The question isn’t if No. 1 Denver can win its eighth hockey national championship this weekend.

The Pioneers have been one of Division I’s top defensive teams all season, they’re deep at every position and their offense’s second-half emergence has given them the look of a team with few, if any, weaknesses.

No, the question is what did they learn last spring in Tampa, Fla., when they lost to eventual champion North Dakota on a late goal in the Frozen Four semifinals?

“Last year we were more excited just to be there,” sophomore Dylan Gambrell said. “Obviously it was overwhelming. I don’t think we focused enough on the game itself.”

The Pioneers are the only one of this spring’s four Frozen Four participants at Chicago that reached this point a year ago. They’re looking to not only build on the year over year momentum established by coach Jim Montgomery in his first three seasons (NCAA berth, one NCAA victory and two NCAA victories), they want to finish the job.

And that is a big reason DU’s players, headed by a nine-member senior class and six NHL draft choices, have taken such a business-like approach all season.

“(Returning to the Frozen Four) is a big advantage for us as opposed to the other teams because we have so many guys who have Frozen Four experience,” senior alternate captain Evan Janssen said. “There are a lot of things we’ve learned based off of last year.

“There’s a lot of outside distractions, whether it’s extra family or friends, everyone is trying to get tickets. You have to deal with more media. We’ve learned from last year how to deal with that.”

Janssen added that the scope of the event itself might have caught some off guard.

“We were dealing with nerves,” he said. “It’s the biggest stage for any of us so far, unless you’ve played in the World Juniors like Will (Butcher) or Troy (Terry). Monty always preaches how if you prepare the right way it should give you confidence, and confidence should get rid of nerves.

“That is a big thing we’ve taken away from last year.”

It’s expected the Pioneers will have four freshmen in the lineup, as well as a few other players who did not play in last season’s Frozen Four. How do they avoid the Maalox moments?

“Everyone remembers the feeling of losing last year,” Gambrell said. “That’s a big driver for us, remembering that and how horrible that was. We’re going to be ready to play and focus on (Notre Dame).

“We’ve talked about it multiple times (with the freshmen), how bad it was losing. We all want to soak it in – it’s really exciting that we got here, but we’re not done.”