Past and present, Colorado NCAA hockey teams will celebrate being No. 1 this weekend.
The University of Denver will unveil its 2005 NCAA championship banner Saturday night at Magness Arena before the Pioneers’ two-game series homecoming finale against Michigan Tech.
In Colorado Springs on Friday, Colorado College will take the country’s unanimous No. 1 ranking into its two-game set with visiting St. Cloud State.
The Tigers (7-1) leaped over Michigan (7-1) for the top spot in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and Michigan and Cornell (1-1) in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll.
Denver (3-3), despite a 7-2 victory at No. 5 North Dakota on Saturday, remained ninth in the first poll and slipped one spot to 10th in the latter. CC and DU are positioned first and ninth, respectively, in Inside College Hockey.com’s power rankings.
Footnotes
DU coach George Gwozdecky said he would look into applying for a medical redshirt for forward Brock Trotter. The freshman severed an Achilles tendon early in Friday’s game when the skate blade of North Dakota defenseman Matt Smaby inadvertently went between Trotter’s heel and boot guard. …
DU co-captain Gabe Gauthier’s game-winning goal Saturday was the 11th of his career, fourth most in program history. …
Denver native Steve Cook made his DU debut Friday but couldn’t play Saturday because of a groin injury. Cook, a junior, played 33 games for Air Force in the 2002-03 season before returning to junior-A in Omaha the next season. Cook sat out last season at DU because of a shoulder injury. …
CC’s Brett Sterling was named WCHA offensive player of the week and teammate Chad Rau received the league’s rookie honor. Sterling had a hat trick and four points Saturday to help the Tigers complete a two-game sweep at Minnesota State. Rau contributed a goal and three assists in the series. …
Air Force’s Mike Knaeble and Mike Phillipich earned College Hockey America offensive and rookie player of the week, respectively. Both had two points in the Falcons’ series split with then-No. 15 Bemidji (Minn.) State last weekend.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
