Fifth-ranked Denver took care of a bunch of milestones all in one night at Colorado Springs.

By virtue of their 4-0 victory Saturday over Colorado College the Pioneers clinched the Gold Pan for the third consecutive season and the 16th overall.

Senior captain Cole Guttman scored two goals, giving him three on the weekend and nine this season, and in the process scored his 100th career point. He is the 100th Pioneer to hit that plateau.

Junior goaltender Magnus Chrona posted his third shutout in a row and now has a shutout streak of 183:16. His 18-save night was his fourth shutout of the season – all in the past eight games. How well is Chrona, who is 14-4-1 with a career-best 2.13 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage, playing? Consider this: he had three shutouts in his first two seasons at DU combined.

Denver (16-5-1, 9-3-0 NCHC) also took over first place in the NCHC by virtue of its win and No. 9 North Dakota’s second loss in a row to No. 4 Western Michigan. Both the Fighting Hawks and Broncos are three points behind DU.

McKade Webster scored his third goal of the season 6:06 into the game, and Guttman struck eight minutes later. Guttman struck again 2:08 into the second period, and freshman defenseman Sean Behrens scored his second of the season 2:10 into the third on the power play.

Carter Savoie had three assists, and Bobby Brink added two, giving him a team-high 32 points, a total that ties him for third in the nation in scoring, just six points behind Minnesota State’s Nathan Smith, who has played four more games. Savoie has 29 points, 13th in Division I.

One bright spot for Colorado College (6-13-3, 3-8-1) was the play of backup goalie Matt Vernon, who again relieved Dominic Basse, and made 28 saves on the 29 shots he faced.

Denver outshot the Tigers 41-18 on Saturday and 81-37 for the weekend. The Pioneers converted 3 of 10 power plays and killed off all five of their penalties in the two games.

DU travels to last-place Miami next weekend before playing host to No. 6 St. Cloud State the following weekend.

©First Line Editorial 2022