COLORADO SPRINGS — The Gold Pan went to Colorado College. But based on how the University of Denver finished Friday’s 3-3 overtime tie in the 270th meeting between the Front Range rivals, it felt like a win for the eighth-ranked Pioneers.
DU freshman wing Joe Colborne scored the game’s last two goals — the latter in the final minute of regulation — to give the Pioneers the point they needed to undo a tie with idle Wisconsin and take sole possession of first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
The Pioneers, who outshot the Tigers 16-8 in the third period and overtime, visit the Badgers for a two-game series next weekend. DU plans to build on Friday’s comeback after dominating its rival for the latter half of the game before a sellout crowd at the World Arena.
“This is a pretty weird sort of feeling because we obviously wanted the two points to have a chance at the Gold Pan, but when you look at it now, it was a huge point in the standings and a huge character win for us that will hopefully carry into Wisconsin,” Colborne said.
CC, which got power-play goals from Stephen Schultz and Bill Sweatt to forge ahead 3-1, is 1-0-2 against DU this season but retains the traveling trophy because the Pioneers cannot win it outright.
After the Tigers were outplayed in the third period and overtime, few of the 7,696 fans in attendance stayed in their seats to watch the Tigers parade around the ice with the trophy.”
“It was good for us to keep it — it’s a big deal,” CC coach Scott Owens. “You don’t feel like you should skate around with it, but it’s a big deal to retain it. But yeah, it was a very average feeling.”
DU stole the momentum when Colborne scored his first goal with 4:47 to play in the second period to make it 3-2. On the power play, he took a behind-the-net feed from Rhett Rakhshani and lifted the puck high into the nearside net past goalie Richard Bachman.
Before and after Colborne’s game-tying goal, the Pioneers had numerous chances to score, but Bachman (41 saves) was tremendous.
“They had us on the ropes, and the third period they set the tone,” Owens said. “It’s disappointing.”
Bachman, asked if he was stealing the game in the third period, said: “I wanted to. I thought we pretty much had it there.”
Colborne’s second goal came with 57 seconds left in regulation while goalie Marc Cheverie was skating to the bench for an extra attacker. It was a freshman-to-freshman tally, with defenseman Patrick Wiercioch throwing the puck through the crease from behind the net and Colborne roofing it in from the bottom of the right circle.
“We knew Bachman is unbelievable down low, so I thought if I got it up we’d have a better chance,” Colborne said. “Those (high wrist shots) have been a long time coming.”
CC entered the game with a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) against DU, gone 7-1-3 over the past 11 meetings, and was 16-6-2 at the World Arena.
The teams conclude their four-game, regular season series March 7 at Magness Arena, the season-ender for both squads.
“Huge, to come back 3-1 in this building,” DU senior defenseman and team captain J.P. Testwuide said. “The Gold Pan, give them credit — they won it. But we have to look to the future, and there are bigger trophies to win.”
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
