Denver’s two national championships in the NCHC era came in 2017 and 2022, when the Pioneers also won their conference’s regular-season championship trophy, the Penrose Cup.
They clinched that again last weekend at eighth-ranked Western Michigan. Third-ranked Denver will feel its job this season is only a third of the way done — there’s still the NCHC playoff title and a potential 10th NCAA championship in program history up for grabs — but more and more, this season’s Pioneers are showing that they thrive under pressure.
Such was the case when Denver beat Western Michigan twice by scoring in bunches. Four unanswered goals Friday in Denver’s 5-2 win saw the Pioneers overcome a 2-1 first-intermission deficit. The following night, when WMU’s Lawson Ice Arena held its biggest crowd in 11 years, three unanswered goals from as many players put the Pioneers over the top in a 3-1 victory.
Massimo Rizzo and Carter Mazur’s second goals of the weekend meant plenty Saturday, as did Mike Benning’s two-goal performance Friday. Retaining the Penrose Cup in such a hostile atmosphere, though, made the weekend that much more special. Ask Denver coach David Carle, and he’ll say the Lawson Lunatics played quite the supporting role.
“Western’s student section is pretty ruthless, but it’s a lot of fun to be a part of,” Carle said. “They’re very creative, and it’s one of the best environments in college hockey, and to go there and embrace that experience, our guys did a really nice job of it.
“We played two solid road games and hit different levels of adversity in both games, and for the most part kept our noses down, kept working and got our way through it.”
Denver’s series at Western promised to be a spectacle, with the country’s respective seventh and fourth-best offenses meeting. The Pioneers shined brightest, though, and they’ve been doing that a lot lately. Denver has scored at least three goals in each of the Pioneers’ last seven games, six of which DU won.
“A lot was made of all the people we lost up front after last season,” Carle said. “We lost six of our top nine (forwards) and had a lot of new people coming in, but from Day 1, the guys have had a real open mind to understanding that it was going to take some time for the offensive chemistry to develop.
“We’ve played a lot of different line combinations as we’ve tried to sort through where chemistry is, and who plays best with who, and I give the guys a lot of credit for not getting frustrated or down on it earlier in the year. We’re kind of out the other side of that, and we’ve shown confidence we can score. Our defensive game has generally been there all season long, but now we have an ability through that chemistry and through that work to extend leads and put some teams away.”
That should put the Pioneers in good stead as the home stretch continues. The Penrose is a nice, chunky trophy to win, but Carle is keeping his team’s focus on what’s still ahead.
“We certainly came into the year with very high expectations for our group, and those expectations haven’t changed,” Carle said. “You want to learn how to win big trophies, and the selflessness we played with and sticking to our process through both games last weekend gave us an opportunity to win a big trophy, and certainly our goal is to replicate that effort as the most fun time of year approaches us with playoffs and more big trophies on the line.”
And there’s no time to let up, including here in the final week of the regular season. One of Denver’s objectives for the season is already taken care of, but it should be easy for the Pioneers to get geed up for their home-and-home series this Friday and Saturday against in-state rival Colorado College.
Twenty-five standings points separate the teams, and Denver will be favored both nights. But the Pioneers know better than to take anything for granted when Gold Pan rivalry games come around, now or ever.
“There’s still lots on the line in the national picture for us, and you want to be playing well going into playoff hockey,” Carle said. “We know the challenge CC presents, and we’ve played them twice here in the second half.
“They’re a very good team, and we know they’re going to give us their best, so we need to be prepared with ours.”
