Denver blanks Colorado College, takes first game of Gold Pan series this season at packed Ball Arena

Jan. 27—While Colorado College's Kaidan Mbereko may have stolen the big night at Ball Arena with a handful of highlight reel saves, Magnus Chrona continues to cement his place as one of the top goalies in program history.

The senior goaltender played some of his best hockey as Denver won its ninth national championship last season and his personal shutout streak against the in-state rival Tigers has now surpassed 300 minutes in the Pioneers' 2-0 win on Friday night at the home of the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche.

But Chrona half-jokingly said he's still p---ed about the game against CC from earlier in the 2020-21 season when he was pulled in the third period of the 4-3 loss.

Maybe now, though, he can put it behind him.

"It means a lot," Chrona said of the rivalry. "The series is a great event for us. We take a lot of pride in winning the Gold Pan."

Friday was also Chrona's fourth shutout of the season and the 13th of his career, which puts him second all-time in DU program history.

"He's kept us in countless games over his four years and he's a big part of our team," senior defenseman and DU captain Justin Lee said. "We're lucky to have him."

It was a near-sellout crowd as the announced attendance was just shy of 18,000 for the latest edition of the battle for the Gold Pan trophy that feature a rowdy DU student section with plenty of "F--- CC" chants throughout.

"For me, [from] start to finish it was unbelievable," DU coach David Carle said.

Even for the veterans like Chrona, who have seen a thing or two during their time at DU, they were impressed.

"I thought it was better [than the Frozen Four]," the goalie said.

The Pioneers have played on big stages and in big arenas before, particularly last year's Frozen Four in Boston, but there are a few newcomers that hadn't experienced an atmosphere like this before. They all looked pretty comfortable, though.

Freshman Jared Wright opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period on a perfect deflection off a shot from the point by defenseman Kyle Mayhew.

The only other goal in the game was scored by fourth line center Connor Caponi, who usually plays the role of enforcer for the Pioneers but found the back of the net for the first time this season and the seventh time in his career.

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"I thought it was awesome," Lee said. "It was nice to see [Caponi] get rewarded [for] going to the net hard and banging that one in."

After a rough weekend for the special teams last weekend at St. Cloud, DU took a big step forward in one aspect that's been it's Achilles heel most of the season — the power play.

The Pios allowed three power play goals a week ago in the first game against St. Cloud State, but went a perfect 3-for-3 against CC.

On the flip side, DU was 0-for-4 on the power play itself, including a 5-minute major penalty after CC's Jack Millar was hit with a game misconduct for an illegal cross check.

The Pioneers weren't without their chances though, as they totaled 41 shots on goal in the game. They just ran into a really good goalie in Mbereko, the NHL Draft-eligible freshman that's been outstanding for CC all year long.

"[Mbereko] was excellent," Carle said. "His hand comes out of nowhere a few times to snatch a few with his glove."

There was no love lost between these two longtime rivals as there were a total of 14 penalties for 39 minutes, including a handful of roughing penalties as the result of more than a few of scrums that continued well after the whistle.

This was the 333rd meeting all-time between DU and CC, the second-most played rivalry in college hockey history. DU owns the lead in the all-time series with a record of 191-121-21. The Pios need to win just one of the final three meetings against the Tigers to win the Gold Pan trophy for a fourth straight year.

But this isn't the same CC team that DU has beaten pretty handily the fast few seasons, and the Pioneers know that.

"They're just taking on [CC coach] Kris [Mayotte's] identity and what they want to be," Carle said. "It's going to take the time to get where they want to be, but again, they're a program that's on the upswing and truthfully, it's a great thing for Colorado hockey and the rivalry that they're having the season that they're having and taking a step in the right direction."

For someone like Mayotte, who's coached all over the country and seen all kinds of big crowds in rivalry settings, even he was impressed by how many people showed up to watch these two teams on Friday night.

"I think it's the best [rivalry] in the country," Mayotte said.

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