Built just 11 years ago, the home of the University of Denver Pioneers hockey team has become the place to be for fans of the college game. With sellout crowds cheering on top-ranked DU, Magness Arena offers the best venue of any Front Range college winter sport.
Perhaps a temporary name change could be in order Friday when DU concludes its regular-season home schedule against Colorado College. Perhaps “Madness Arena.”
A standing-room-only crowd — from a small-in-numbers but large-in-noise student section to families enjoying a night out — will fill Magness to the rafters as CC tries to upset the Pioneers and ruin their postgame celebration.
“When the puck drops, it’s wild, it’s electric, it’s energized,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said, “and that’s what we anticipate Friday night.”
Three of the top five hockey crowds in Magness Arena history took place for games against the rival Tigers. The official seating capacity for hockey at Magness is 6,026, but standing-room-only tickets are sold for big games.
“It’s going to be the best crowd of the year,” said Damien Goddard, a 1988 DU graduate and founder of , who is promoting a “White Out” attire Friday with free T-shirts for students. “The enthusiasm about what’s at stake, the band, the student section, the tradition of the rivalry.”
The building will turn colorful, with longtime DU fans as well as those new to the game riding the hockey wave in Colorado responding to every shot by Lakewood native Tyler Ruegsegger or check from teammate John Ryder of Colorado Springs. It’s a fever that gained steam as the DU program gelled into an annual national championship contender a few years ago. From 2004-08, 81 consecutive hockey games sold out. With an average ticket price of $22.50, this year eight of the Pioneers’ 19 home games were sold out, and the ninth will come Friday night.
“When people look at our schedule prior to the beginning of the season, the first dates they always circle are the CC games, and that tells you all you need to know about the rivalry,” Gwozdecky said. “When the teams step out on the ice for warm-ups, people are yelling and screaming and the music is going, and that’s 40 minutes before game time.”
Win, lose or draw Friday, the Pioneers will skate away with the MacNaughton Cup as conference champions. DU (24-6-4, 18-4-4) clinched its 12th Western Collegiate Hockey Association title last week with a sweep at Minnesota State.
A second trophy — the Gold Pan — will be handed out if DU wins its 11th in a row. The traveling trophy is awarded annually to the winner of the DU-CC series. The Pioneers beat and tied the Tigers in December.
If CC wins Friday to end its four-game losing streak, the Gold Pan will be up for grabs in Saturday’s regular-season finale in Colorado Springs.
It’s a big reason DU captain Rhett Rakhshani returned for his senior season. The WCHA’s leading scorer and Hobey Baker Award candidate had an offer to sign with the New York Islanders last summer, but rejected it to captain a team that was stacked at every position.
“These are things you wouldn’t trade for anything,” he said of playing in a packed arena in a meaningful game. “It’s the camaraderie in our locker room and the history of your program, with prizes waiting if you beat your archrival at home. You can’t put a monetary value on it.”
Rakhshani’s class has never won the Gold Pan. DU last owned the coveted hardware in 2005, before tying CC for the WCHA title and winning its second consecutive NCAA title.
“It’s nice to know we’ll be accepting the MacNaughton Cup, but we want the Gold Pan,” he said. “That’s something the seniors and no one else on our team has been able to touch.”
Goddard, who lives in Houston, is traveling here for the game to lead the charge.
“The whole school spirit thing has been building, improving,” he said. “This may be the No. 1 college sport in the state.”
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Fan-tastic attendance
The top five crowds for a DU hockey game at home:
6,199: Nov. 26, 2004, vs. Boston University (W, 4-1)
6,195: March 2, 2007, vs. Colorado College (L, 3-0)
6,188: Jan. 19, 2001, vs. Colorado College (L, 4-1)
6,183: Oct. 21, 2006, vs. RPI (W, 5-1)
6,179: March 4, 2005, vs. Colorado College (W, 5-0)
