Denver pulls ahead for good in third, drops Colorado College to fourth seed in next weekend’s NCHC quarterfinal playoff series

By Joe Paisley

Fourth-ranked Denver seized control in the third period and garnered second
place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with a 4-3 home win over No.
10 Colorado College to conclude the regular season.

The fourth-seeded Tigers (20-11-3) finished tied
for third in the NCHC standings, their best conference finish since a tie for
third in the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 2008-09. No.
17 St. Cloud State garnered the NCHC third seed on a tiebreaker.

CC will host fifth-seeded No. 16 Omaha (20-13-1) in a best-of-three NCHC
playoff series with Game 1 at 7 pm Friday and Game 2 at 6 Saturday. If
necessary, Game 3 would be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Ed Robson Arena.

UNO and CC are tied for 11th in the Pairwise rankings with Western Michigan 13th, Providence 14th and SCSU tied for 15th with Massachusetts. 

It is the first time the Mavericks and the Tigers will play each other in
the postseason. Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. with some available
since the CC students will be on spring break.

Omaha won in regulation and in a shootout Feb. 23-24 in Nebraska in the two
team’s only games this season. The result was disappointing after a home sweep
of North Dakota the weekend prior.

“We’ll get to work on them and we’ll be ready,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte told
KRDO Radio. “We have a pretty good idea what their (game plan) is. They play
with a lot of confidence and they’re good. But our guys are looking for a
little redemption.”

The Pioneers out shot CC by a 12-5 margin in the third, capped when Jared
Wright knocked in a rebound off a Denver shot that clanged off a net post and
landed out in front for a tap-in tally with 8:16 left.

“They controlled for most of the game tonight like we did (Friday),” Mayotte
said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. We didn’t break up their speed enough.”

Momentum had turned in CC’s favor late in the second period when a Denver
power play goal was disallowed by an offsides call following a video review.
That kept it at 3-2 Pioneers with 3:34 left before Tigers sophomore defenseman Ethan
Straky scored with 19.6 seconds remaining in the middle frame to tie the
game at 3-3.

It was Straky’s second goal this season and his first since the Oct. 13 season-opener
– a span of 32 games. It started off a turnover forced by Drew Montgomery
and collected by Bret Link, who passed over to Straky as he skated
forward into the Pioneers slot for a one-timer that blew past Denver goalie Matt
Davis (22 saves).

Earlier, freshman winger Evan Werner popped in a power-play goal with
12:31 left in second on a toe-drag wrister from the right faceoff circle to tie
the game at 2-2. The assists went to senior Chase Foley and freshman Max
Burkholder.

Denver would answer with Sam Harris’ second goal of the game with 4:47
remaining and the disallowed power-play goal just 71 seconds later that would
have blown the game open. Instead, the resilient Tigers answered with Straky’s
tally, setting up the decisive third period.

In the first period, CC started off well when Noah Laba forced a
Denver turnover and sent the puck forward to Montgomery, who converted the shorthanded
breakaway to put the Tigers head 1-0 just 5:35 into the regular-season finale.

“I liked how we responded every time they took the lead,” Mayotte said. “We didn’t
keep enough momentum after that (shorthanded) goal. When you get the lead like
that you want to build on that.”

Harris took advantage of his good fortune when CC defenseman Jack Millar’s
stick broke while making a pass in the Tigers’ offensive zone, sending the puck
to a wide-open Harris for a goal with 6:20 left in the first period to tie the
game at 1-1.

Rieger Lorenz sparked the Pioneers when he stole the puck and raced ahead, firing
a wrist shot past CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko (34 saves) with 15:46 left in
the second period to put the Pioneers ahead 2-1.

