Apparently it was Newcomer’s Night at Coors Field on Saturday.

Three freshmen scored goals for DU during a 4-1 victory over rival Colorado College in the Battle on Blake, the first outdoor NCAA hockey game in state history. The Tigers’ goal also came by way of a freshman.

The triumph gave the Pioneers (17-8-5, 13-5-2 NCHC) a sweep of the season series for the second campaign in a row. This time DU outscored CC by a cumulative 16-6 and clinched at least third place in the NCHC standings, as well as a first-round playoff series on home ice.

The crowd of 35,144 was the largest in DU Athletics history.

“It was an incredible experience,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “I didn’t know there were that many Pioneer jerseys in Denver. It was just awesome to see.”

Tanner Jaillet made 19 saves for the Pioneers two nights after leaving a 4-1 DU victory after the first period because of illness. His replacement Thursday, Evan Cowley of Evergreen, played the final four minutes and stopped all five shots he faced.

The Pacific Rim Line of Dylan Gambrell, Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore needed two periods to get warmed up but they struck twice on the power play 15 seconds apart early in the third period to turn a 2-1 margin into 4-1.

There was no trepidation by the Pioneers heading into the third, Montgomery said.

“We just talked about how we’ve been closing out games and what we needed to do to win. We didn’t worry about the goal that was scored against us (by CC freshman defenseman Cole McCaskill),” Montgomery said. “We did have a lot of great chances, we were just missing.”

If the situation seemed familiar, it was because it was. Two nights prior the Pioneers and Tigers were tied 1-1 in Colorado Springs before DU tallied three times in the third period.

“We had the same mindset,” junior forward Evan Janssen said. “Come out hard right away, get one right away and not look back.”

The Pioneers got two right away. Heinen scored his team-high 14th goal after Gambrell won an offensive zone face off back to defenseman Will Butcher who sent it to Heinen in the right circle. The forward’s shot beat Jacob Nehama to the post and in.

Gambrell then scored his 11th off assists from Heinen and Butcher, the final goal in a 47-shot barrage at Nehama.

“I didn’t think we were as good as we had been our past four games, but nonetheless our team’s ability to focus and execute the game plan and play with great emotion has been really incredible,” Montgomery said. “When we needed to turn it on (we did) – we’re great but we still had 47 shots on goal. It’s a tribute to how well the team is jelling together.”

Two of Gambrell’s fellow freshmen got things started in the first period – Jarid Lukosevicius redirected a feed from captain Grant Arnold past Nehama with 3:46 to play. Defenseman Tariq Hammond picked up the second assist, his first point in seven games.

Just 1:33 later, Colin Stab scored on a wraparound after Emil Romig played a one-man game of keep away in the Tigers’ zone. Defenseman Adam Plant also had an assist on the goal, giving him points in three of the past four games.

“We’ve been saying it for the last two months, we need to approach every game business like and be really focused,” Arnold said. “You could see that tonight, especially with our freshmen. It’s awesome to see them thrive in this big moment. They’re part of this Pioneer family now. They’re starting to get it, along with everyone else. We’re starting to understand what we need to do to win.”

The victory gave the Pioneers points in 13 of 14 games in 2016, and a 10-1-3 mark since the holiday break.

The setting and atmosphere of the game forced both teams to make some adjustments.

“I can only speak to the flow of the game because there were a lot more stoppages,” Montgomery said. “It wasn’t the usual intensity you feel from the fans … it felt like it was more of a big event, like a Super Bowl.”

Added senior Gabe Levin, “It’s a little bit different because even though there were so many people, we were sort of isolated from it because we were out in the middle of the field. We had to rely more on our own energy, but it was definitely awesome to see how many people were there, and that gave us a boost.”

For all the hype around the game it was especially important for the Pioneers to keep things in perspective, Arnold said.

“Myself and Gabe Levin spoke to the team today after our team meeting during the stretch,” Arnold said. “I just said Thursday night doesn’t matter, that game is over, this is the one game that matters, it’s a big-time event. They’re going to be really fired up and we need to match their intensity.”

Levin shared from his previous experience playing in two outdoor games in junior with Fairbanks of the North American Hockey League.

“(I told them) just not to lose sight of what makes it enjoyable,” Levin said. “(In Fairbanks) we had two games, one each year, and we lost both of them. I think both times we got caught up in the whole event. Everyone was so excited to be there and play outdoors we kind of forgot we had to play hockey. And we forgot that it was worth two points. I told the guys as fun as it was and as cool of an experience as it was, after the game we took a team picture and no one smiled, no one was happy.

“I told the guys make sure we play this game the right way and in a way that let’s us enjoy it because if we lost three points to these guys it wouldn’t have been all that enjoyable. Looking back it wouldn’t have been nearly as memorable.

“We wanted to remember it the right way and enjoy it the right way. The way we played allowed us to do that.”

The hot line: Just how hot has the Pacific Rim Line been for DU?

Coming into the game each member had at least a four-game scoring streak, and the Gambrell-Heinen-Moore trio combined for 41 points during their respective streaks. Heinen and Gambrell added two more apiece to the total Saturday, while Moore was kept off the scoresheet.

Gambrell has the longest run, spanning nine games, and 16 points. Heinen’s eight-game streak has featured 17 points. Moore’s four-game streak  included 12 points. Moore also had four points in two games before being held off the scoresheet in the opener at Miami.

Butcher has a three-game point streak after his ninth multipoint game of the season.

Homecoming: The Pioneers dressed five Colorado natives – forwards Arnold, Staub, Quentin Shore and Troy Terry, as well as Cowley.

“It’s really awesome,” Terry said. “It’s one thing for me to come here and be part of DU, that’s really a dream come true. To play in this outdoor game against our rivals and see how many people are supporting it, it was pretty unreal.”

The Tigers had a pair in their lineup – forward Christian Heil and goalie Derek Shatzer.

Three more Coloradans are on DU’s roster – defenseman Brad Hawkinson and forwards Rudy Junda and Evan Ritt.