DENVER — Goaltender Magnus Chrona stopped all 23 shots he faced, and the No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team defeated the Colorado College Tigers 2-0 on Friday night in front of a crowd of 17,952 at Ball Arena.
The game at the home of the Colorado Avalanche was the highest-attended indoor college hockey game in the nation since Feb. 10, 2018.
"I take a lot of pride in what the night was, and that is not even on the ice but just the event that it was," head coach David Carle said. "I thought it was excellent from start to finish. I thought our people, our athletic department and our university did an unbelievable job on short notice too… The production they put on for this type of event was really impressive, and it goes to show the support in the following and the brand that Denver hockey has in this community. It is something that none of us take for granted. It has been around for 70-plus years. We did not create this, but we are certainly trying to add to it the best we can. Just an immense amount of pride tonight for the hockey community, but obviously specifically for our fans and the brand and the following that we have within the state and city of Denver."
Chrona earned his fourth shutout of the season and 13th of his career, moving into a tie with Gerry Powers (1966-1969) for second place in school history. He is two shy of matching the program record of 15 held by Peter Mannino (2005-2008), who is currently an assistant coach with the CC Tigers.
The Stockholm, Sweden, native has posted clean sheets in three of the last five games and has recorded five straight shutouts against Colorado College (10-14-1, 6-8-1 NCHC). He presently owns a 306:07 shutout streak against the Tigers that spans six games and three seasons since Feb. 25, 2021.
Freshman Jared Wright and junior Connor Caponi scored for the Pioneers (20-7-0, 11-4-0 NCHC), while Brett Edwards, Kyle Mayhew, Aidan Thompson and McKade Webster picked up assists.
Wright opened the scoring on a deflection off a pass from Mayhew just 5:02 into the game and Caponi knocked in a feed from Webster during a rush with 7:22 left in the second fame. Wright's marker was his third game-winner of the season.
The Pioneers outshot the Tigers 41-23 overall, posting double-digit shot totals in each period.
UP NEXT: Denver doesn't have another game this weekend, as the Pios' next contest will be at Colorado College's home rink of Robson Arena on Saturday, Feb. 4to wrap up the first half of the four-game season series.
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