Saturday’s scores 

No. 16 Omaha 4, No. 3 North Dakota 1 (Mavs home sweep)

No. 15 Western Michigan 6, Miami 1 (Broncos home sweep)

Minnesota Duluth 4, No. 17 St. Cloud State 2 (Bulldogs home sweep)

NCHC Playoffs 

Best of three series, 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday
(if necessary)

No. 8 seed Miami (7-24-3) at No. 1 North Dakota (24-10-2)

No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (12-18-5) at No. 2 Denver (24-9-3)

No. 6 Western Michigan (20-13-1) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (15-14-5)

No. 5 Omaha (20-10-4) at No. 4 Colorado College (20-11-3)

Ice chips

CC recorded two shorthanded goals against the Pioneers this weekend, the
only ones allowed by DU in 36 games this regular season. Laba scored the first
Friday and set up the other on Saturday. … The Tigers’ 20 wins are the most
since 23 recorded during the 2010-11 season, the last time CC played in the
NCAA Tournament.  … … The 75^thanniversary of the first
game in this rivalry series will be in January 2025. … DU holds a 197-123-21
lead in the all-time series including 113-52-11 in Denver. The last Tigers win
at Magness Arena was the last time CC swept DU to close out the regular season,
March 8, 2019 (2-1). … The 341 games between the rivals ties Michigan-Michigan
State (341) for the most games played in a rivalry series.  … The last time CC hosted a home playoff series
was in March 2012 when the Tigers were swept by Michigan Tech at the Broadmoor
World Arena.

 

Tigers down No. 4 Denver, clinch home playoff ice for first time in NCHC and since 2011-12 season

By Joe Paisley

Thanks to a superb performance by sophomore Noah Laba, Colorado College did not play its final home game Friday night.

The sophomore center scored twice as the Tigers held on to defeat No. 4 Denver, 4-3. The victory clinched home playoff ice for the first time in 12 years for CC and as a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The victory for the 10^th-ranked Tigers avenged two earlier losses to the second-place Pioneers that kept the Gold Pan Trophy in Denver for the fifth-straight season.

But that didn’t matter much to a record crowd of 3,912 at Ed Robson Arena (3,407 capacity) Friday as the 20-10-3 Tigers, enjoying their best season in 16 years, secured at least fourth place in the NCHC headed into Saturday’s regular-season finale. 

“We are excited to give this to our fans,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “We have to keep pushing because we still have a job to do. To get this out of the way tonight was huge because now we can just focus on our execution (Saturday at Denver).”

CC’s foe and final seeding for the best-of-three playoff series will be determined Saturday night. Tickets go on sale at cctigers.com at 10 a.m. Monday.

Colorado College could not have started the nationally-televised game worse, but fortunately for a rambunctious Tigers fanbase, it didn’t last thanks to Laba.

Laba scored just nine seconds after leaving the penalty box to tie the game at 1-1 with 17:22 left in the first period and Gleb Veremyev scored off a pass from Zaccharya Wisdom about 11 minutes later to pull ahead, 2-1.

DU had jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 17 seconds in when Jack Devine knocked in a rebound past CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko (20 saves) and the Pioneers looked primed to take complete control when Laba was called for tripping just 12 seconds later.

“In that moment, and I give a ton of credit to our penalty kill,” Mayotte said. “That’s a huge part of why we were able to be successful. When you execute that way, you build belief in your bench. The resiliency that we have talked about all year and the ability to get back to it and get back to work was impressive.”

The Tigers penalty kill (4 for 4) would stymie the Pioneers all night long and Drew Montgomery found a streaking Laba for a breakaway goal to jumpstart the Tigers. 

It was all CC until an extra-attacker goal by Tristan Broz with 1:30 left cut the Tigers lead to 4-3.

Laba scored his second with a tremendous individual effort, stealing the puck from a Denver defender at the DU blue line and fending off the Pioneer as he skated forward, eventually lifting a backhander in under the cross bar past goalie Matt Davis (27 saves) to make it 3-1 on a shorthanded goal midway through the second period.

“He was phenomenal,” Mayotte said. “He was doing all the little things too. He won 71 percent (15 of 21) of the (faceoff) draws tonight. He is a true 200-foot player. He has that explosion. If you give him a couple feet of space he will get after it.”

A goal by CC freshman Max Burkholder, his second game-winner in as many games, gave CC a 4-1 lead entering the third period.

Colorado College now sits at No. 11 in the Pairwise rankings, which are used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine the 16-team tournament field’s at-large berths.

One key for the Tigers was how they stayed calm during a rivalry game and did not panic after Denver’s quick start. It showed a maturity that started with the team’s leadership, Mayotte said.

