No. 5 Denver (18-8-8) vs. Colorado College (14-15-5)

Best-of-3 NCHC quarterfinal series

Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m., Sunday (if nec.), 6 p.m. at Magness Arena

TV / radio: NCHC.tv (subscription) / AM 1600 (Friday)

Series: Denver leads 176-117-19; the matchup is 1-1-2 this season with each team winning on the other’s ice.

Playoff history: The teams have played 24 times in the postseason, dating to 1960. Denver holds a 14-10 edge, including 9-8 in home games. However, the Pioneers are 3-5 in playoff match-ups vs. the Tigers at Magness Arena, including last season’s 4-1 and 4-0 victories.

Overview

A season ago, CC came to Magness with just eight wins and left with eight. The Tigers’ six-win improvement this season vaulted them from eighth in the NCHC to a tie for fifth. A series of tiebreakers has them visiting DU, the conference’s second seed. … Denver comes in with a 7-3-4 record in 2018, a mark that has summarized its season. When the Pioneers have been good, they’ve been very good, but sustaining their A game has been more of a challenge than the past couple of seasons, when they went on massive winning or undefeated streaks.

Pioneer podcast with LetsGoDU and Magness Mayhem

Rewarding seasons

Senior goaltender Tanner Jaillet was selected one of the 10 semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award on Thursday. The DU senior won it last year. Four Pioneers – Henrik Borgström, Dylan Gambrell and Ian Mitchell, as well as Jaillet, were selected as finalists for NCHC individual awards. Borgström, along with the Tigers’ Nick Halloran, are Forward of the Year candidates, Gambrell is in the running for the Three Stars Award, Mitchell for the Rookie of the Year and Jaillet for Goaltender of the Year. Borgström is also a Player of the Year finalist, and he, Jaillet and Halloran were first-team all-NCHC picks.

Denver update

The NCHC quarterfinals have been DU’s time; they’re 8-1 in the past four seasons. Denver is good for three-plus goals a game (3.32, ninth in D-I) and has had its moments on the power play (22.5 percent, 12th), though its intensity with the man advantage has come and gone. The real secret to DU’s success has been its defense, which has allowed an average of 2.15 goals per game (seventh) – a particularly impressive number given the caliber of opponents in the NCHC. Only twice have the Pioneers lost when allowing three or fewer goals (Dec. 29 vs. Merrimack, 3-2, and Feb. 17 vs. CC, 1-0). The backbone of that is Jaillet (1.93 GAA, .926 save percentage, five shutouts), but he gets plenty of help from his defense, particularly veterans Tariq Hammond, Adam Plant and Blake Hillman. Plant has three goals in his past four games to boot. … Up front, Gambrell (41 points, 29 assists) and fellow second-team all-NCHC pick Troy Terry (37, 26) as well as Jarid Lukosevicius (27 points, 17 goals) and Colin Staub (20 points) provide offensive. Mitchell has 22 points from the back line.

Colorado College update

Which Tigers team are you going to get? CC scored twice in the third period last Friday to defeat Western Michigan, 2-1, then surrendered an avalanche of goals in an 8-2 rout the next night. The Tigers have won just one series outright this season and had two more with a win and a tie. Ten times they’ve split a series, adding some intrigue if this one goes three games. … Halloran’s 44 points (19 goals) tied Borgström for most in the NCHC. He is one of seven Tigers who hit a career high in points, joining linemates Mason Bergh (37 points) and Trey Bradley (27), as well as Austin Michaud (23), Trevor Gooch (19) and defensemen Kristian Blumenschein (13) and Ben Isreal (11). … Sophomore Alex Leclerc (14-12-4, 3.12, .906) gets the bulk of the work in net, and he shut out DU last month, but coach Mike Haviland won’t waste time going to freshman Alec Calvaruso (0-2-1, 2.91, .915) in relief as he’s done five times this season.

How it could go down

What are your plans for Sunday? This series will go three games if the teams’ match-ups during the regular season are any indication. Colorado College picked up five of six NCHC points at Magness this season and if it wins this series it would reach the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the first time. It also would be able to make a case for inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. That said, Denver knows this drill all too well and should be able to find its playoff gear. Expect a tight series with the Pioneers moving on in three games – one of which heads to OT.

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