After ongoing struggles all season and fewer wins than they are historically used to, DU hockey fans were finally given a reason to cheer over the weekend. The team dominated Colorado College on Thursday and Saturday night. They picked up a controlling 5-1 win in Colorado Springs on Thursday and shutout the Tigers 4-0 on Saturday at Magness Arena.
On Thursday night at the Broadmoor World Arena, both teams’ defenses shined. Neither was able to get on the scoreboard in the first period. The Tigers made more shots, but sophomore goaltender Magnus Chrona’s (Stockholm, Sweden) 13 saves in the period kept the game at a stalemate.
In the second period, senior forward Ryan Barrow (Banff, Alberta) scored an unassisted goal less than a minute into the period. The scoring never stopped the rest of the period, as the team would go on to score 4 more goals in the next 19 minutes. The last time DU put up 5 goals in one period was on Jan. 13, 2012 against Bemidji State.
Not only were there 5 goals scored in the second period, but they were all from different players. Junior forward Cole Guttman (Los Angeles, Calif.) was next on the scoreboard, followed by freshman defenseman Antti Tuomisto (Pori, Finland) to make it 3-0 at 6:32.
Senior forward Kohen Olischefski (Abbotsford, B.C.) followed, with Guttman sweeping around the net before finding him at 15:56. Finally, sophomore defenseman Justin Lee’s (Waskada, Manitoba) shot from the point with just over a minute remaining in the period and made it 5-0.
The Tigers stopped Denver from walking away with a shutout in the third period when Brian Hawkinson snuck the puck past Chrona at 13:53.
On Saturday night in Denver, DU demonstrated an equal amount of prowess.
Freshman forward Carter Savoie (St. Albert, Alberta) fired a no-look shot through the legs of CC goalie Mike Vernon to put Denver on the scoreboard at 7:08 of the first period. Fellow freshman forward Connor Caponi (Nashville, Tenn.) followed suit late in the period, nine seconds after the expiration of Denver’s first power play of the game, to make it 2-0.
Guttman was the star of the second period, scoring twice in 29 seconds during a power play. A limited offensive third period for both teams secured the shutout for DU.
“Magnus was really good again for us,” head coach David Carle said. “He kept us in the hockey game, and in many moments, he made lots of good saves.”
With the two wins, Denver has secured the Gold Pan for the second season in a row.
DU moves to 9-12-1 on the season. The team still has a chance at making the NCAA tournament without receiving an automatic bid by winning the NCHC tournament. Denver hasn’t missed the tournament since 2007.
Next week’s series against CC was canceled. DU has now finished out the regular season and will move on to the NCHC Frozen Face-off as the no. 5 seed.