“This had the potential to be an incredibly emotional game and the crowd was awesome,” Mayotte said. “It can unravel and our guys didn’t let that happen.”

That calm was impressive on the Tigers bench considering how raucous Robson was. The home-ice advantage publicized during the construction of the on-campus arena was loud and clear Friday.

“The energy tonight was absolutely incredible,” Mayotte said. “That was one of the loudest buildings I have ever been part of. We couldn’t talk on the bench. A guy standing two feet away from you, you had to scream at him because it was that loud.”

Friday scores 

Omaha 3, North Dakota 2

Western Michigan 3, Miami 2

Minnesota Duluth 6, St. Cloud State 5 (OT)

NCHC Playoff Pairings 

as of 11:30 p.m. Mtn Friday

*No. 8 Miami (seven points) at *No. 1 North Dakota (49)

*No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (25) at No. 2 Denver (42)

No. 6 Western Michigan (34) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (41)

No. 5 Omaha (37) at No. 4 Colorado College (41)

* seeds already determined

Ice chips

The Tigers’ 20 wins are the most since 23 recorded during the 2010-11 season, the last time CC played in the NCAA Tournament.  … The last Tigers win before Friday against the Pioneers was 4-3 on Jan. 1, 2021 with graduate defenseman Connor Mayer scoring the game-winner early in the third period. … The 75^thanniversary of the first game in this rivalry series will be in January 2025. … Denver holds a 196-123-21 lead in the all-time series including a 78-69-10 record in Colorado Springs. … The 340 games between the rivals trails only Michigan-Michigan State (341).  The NCHC schools will tie the Big Ten programs Saturday at Magness Arena. … Seven Tigers have recorded at least 10 assists this season, the most since eight did so during the 2018-19 season.

Future CC defenseman Blais-Savoie selected for USA Hockey’s All-American Game Jan. 15

Future Tigers defenseman Philippe Blais-Savoie is one of 45 players selected by USA Hockey for the 2024 Chipotle All-American Game at 2 p.m. Mountain, Monday Jan. 15 in Plymouth, Mich. The contest, which will feature top prospects eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft, will be broadcast live on NHL Network. The San Jose, Calif. native will compete for Team Blue.

Blais-Savoie, fresh off helped the Americans to a bronze medal at the 2023 World Junior A Challenge earlier this month, competes for the U.S. Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm. The game features players from the U.S. National Under-18 Team and the USHL. All competing have committed or signed with one of 18 Division 1 programs with the National Collegiate Hockey Conference well represented.

Colorado College Tigers ranked for first time in 11 years, enters both national polls

Sweeping then-No. 1 North Dakota in Grand Forks for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend 1993 excited the Tigers fans and apparently, some USCHO poll and USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll voters.

For the first time since Dec. 2, 2012, the 9-6-1 Tigers are ranked in the national polls, entering the rankings at No. 20, after two 3-2 overtime wins over UND last weekend.

The last time CC was ranked, it was at No. 19 in the USCHO poll when the Tigers were 8-7-1 (5-3 men’s WCHA) following a 1-1 home weekend against then-No. 7 North Dakota which included an OT loss. Those Tigers finished 18-19-5, losing in the WCHA Final Five title game to Wisconsin.

This year’s Tigers are comfortably in the USCHO poll with 96 points, ahead of Omaha and its 34 and not far behind No. 19 Penn State (105).

The last time CC was ranked in the USA Hockey poll was at No. 14 on Nov. 12, 2012. That poll only ranked the top 15 at that time.

Among the NCHC teams in the USCHO poll, North Dakota dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 while Denver slipped one spot to No. 5 after a road split at now-No. 12 Western Michigan (up one spot).

League-leading St. Cloud State is now at No. 14, moving up one spot, with CC at No. 20 and Omaha receiving votes for what would be 21^st.

Tigers will face No. 1 North Dakota this weekend

Colorado College, which received a single vote as the No. 20 team in the country, will get an opportunity to change national poll voters minds when they travel to No. 1 North Dakota this weekend for a National Collegiate Hockey Conference series.

UND (12-3-1) is fresh off a road series split at now-No. 4 Denver (11-4-1, down one spot). NoDak moved up one spot after former No. 1 Boston College split against an unranked foe.

