Colorado College (7-7, 3-5 NCHC) at No. 1 Denver (9-3-2, 5-3 NCHC)

Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Magness Arena; Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at World Arena

Radio / TV: 104.3 FM, 1240 AM / Altitude 2, NCHC.tv (subscription)

Series: Denver leads 175-116-17 and has won the past 14 meetings in a row

Overview

This marks the 25th Gold Pan rivalry. Each team has taken bragging rights 12 times. … The 308 meetings between the schools are second only to Michigan-Michigan State (313 times). … This appears to be the best team CC has had in at least four seasons, and its improved team speed has a lot to do with that.

Denver update

The Pioneers scored just three goals at Duluth last weekend yet found a way to sweep the hosts as goaltender Tanner Jaillet, the NCAA’s second star of the week, was superlative. Overall he is 8-2-2 with a .921 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average. … The trio of Troy Terry (23 points, 16 assists), Henrik Borgstrom (22 points, 13 goals) and Dylan Gambrell (18 points, 13 assists) leads the way offensively, but behind them Jarid Lukosevicius (12 points, 6 goals), Colin Staub (11 points) and freshman defenseman Ian Mitchell (11 assists) are also piling up points. Fourteen Pioneers have goals. …  Despite an O-fer at Duluth, DU’s power play is hitting at 28.1 percent. The PK has inched above 80 percent, but it will be without at least center Tyson McLellan and possibly defenseman Adam Plant. McLellan, who will be out until after Christmas at least, is the Pioneers’ best face-off man, and Plant is an every-situation stalwart.

Colorado College update

The Tigers have had the past two weekend off. After a 5-2 start, they’ve gone 2-5 since, and they are just 2-5 on Fridays. … They’re very good in one-goal games, owning a 5-1 record. … Junior Mason Bergh (18 points, 9 goals) and sophomore Nick Halloran (19 points, 14 assists) lead the offensive charge. … Sophomore goalie Alex Leclerc has decisions in all 14 games to with a .909 save percentage and a 2.86 goals-against average. … CC has improved on the power play (16.2 percent), but it’s killing off just 74.6 percent of its shorthanded situations.

How it could go down

The Tigers will want to slow the game down as much as they can, create neutral-zone turnovers and counter with their speedy forwards. CC will have to stay out of the box because DU’s power play likely will come out breathing fire. How much of a wide game CC has made up remains to be seen.

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Ready for another Rude Awakening?

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