It’s that time, time for the stretch run of the 2005-2006 hockey season and the Pioneers are going in at full speed after two wild wins this weekend and a current seven-game winning streak.

DU’s offense was in championship form, as crisp passes, perfectly executed play-making and expertly aimed shots overwhelmed the Mavericks 7-4 and 5-1.

Although shaky at times, DU’s defense stiffened when necessary, and sophomore goaltender Peter Mannino showed a return to his past stellar form with Saturday night’s near miss of a shutout on a meaningless fluke goal.B B

“Towards the end of the road here, you are playing for points. Games are going to start getting real physical and defensive,” said senior Gabe Gauthier.

The victories lifted the two-time defending NCAA champs to first place in the WCHA for the first time this season.

“We always like to think that we are the best team, but right now, tonight we are feeling good and hopefully we can continue our success onto Minnesota,” said Ryan Dingle answering if he thought DU would get into first place after the Wells Fargo Cup and St. Cloud State losses.

The Pioneers are playing similar to last season when they suffered a 3-0 loss to Michigan Tech on Jan. 7, 2005 and then went on to win and tie 10 straight games. This season DU suffered an embarrassing 5-1 home loss to St. Cloud State on Jan. 13 and has since won seven straight games.

“Doing the little things to win, blocking shots, chipping the puck out when we need to and staying composed and not taking stupid penalties, those are the key things we have been doing and it has been successful for us,” said Gauthier.

Denver had its most exciting first period on Friday when sophomore Geoff Paukovich netted his fourth of the season and sophomore Paul Stastny scored his ninth to give DU an early 2-0 lead.

The Mavericks followed with three straight goals within three minutes, before freshman Chris Butler, junior J.D. Corbin and Gauthier scored three goals within two minutes.

In all, all eight goals combined were scored within six and a half minutes of the period and Denver escaped with a 5-3 lead. The second period was much different as Stastny netted his second of the game late in the period followed by a Maverick goal. The third period featured sophomore Ryan Dingle’s team-leading 18 goal of the season to give the Pioneers a final win of 7-4.

“Every time we have a game against them, it is the weirdest game and a high scoring game. They are a very skilled team and we are glad to get out of that game tonight,” said Gauthier.

Hobe Baker award finalist and junior defenseman Matt Carle added a career-high five assists Friday night, continuing to show how great a player he is in every game.

“He is unbelievable, amazing, so fun to play with and watch and it is just amazing what he has done and what he can do and it really helps us out offensively,” said Gauthier, referring to Carle.

Saturday was not much different as Gauthier got things started with a goal one minute and a half into the game followed by Stastny and Dingle to give DU a 3-0 lead after the first period.

In the second period, freshman Patrick Mullen put in his fifth of the season, along with a MSU goal. Mullen lit the red lamp once again in the third period to bring DU to a successful home sweep and 5-1 victory.

“I think we are starting to get interested again. I don’t mean to be flippant about that. There is no question as you look at our team right now and how we are playing. We are doing it the best we have all season. It is that time of the season that we need to be doing that,” said Head Coach George Gwozdecky.

The Pioneers opened the season with a 2-5-1 road mark and since then have gone a perfect 8-0 and have not lost on the road since a 1-0 setback at Boston University on Nov. 25.

“Just having fun, getting away from everything, everything is going on here with all the distractions, it is nice to get away from it sometimes,” said Dingle on playing on the road.

With six points on the weekend Carle now has the most points in the WCHA with 11 goals and 35 assists on the season, to bring him to 46 points.

Denver will travel to take on the No. 1 Minnesota Gophers this Friday and Saturday night, a team they tied 3-3 and lost to 4-0 earlier this season at home. A few weeks ago the Pioneers swept then No. 1 Wisconsin on the road.

“Minnesota is an unbelievable team. They have some unbelievable players, as long as we do what we have been doing and stick to the defensive zone, then we will be fine,” said Dingle.

DU has six remaining regular season games, all against ranked opponents, No. 1 Minnesota, No. 11 North Dakota (home, Feb. 24, 25) and No. 8 Colorado College (home, Mar. 3).

Denver has now moved up to No. 7 in the country in both the USA Today and USCHO.com polls.

With this weekend’s sweep the Pioneers did something that many probably thought wouldn’t happen this season and that is move into first place in the WCHA, something they don’t plan on losing, Gauthier said.

“We are atop the league and we are going to stay there.”