Western Michigan stayed at No. 13 while idle St. Cloud State moved up two spots to No. 15. Omaha led the receiving votes category (21st) with CC trailing the pack at what would be 29th.

CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko named to NCHC preseason team

Colorado College vs. Nebraska Omaha, Robson Arena, Dec. 10, 2022

Colorado College sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko was named to the 2023-24 NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team as selected by the media, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced Monday, two days ahead of its annual Media Day.

The NCHC preseason poll will be announced Tuesday via X (Twitter) starting at 1 p.m. Mountain with the projected last-place team, followed by seventh, sixth and so on.

The leading vote-getter on the Preseason All-NCHC Team was North Dakota sophomore forward Jackson Blake, who earned 25 of a possible 27 votes, after garnering the league Rookie of the Year honor last season, also well as making the all-NCHC second team and all-rookie team.

Denver junior forward Massimo Rizzo collected 24 votes along with UND senior Riese Gaber (17 votes). St. Cloud State junior defenseman Jack Peart (23 votes) was paired with Pioneers junior Sean Behrens (19) with Mbereko (23) in goal.

Gaber and Behrens both made the 2022-23 pre-season squad. Rizzo named the all-NCHC first team last spring while Gaber was named to the second team as was Peart. Behrens garnered honorable mention while Mbereko was named to the all-league second team and all-rookie squad. .
The two-time NCHC Goaltender of the Month and one-time Rookie of the Month last season went 9-16-2 in 30 appearances in net, while backstopping CC to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game. Mbereko’s .925 save percentage led the NCHC last year, while his 2.30 goals-against average (GAA) was third. His four shutouts tied for the NCHC lead. In conference play only, Mbereko posted a .930 save percentage and a 2.26 GAA, both in the top three in the NCHC.
Twenty-seven media members voted for three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender on their ballot with each vote worth one point.

2023-24 NCHC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

F – Jackson Blake, North Dakota – 25 votes

F – Massimo Rizzo, Denver – 24 votes

F – Riese Gaber, North Dakota – 17 votes

D – Jack Peart, St. Cloud State – 23 votes

D – Sean Behrens, Denver – 19 votes

G – Kaidan Mbereko, Colorado College – 23 votes 

My ballot:

Forward: Jackson Blake, North Dakota

Forward: Massimo Rizzo, Denver

Forward: Ben Steeves, Minnesota Duluth

Defenseman: Jack Peart, St. Cloud State

Defenseman: Sean Behrens, Denver

Goalie: Kaidan Mbereko, CC

Third-ranked Denver dominates third to win 11th straight against Tigers and extend CC winless streak to 13 games

By Joe Paisley

COLORADO SPRINGS – Colorado College stood toe to toe with third-ranked Denver for the first two periods, but it was a different story in the decisive third.

The Pioneers scored 52 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead en route to a 4-2 win, DU’s 11^th straight against their Front Range rivals.

Trystan Lemyre and Aidan Thompson scored. Massimo Rizzo added an empty-netter with 39 seconds left for the final margin in the regular-season finale for both teams..

While the 52-second downturn was most noticeable, DU outplayed the Tigers (10-21-3) throughout the period, out shooting the hosts 11-4 after CC entered the third leading 23-22 in that statistic.

“It wasn’t a lack of effort,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “We got passive and tried hanging on for the win. We were on our heels the entire period. We didn’t handle the lead very well.”

“We have played two periods a lot this year,” he added. “We need to put together 60 (minutes) to win. We will turn the page but you have a 2-1 lead at home in the third and you don’t even come close to getting the job done. That’s disappointing.”

The loss did not affect CC’s seventh-place finish. Colorado College will play at No. 2 seed Western Michigan in this coming weekend’s National Collegiate Hockey Conference best-of-three quarterfinal series. Game 1 is at 5 pm Mountain Friday with Game 2 at 4 p.m. Saturday and Game 3 4 p.m. Sunday (if necessary).

The Tigers started attacking the DU net and it paid off while on the power play when Matthew Gleason knocked in the second rebound, scoring from the weakside for a 1-0 lead with 1:31 left in the first period. Logan Will fired the initial shot. Ethan Straky got a piece of the puck for the first rebound that DU goalie Matt Davis (25 saves) was unable to control, setting up the junior from St. Paul for his 10^th career goal as a Tiger.

