DU hockey swept Colorado College and claimed the Gold Pan for the sixth consecutive year; a fierce 4-1 Friday night win and an exciting 4-3 win on Saturday completed the sweep for the Crimson and Gold.
Before Friday’s game, the senior class of senior forward Jack Devine, senior forward Connor Caponi, senior forward Carter King and senior goaltender Matt Davis were honored for their record-breaking achievement of being the winningest class in Denver hockey history.
“It’s pretty cool; it’s hard to break any sort of record and even harder at a program like ours. For those guys to do it when they did and add to it, and they were all key contributors tonight on the last regular season game,” Head Coach David Carle said of the senior class.
The rivalry started early for the two teams, with Denver getting a power play at 1:32, then at 2:57, Denver answered on the first powerplay of the night. A goal from junior forward Samu Salminen and a strong cross-ice pass from sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp gave DU the 1-0 lead.
Early in the third period at 4:30, Colorado College’s Bret Link tied the game on a net-front deflection. A point shot from Phillippe Blaise-Savoie got a piece of Link’s stick and beat a surprised Davis, tying the game at 1-1.
The game got tense, and a sold-out Magness Arena crowd was on the edge of their seats for every opportunity.
Denver broke the tie midway past the final period. At 10:41, sophomore forward Sam Harris received a cross-ice pass from freshman forward James Reeder. Harris wired a shot over the shoulder of Mbereko to score his 20th goal of the season and gave Denver the 2-1 lead.
“The goal felt unreal. I haven’t scored in a couple of games and it felt really good to pot it. I didn’t really look, and I just ripped it as hard as I could,” Harris explained on his go-ahead goal.
Roughly five minutes later, at 15:10, Denver extended their lead with a tip-in goal from Reeder. A point shot from Pohlkamp deflected off Reeder’s stick and put the Denver lead to 3-1.
At 19:01, Pohlkamp captured his fourth point of the night with an empty-net goal from his own end and secured the Gold Pan and the 4-1 victory for the Crimson and Gold.
“I was in a bit of a slump if you look at my numbers, but staying within myself and my play… it showed tonight with the guys doing a lot of the heavy lifting it, but it was great to get on the board,” Pohlkamp said on his four-point night.
The Crimson and Gold traveled down to Ed Robson Arena to take on Colorado College at home on Saturday, and it started with fireworks. Penalties, a lot of post-whistle scrums and tight checking started the final game of the regular season.
The first period was quiet with no goals being scored, but six penalties kept the period interesting and the two netminders of Mbereko for CC and Davis for DU made key saves to keep the game knotted at zeros.
Early in the middle frame at 1:47, CC took a hooking penalty, putting Denver on the power play for the third time.
At 3:29, Devine beat Mbereko five-hole to give Denver the 1-0 lead. A nice setup pass from junior forward Aidan Thompson gave Devine his 12th goal of the season.
Denver took an interference penalty at 7:08, putting CC on the powerplay, and Colorado College answered back at 7:21 to tie the game at 1-1. A missed shot attempt off the end glass bounced right to Gleb Veremeyv who batted it out of mid-air for an awkward goal on Davis.
Late in the period, at 14:05, a point shot from sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger beat Mbereko through a screen of bodies and went top shelf, and Denver retook the lead at 2-1.
The final period of the regular season was an exciting one for both teams. It got started early at 2:53 when Denver extended the lead to 3-1 on a goal from Reeder, who cleaned up a net-front rebound from a Harris shot.
A little over three minutes later, at 6:12, sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium wired a shot over the pad of Mbereko and extended the Denver lead further to 4-1.
Over a minute later, Colorado College answered back with a goal of their own from Zacharaya Wisdom, a one-timer goal that squeaked past a sliding Davis to cut the deficit to 4-2.
CC held onto the momentum and a few minutes later, at 9:27, Owen Beckner scored a wrap-around goal that beat Davis on the far side to make it a one-goal game at 4-3.
The Tigers tried their best to tie the game and pulled their goalie, but Denver held strong in defending the offensive surge from CC to secure the weekend sweep against their biggest rival.
“That’s where it pays off to go through those challenges in the year, and it’s stuff we learn from and adapt to, and when you get put in situations like that, you got to have experience and knowledge on how to deal with the situation and I thought we handled it well,” King explained on being able to close out the tight game.
Denver Hockey will face Colorado College again at Magness Arena for a three-game series in the NCHC quarterfinals on March 14, March 15 and March 16, if needed.
