It’s not a stretch to say top-ranked Denver won its bye week. The Pioneers obviously put it to good use because they looked sharp in taking three of four points at No. 4 Notre Dame over the weekend in their season-opening series. The Irish had played the previous week.

Here are a few observations:

The deep end

A total of 13 Pioneers picked up a point this weekend, and five scored goals. Moreover, DU won on Saturday without captain Tariq Hammond, a foundational defenseman who is recovering from multiple ankle surgeries, and Henrik Borgstrom, who scored both goals in regulation Friday and then added another in the shootout. He was out with an illness Saturday. DU accomplished this on the road … against the fourth-ranked team in the country … in their opening series of the season. For good measure, four freshmen picked up points, and one of them, Jake Durflinger, scored a goal.

Like wall

We all know Tanner Jaillet is one of the top goalies – if not the top one – in NCAA hockey. Last season he was deemed the best, winning the Mike Richter Award. And he picked right up where he left off – allowing just two goals in each game and stopping almost 94 percent of the shots on goal. DU will take that every weekend.

USA tag team

Borgstrom got the headlines Friday but Troy Terry and Dylan Gambrell took over Saturday, each getting a goal and assist. Terry shifted into Borgstrom’s spot at center and didn’t miss a beat. If there was one area all three need some work, however, it’s in the circle. Notre Dame dominated both games, winning nearly 60 percent of the face-offs in each. Only Tyson McLellan was above the 50 percent line among regulars for DU, winning 13 of 16 Friday and 6 of 10 on Saturday.

A recap of Friday’s game can be found here, and one of Saturday’s game can be found here

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