“Gleas(on) was good and has been building towards this,” Mayotte said. “We had chances to go up two and again, you have to find a way to do that.“ 

The goal gave Colorado College its first lead against Denver since Jan. 1, 2021, a 4-3 victory, that was also CC’s last win against their Front Range rival.

Denver’s Shai Buium tied it at 1-1 on a power-play one-timer that senior Matt Vernon (29 saves) was unable to keep out with 8:16 left in the second.

McKown put CC ahead 2-1 when he rifled a rising shot during a delayed penalty with 4:45 left in the second period. 

The Tigers were unable to convert on the subsequent power play and Denver dominated the third period to pull out the road win. 

“It’s an opportunity and we didn’t execute,” Mayotte said. “I do not think we even sustained momentum. I thought we lost a little off of that. We had our chances.”

Besides Gleason, McKown was the only Tiger to score against DU (power-play goal, penalty shot, delayed penalty) this season.

Ice chips

Seattle Kraken forward and Tigers great Jaden Schwartz was honored during the first media timeout of the first period. … DU senior goalie Magnus Chrona was held out Saturday and is week to week with an undisclosed injury… Denver improved to 194-121-21 in the all-time series. … The series is now at 336 games, second only to the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry (337) in college hockey. … CC closed out the regular season on a 13-game winless streak, dating back to a road win Jan. 13. … CC is 7-34-5 in 10 years of NCHC play against Denver. … Denver is now 4-0 at Ed Robson Arena. … DU’s 11-game winning streak is the longest since a 14-0 run from Nov. 14, 2014 to March 11, 2017. 

Colorado College breaks shutout streak, but falls short against No. 4 Denver as Pioneers retain Gold Pan Trophy

By Joe Paisley

COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado College finally scored against Denver senior goalie Magnus Chrona, but it wasn’t enough to deny the No. 4 Pioneers a 4-1 victory and another year with the Gold Pan in the Magness Arena trophy case.

With Saturday’s road win, Denver has now retained or won the Gold Pan Trophy outright 17 times in the hardware’s 30-year history. CC last hoisted the trophy in 2019. The teams meet again to close out the regular season March 3-4.

The game’s momentum turned against seventh-place CC after the Tigers had seized it following a penalty-shot goal by Hunter McKown that cut the Pioneers lead to 2-1 with 15:56 left in the third period and invigorated a record crowd of 3,892 fans at Ed Robson Arena.

But an interference call on Tommy Middleton and a tripping penalty on Logan Will just 63 seconds later gave Denver a 5-on-3 man advantage it would not waste. Mike Benning rifled a rising shot into the upper corner of the net to make it 3-1 against a possibly screened freshman goalie Kaidan Mbereko (23 saves).

“You score there, the building is going, you can’t take a penalty,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “Once you take one, you can still get fueled by the kill but you can’t take the next one. It’s unfortunate. You almost shoot yourself in the foot, right? I thought that we were coming. We had some possession time. We were creating some good chances. We were getting to the net. You have to learn from those. That was a big mistake.”

Some Denver fans tweeted the game was over at that point, but the Tigers, who played well over the final two periods mounted a comeback bid against their National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival.

Unfortunately for the CC faithful, Chrona (22 saves) was up to the challenge. About 10 minutes after his shutout streak against the Tigers ended at an impressive 3 hours, 50 minutes and 11 seconds with McKown’s tally, he made four big saves in a row during a Denver penalty kill that kept the surging Tigers (10-15-1, 6-9-1-0-0-1, 20 points) at bay.

“We got better as it went on,” Mayotte said. “We had a chance to win that game.”

Carter King scored an empty-netter with 1:42 left for the final margin.

Denver started off the game well, drawing two penalties in the first seven minutes with Harvard transfer Casey Dornbach lifting in a rebound with 11:07 left for a 1-0 lead. Pioneers captain Justin Lee popped free in the Tigers zone and ripped a shot with 4:06 remaining for a 2-0 edge and the eventual game-winner for the league-leading Pioneers (21-7-0, 12-4-0-2-1-0, 35 points)

“It felt like they were getting on us and creating more turnovers than us, especially early,” Mayotte said. “We weren’t managing the way we did in the second and third getting out of our zone. I didn’t think we were funneling well. We would turn a puck over off their forecheck and they had time and space to find the next play. We were almost too urgent to go on offense in the counterattack. That just kept the puck in our zone for too long.”

