October means one thing for many fans across the country: college hockey is back. Denver made the trip north to Fairbanks, Alaska for a two-game series against the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks with games on both Saturday and Sunday night. The Pioneers won both games and are off to a strong start to their 2019-2020 campaign. Last season, Denver lost in the Frozen Four semifinal to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in overtime in what was a heartbreaking end to an otherwise phenomenal year.
On Saturday night, the Pioneers struggled early on, giving up a goal just 16 seconds into the game. Denver was unable to pick up any offensive momentum for much of the first period and went shotless for over 13 minutes, until sophomore forward Ryan Barrow (Banff, Alberta) scored a goal late in the period for the Pioneers. Kyle Marino scored a goal for Alaska at 16:13 to go into the second period with a 2-1 lead for the Nanooks.
In the second period, Denver was able to catch up and take control of the puck, while also playing excellent defense, with freshman goaltender Magnus Chrona (Stockholm, Sweden) saving 8 shots in the period. Junior forward Kohen Olischefski (Abbotsford, B.C.) scored a goal on a power play at 9:47, and freshman forward Bobby Brink (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored the first goal of his college career at 11:15.
In the final period, UAF forward Steven Jandric scored a goal at 12:00. The second half of the period included lots of back-and-forth action from both teams, with a total of 11 combined shots in an eight minute timespan. Sophomore forward Cole Guttman (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored a goal with one minute remaining to secure a 4-3 win for the Pioneers.
On Sunday’s game, the Pioneers’ defense dominated the whole game and shut out the Nanooks. Two out of the Pioneers three goals came from defensemen, and Chrona saved a total of 28 shots. Nearly 40 minutes went by without a score from either team, until junior defensemen Ian Mitchell (Calahoo, Alberta) scored a two-on-one shorthanded goal with 55 seconds left in the second period.
Junior defensemen Griffin Mendel (Kelowna, B.C.) doubled Denver’s lead with a wrist shot at 6:07 in the third period. Barrow scored his second goal of the weekend with 29 seconds to go in the game to give the Pios a 3-0 win.
Denver will play at Lake Superior State next weekend before returning home to play Boston College on Oct. 18 and 19 for homecoming and parents’ weekend.
