No. 7 Denver (3-0-1) vs. Western Michigan (3-3)

7:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena

TV / radio: Altitude2 (both nights) and NCHC.tv (subscription) / 104.3 FM (Friday), 1600 AM (Saturday)

Series: Denver leads 14-7-1

Last meeting: A year ago, the Broncos rallied in the third period on consecutive nights to stun the Pioneers at Kalamazoo, Mich.

Overview

The teams open NCHC play with the first of two two-game series this season (they play at WMU in late January). … Western Michigan played the CCHA portion of its schedule in October – sweeping Ferris State, getting swept by Bowling Green and splitting with then No. 10 Michigan. Senior Colt Conrad leads the Broncos with seven points and defenseman Cam Lee has four goals. Junior forward Wade Allison could make his return from a knee injury sustained in January. Allison had 30 points (15 goals) in 22 games before the injury. Trevor Gorsuch and Austin Cain have split time in net. …  The Pioneers, meanwhile, continue a run of nine of 12 games at home before going on the road until mid-January. … DU’s freshmen have stepped up thus far, scoring 19 points (eight by Emilio Pettersen, the NCHC’s Rookie of the Month in October). That is the third most in Division I. … Denver won’t have sophomore forward Jake Durflinger (upper body) or freshman goalie Filip Larsson (lower body). Neither seems close to returning to the lineup.

Three things to watch for

Isn’t that special – Both teams take a lot of penalties – WMU goes to the box 19 minutes per game, while DU needs a “timeout” 17 minutes per game. Both teams’ power plays hover around 20 percent and their penalty kills are around 80 percent. Playing more disciplined and capitalizing on power plays have been major points of emphasis for the Pioneers in practice, coach David Carle told us in the Pioneer Hockey Podcast. Simply put, the special teams battle likely will determine one if not both of these games.

Senior moment – Pioneers senior forwards Jarid Lukosevicius and Colin Staub clearly don’t mind seeing the Broncos. The former has 10 points against WMU in his career, and the latter has four of his 22 goals at DU vs. Western. Both have been huge for their lines – Lukosevicius with Pettersen and fellow freshman Cole Guttman (five points), and Staub with junior Liam Finlay (five goals) and freshman Brett Stapley (three points).

Activating the D – Both teams get plenty of offense from defensemen. For WMU, Lee is the ringleader with six points but captain Corey Schueneman has four. DU has four D with at least two points – sophomore Ian Mitchell (four), freshman Slava Demin (three) and junior Michael Davies and graduate transfer Les Lancaster, whom we profiled this week, with two apiece. Expect some of these players to impact as well.

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