“I thought we were a little nervous, a little tight. We were just throwing pucks away instead of making good plays with them. When you do that, they (DU) know what to do.”

Ice chips

The loss was CC’s fifth in a row, all against top-10 teams and the Tigers’ ninth in a row to the Pioneers who are 13-1-1 in the last 15 games between the longtime rivals. … Saturday’s game was the 334^th meeting, trailing only Michigan-Michigan State (335). The Pioneers own a 192-121-21 lead in the all-time series. … Next week, CC travels to No. 19 Omaha, which was idle this weekend. … The Tigers’ last penalty shot was Oct. 22, 2021 (Matthew Gleason goal in 5-3 victory over then No. 10 BC, Mayotte’s first win as CC coach).

Tigers hope to jump start offense against league-leading Denver and deny Pioneers clinching the Gold Pan Trophy

By Joe Paisley

Colorado College must break through against Denver senior goalie Magnus Chrona if it hopes to take back the Pikes Peak Trophy, the rivalry hardware awarded to the team that wins or ties the four-game season series.

“Obviously Chrona has been really good against us,” said Tigers senior defenseman Connor Mayer. “That’s our biggest thing right now is scoring goals, getting them in the net and not caring how they go in. We need to make sure we have someone in front of the net to put in rebounds and get us on the board.”

To do so against National Collegiate Hockey Conference-leading Denver at 6 p.m. this Saturday in Colorado Springs, the seventh-place Tigers (10-14-1, 6-8-1-0-0-1, 20 points) will need to grind out a goal or two on the power play, which is in a 0-for-13 downturn since scoring twice during a five-minute major in a 5-2 road win over the-No. 3 St. Cloud State on Jan. 13.  The power play has cooled off since teams adjusted to take away the far-side one-timer for Hunter McKown, who leads the NCAA with 10 power-play goals.

The Tiger coaches have shifted around personnel, tweaked the formation and seen their players do everything but convert in large part of too many faceoff losses with the man advantage.

“If you don’t win faceoffs, you put yourself in a bad spot,” Mayotte said. “If you win the faceoff, you are automatically in your set.  Guys were taking away Hunter but they have been doing that for a while. He’s been on tape for a while that he can score from there.  It’s just our execution early on and our entries haven’t been great. It’s more that than the structure of the power play and things like that.”

Since the start of last season, Denver (20-7, 11-4-0-2-1, 32 points) has outscored CC by a 21-2 margin with Chrona recording five-straight shutouts in a scoreless streak that reached 306 minutes, 7 seconds with last Friday’s 2-0 win at Denver’s Ball Arena. That was DU’s eighth win in a row over the Tigers since CC swept the season-ending series to claim the Gold Pan in 2019.

Playing one game a weekend takes away a bye-week break but does give both teams time to adjust and heal.

“Everyone gets to recover and take a look at all the mistakes we made,” Mayer said. “It’s such a quick turnaround. We need to stick to our systems and our game plan. We did for the first half but then got away from it and things didn’t go our way.”

The league-leading CC penalty kill, paced by Mbereko, came up big, holding off DU during a five-minute man advantage that kept the Tigers in the game at 1-0. But the call did shift the momentum with DU capitalizing against the tired defenders that allowed more time and space for the Pioneers in the 2-0 loss.

“We liked part of our game against them, but it wasn’t enough,” Mayotte said. “There are a lot of things that go into it, tactics, confidence. We will try to get more confident, change a few things tactically and being more ready to score.”

Ice chips

Friday’s shutout was Chrona’s 13^th career clean sheet, tying him with Gerry Powers (1966-1969) for second in school history. He is two shy of matching the program record of 15 held by current CC assistant Peter Mannino (2005-2008). … Denver has hoisted the trophy 16 times (CC 13) in the trophy’s 30 years. … CC’s 6-8-1 league mark is the program’s best since the 2012-13 season (6-8-1) under former coach Scott Owens. That team went 5-5-3 down the stretch to reach the WCHA Final Five championship game, falling one win short of the NCAA Tournament automatic qualifier and ending the year 18-19-5.

