No. 3 Denver continued its dominance of intra-state rival Colorado College on Friday night, shutting out the Tigers for the third time in three games this season, this time 5-0 at Colorado Springs.

The Pioneers (24-8-1, 17-6 NCHC) have outscored CC (9-21-3, 6-16-1) by a combined 14-0 thus far this season. The teams play again Saturday night at Magness Arena, when DU will honor its senior class.

Goaltender Magnus Chrona made 19 saves for his third shutout against the Tigers and sixth overall this season. The Pioneers got goals from Bobby Brink and Cameron Wright in the first period, Kyle Mayhew and Connor Caponi in the second, and Carter Mazur in the closing seconds of the third.

Brink’s goal – his 13th and NCAA-best 51st point – came off a left wing rush early in the first, and Wright struck for his team-high 20th off a nice backdoor feed from Massimo Rizzo. Mayhew made a nice play to hold a puck in at the blue line, then skated into the slot and backhanded a shot past Dominic Basse (32 saves).

The Pioneers played with purpose from the opening drop and dominated play for nearly all of the 60 minutes.

Saturday night’s game might not be the end of the meetings between DU and CC. There is a good possibility the Pioneers and Tigers will meet in the NCHC quarterfinals next weekend in Denver as well. North Dakota’s 5-4 victory against Omaha gave the Fighting Hawks a share of the NCHC regular-season title, and DU is in second place but it could tie North Dakota for first and get the top seed by virtue of more regulation NCHC wins. CC has a one-point lead over Miami for seventh place.

©First Line Editorial 2022