Weekend series preview: No. 11 CC vs. No. 13 Denver

When: 7:37 p.m. Friday at Magness Arena (6,026 capacity) in Denver, 7:07 p.m. Saturday at World Arena (7,380) in Colorado Springs

TV: ROOT Sports will broadcast Friday’s game, while Saturday’s game isn’t on TV

Radio: 103.9 FM RXP in Colorado Springs and 102.3 FM ESPN in Denver

If you go: It’s a sellout Friday, and only single tickets remain for Saturday, available at www.cctigers.com or by calling 719-576-2626. The giveaway Saturday is blowup cheer sticks.

The series: Denver holds a 157-110-14 advantage in the series that dates to 1950, but CC leads 11-6-6 since the 2005-06 season. The Tigers are 19-9-4 at Magness Arena, where they’ve lost three straight, and they’re 19-8-3 at World Arena, where they’ve won three in a row. The teams split a pair of games in the first half of the season, with CC falling 5-4 in Denver and prevailing 4-3 in overtime in Colorado Springs. Two points (a win or two ties) would enable Denver to claim the Gold Pan for a third straight season, while CC needs three points (two wins or a victory and a tie) to take back possession of the rivalry trophy that the Tigers have hoisted 10 of 18 times since its inception in the 1992-93 season. Three of the past four games between the teams have been decided by one goal.

CC update: The No. 11 Tigers (14-9-1, 11-7 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) are tied for fourth place in the WCHA with No. 17 North Dakota, eight points behind No. 2 Minnesota, three points behind No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth and one point in back of No. 13 Denver – Minnesota and North Dakota have each played two more games than the rest. They were idle last weekend, and before that, they marked a road split against Minnesota, giving them a 3-4-1 record since the holiday break. … C Rylan Schwartz paces CC with 28 points, including 18 goals, and LW Jaden Schwartz has 25 points, including a team-high 17 assists. C Nick Dineen has matched his career high with 13 goals, four of which have been game-winners. D Mike Boivin and RW Scott Winkler have 21 points apiece, each with six goals. In goal, Josh Thorimbert (9-4 with a 2.21 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage) has started nine of the past 11 games, allowing more than two goals only once during that stretch. D Gabe Guentzel has played in a team-leading 120 consecutive games. … RW Dakota Eveland (upper body), D Eamonn McDermott (left knee) and LW Michael Morin (right ankle) are sidelined. … The Tigers have tallied 17 times in the past eight games in dropping to fifth nationally in scoring offense at 3.5 goals, and they’re giving up 2.83 goals. They possess the country’s eighth-best power play at 23.1 percent, however, they’ve gone 1 for 16 with the man advantage in the past four games. Their penalty kill has improved to 80.2 percent, with opponents scoring twice on 22 power-play chances in the past seven games. … CC is 12-0 when it leads heading into the third period but 1-7 when it’s trailing after two periods.

Denver update: The Pioneers (15-8-3, 10-5-3) have outscored their opponents 24-12 during a five-game winning streak that includes back-to-back sweeps of Bemidji State and Alaska-Anchorage. … C Drew Shore leads Denver with 39 points, including 16 goals, and he’s tied for first nationally with nine power-play goals and seven game-winners. LW Jason Zucker, the WCHA Preseason Player of the Year, has 32 points, including a team-best 11 multiple-point games. D Joey LaLeggia is the country’s top-producing freshman, with 28 points, including 15 during an eight-game point streak. LW Ty Loney has 12 points during a seven-game point streak. RW Luke Salazar is coming off a six-point weekend against Alaska-Anchorage. C Shawn Ostrow has a career-high 13 points, including eight goals. In goal, Sam Brittain (1-0 with a 3.00 GAA and a .889 save percentage) has returned from a knee injury, and Adam Murray (7-2-1 with a 3.21 GAA and a .903 save percentage) and Juho Olkinuora (6-6-2 with a 2.24 GAA and a .921 save percentage) are also options. RW Dustin Jackson leads Denver with 122 hits, and D Paul Phillips has blocked a team-high 39 shots. … LW Zac Larraza (upper body) might play this weekend, while LW Beau Bennett (right wrist), D Wade Bennett (hip) and D David Makowski (upper body) remain sidelined. … RW Chris Knowlton, D John Ryder and C Matt Tabrum are Colorado Springs natives. … The Pioneers average 3.65 goals, the third-most in the country, and they’re relinquishing 2.77 goals. Their power plays ranks seventh nationally at 23.5 percent, and they’re 12 for 34 with the man advantage in the past eight games. They convert at 80.2 percent on the penalty kill, coming off an 8-for-8 effort against Alaska-Anchorage. … Denver has gone 9-5-2 with an average of 3.19 goals without Bennett. … George Gwozdecky is 413-247-58 in his 18th season at Denver.

CC coach Scott Owens on Denver: “They’re on this nice run where they’re 7-1. The schedule hasn’t been that tough, but they’ve won very convincingly. And they’re getting scoring from other sources. … I think they’re going really well right now.”

Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Google+: Brian Gomez. YouTube: Colorado College Hockey, Covered by The Gazette. For the CC homepage, visit www.gazette.com/sections/sports/cchockey. For the CC blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.