Mbereko heroics not enough against No. 5 Pioneers on historic night in downtown Denver’s Ball Arena

By Joe Paisley

DENVER – Fans in Ball Arena have witnessed some outstanding goalie performances over the years.

On Friday, 17,952 fans were treated to another spectacular performance 

This one was by Colorado College freshman Kaidan Mbereko, who kept the visitors in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference game against No. 5 Denver before falling 2-0 in the annual Gold Pan Trophy series opener. Game 2 between the Front Range rivals is Saturday, Feb. 4 at Ed Robson Arena.

On a night full of highlight stops, Mbereko’s glove save on McKade Webster with 10:24 left in the third period even surprised the arena officials, who accidentally sounded the goal horn, assuming the Aspen native could not make such a stab of a save.

By that point in the game, they should have known better.

“We saw it and even heard it hit the glove so we were wondering what was going on,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “He was the best player on both teams tonight. No question.”

Mbereko certainly did make the save, reaching up with his glove to snag the puck even as he sprawled downward on the rising shot. It was one of many good, great and Holy (expletive) saves by Mbereko, who finished with 39 saves, just shy of his career high 40. 

Denver senior goalie Magnus Chrona was no slouch either. His 23-save shutout, his 13^th career clean sheet, was also his fifth-straight against the Tigers (10-14-1, 6-8-1-0-0-1, 20 points) and extended his scoreless streak against CC to an eye-popping 306 minutes and 7 seconds dating back to Feb. 25, 2021. 

“He’s been a rock back there,” Pioneers coach David Carle said. “He was very good last season but this year he might be even better.”

It was the 333^rd game played between the rivals and the NHL arena setting added to a memorable night. 

“It was a great night for college hockey,” Mayotte said. “I have been involved in the Beanpot and the GLI (Great Lakes Invitational) and those have four teams. Two teams brought this crowd here. It’s the best rivalry in the country.”

Denver opened the scoring when Jared Wright redirected a shot on net by defenseman Kyle Mayhew that went in behind Mbereko as he slid toward the far post just 5:02 into the contest. Both teams exchanged power plays in the first period with Denver doing a good job attacking the Tigers puckhandler and not allowing the visitors to set up.

The Pioneers pulled away on an excellent individual effort by winger McKade Webster, who stickhandled his way through the Tigers defense and sent a perfect crossing pass to center Connor Caponi, whose one-timer beat Mbereko for a 2-0 lead with 7:22 left in the second period.

The CC penalty kill and Mbereko came up big after a 5-minute major call on defenseman Jack Millar gave Denver an opportunity to seal the win in the second period.

Instead Mbereko showed the crowd why he is one of the best college goaltenders in Division 1, moving smoothly from side to side to stop far-side one-timers with his chest or by flashing the glove as DU generating seven good scoring chances over those five minutes on the man advantage.

“All you can say on the bench is that was a great save,” Carle said. “Mbereko was exceptional and good all night long. He showed why he has the reputation he has earned by being at world juniors. He was great, especially in the second and third periods.”

Ice chips

Carle said Denver may try to host a game at Ball Arena in the future but likely will not against CC since the next two years’ schedules are set. … Ball Arena was the 14^th different location to host the CC-DU game including nine traditional arenas in the state and five in the city of Denver including Coors Field in the Battle On Blake in Feb. 20, 2016.  That game had 35,144 in attendance, the record for the rivalry series. The all-time college hockey record is 113,411 for Michigan State at Michigan at Michigan Stadium on Dec. 11, 2010 for an outdoor game.  … Denver has won or retained the Gold Pan Trophy 16 times in the 30-year history of the hardware, which debuted during the 1993-94 season when Don Lucia coached CC and Frank Serratore led Denver. … CC has won the first game of each month this season (Oct., Alaska-Anchorage; Nov. and Dec., Duluth, Jan., SCSU). The Tigers have lost the last game of each month (Oct., Air Force; Nov., SCSU; Dec., Princeton; Jan. ,Denver) so far.