Captain Ian Mitchell is just your average Pioneer, at least as far as height (5-foot-11) and weight (175 pounds). Of course the junior’s play is anything but average, as anyone who’s watched Denver the past two seasons can attest.

Seniors take the title for biggest (Erich Fear – 6-5, 220 pounds), most experienced (Michael Davies with 125 NCAA games), as well as the oldest (Tyson McLellan is the lone 1996 birth year on the roster).

Those are just just a few of the many facts you can glean from Magness Mayhem’s drill down into the Pioneers’ 2019-20 hockey roster in the first part of our season preview series.

For comparison’s sake, you can check out last season’s numerical breakdown here.

Pioneers by class

• Senior: 4
• Junior: 8
• Sophomore: 9
• Freshman: 6
• Total: 27

Pioneers by birth year

• 1996: 1 (F Tyson McLellan)
• 1997: 9 (1G, 3D, 5F)
• 1998: 5 (1D, 4F)
• 1999: 7 (3D, 4F)
• 2000: 4 (1G, 2D, 1F)
• 2001: 1 (F Bobby Brink)
• Average age: 20.7 years old

Pioneers by position

• Goaltenders – 3
• Defensemen – 8
• Forwards – 16
• Total: 27

Pioneers by NCAA games played

• 100-plus: Michael Davies (125), Liam Finlay (120)
• 75-100: McLellan (98), Jaakko Heikkinen and Ian Mitchell (80), Ryan Barrow (76), Kohen Olischefski (75)
• 50-74: Jake Durflinger and Griffin Mendel (74), Erich Fear (64)
• 25-49: Slava Demin and Cole Guttman (41), Emilio Pettersen (40), Tyler Ward (38), Brett Stapley (32), Jack Doremus (29)
• 0-24: 11

For comparison’s sake, last season’s team had just six players who had played more than 50 NCAA games.

Pioneers by height

• 6-foot-3 and taller: 5 (G Devin Cooley and Fear at 6-5 are the tallest)
• 6-0 to 6-2: 6
• 5-11 and shorter: 16 (Finlay at 5-7 is the shortest)
• Average: 5-11.5

By position

• Goaltenders: 6-4
• Defense: 5-11.5
• Forward: 5-10.5

Pioneers by weight

• 200 pounds and heavier: 2 (Fear and Mendel)
• 199 and lighter: 25 (D Kyle Mayhew at 150 is the lightest)
• Average: 175.9 pounds

By position

• Goaltender: 181.6
• Defense: 183.5
• Forward: 171.2

NHL Draft picks

• Goaltender: 1 (Magnus Chrona/18/Tampa/Rd5)
• Defensemen: 2 (Ian Mitchell/17/Chicago/Rd2; Slava Demin/18/Vegas/Rd4)
• Forwards: 4 (Bobby Brink/19/Philadelphia/Rd2; Cole Guttman/17/Tampa/Rd6; Emilio Pettersen/18/Calgary/Rd6; Brett Stapley/18/Montreal/Rd7)
• Total: 7

Junior path

• AJHL: 2
• BCHL: 7
• NAHL: 5
• USHL: 10
• Europe: 2

Next: A closer look at the Pioneers’ most indispensable players

©First Line Editorial 2019