiah Didier to put Denver up 5-2.
Senior forward Shawn Ostrow netted the last of the Pioneers’ four unanswered goals at 1:22 in the third period on a solo effort.
CC was able to counter and cut the lead to 6-5 after seeing two straight goals from senior defenseman Mike Boivin, the second of which was on an extra-man effort.
However, the Pioneers were able to hold off the Tigers to squeak by with a win on the road. After the final buzzer, an on-ice brawl ensued, resulting in a one-game suspension for both Olkinuora and CC’s Schwartz.
Dominating at home
The Pioneers came out Saturday night to sweep the Tigers for the first time since December 2005. Denver only needs one more point against CC to retake the Gold Pan Trophy for the fourth time in the past five years.
“It’s four years [for me] that we haven’t swept the Tigers, and they got the Gold Pan last year,” said Knowlton. “I think for us, it’s awesome, but it goes even deeper. There’s a lot of former Pioneers out there that are pretty pumped tonight, as well. It’s not just for the guys in the locker room for this series, its for all those former Pios out there.”
Knowlton finished the night with four points, scoring two goals and registering two assists in the dominant win over the Tigers at home. Also scoring for Denver were Levin, Quentin Shore, Tabrum and Ostrow.
Junior goaltender Sam Brittain defended the Pioneer goal Saturday, recording 28 saves in the matchup while CC senior goaltender Joe Howe made 24 stops.
“We were really able to establish how the game was going to go by the way we played in the first period,” said Gwozdecky. “We played well, we dominated puck possession and we scored three good goals. We gave up a pretty easy goal on a miscommunication between our goalie and defensemen, but other than that, it was the best opening period we played all year, and it set the tone for the way we wanted the game to be played.”
Levin opened the scoring with his first career goal, knocking the puck in off a blocked shot by Knowlton. Makowski also registered an assist on the play.
Tabrum found the back of the night next for his second goal in two nights, assisted by Quentin Shore at 10:14.
Ostrow followed up at the 17:21 mark to put Denver up 3-0 over CC, while Doremus and Mayfield both tallied assists. Just 14 seconds later, CC found the net for the first time of the game with a goal from senior forward Scott Winkler, only to follow up with another Tiger goal from senior forward William Rapuzzi to make up CC’s only two goals of the game.
In the final minute of the second period, Winkler was whistled for contact to the head, a game misconduct penalty, putting the Pioneers on a five-minute power play. The team capitalized on the opportunity as Nick Shore and LaLeggia set Knowlton up for his second goal of the day to extend the lead to 4-2.
Quentin Shore picked up his third goal of the season with a wrister top shelf on a breakaway, while Knowlton was credited with the assist.
Knowlton sealed the game for the Pioneers in the 17th minute of the third period to make the score its final 6-2 over CC.
This weekend’s wins improve the Pioneers to 9-1-0, marking the team’s best start since starting out 13-1-0 in the 2001-2002 season. The 12-goal series for Denver also marks the best against CC since 1993, when Denver outscored CC 12-4 in the weekend series.
Up next, Denver hosts Yale on Friday at 7:37 p.m. and New Hampshire on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. in Magness Arena in two non-conference matchups.
