Due to a combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Colorado College hockey program, the Denver and Colorado College home-and-home series scheduled for this weekend has been canceled.
The final Gold Pan games were scheduled for Thursday, March 4 in Denver and Saturday, March 6 in Colorado Springs, which is the final weekend of the NCHC’s regular season. The series had already twice been postponed, first on Jan. 8-9 and again on Jan. 29-30. Denver and CC did play four times this season, with DU retaining the Gold Pan with a 3-1-0 record in the series.
Per NCHC policy for 2020-21, the canceled games will be considered no contests, having no impact on either team’s record. With the cancellations, Colorado College and Denver both finish the regular season with 22 conference games, two short of the 24 scheduled NCHC games. Per NCHC policies and procedures, the conference will use points per game to determine the final order of the standings and seedings for the NCHC tournament where teams do not complete all 24 games.
All four teams in the bottom half of the standings have now completed the regular season, allowing for final seedings to be determined. Denver finishes with 1.409 points per game (31 points in 22 games), while Western Michigan played all 24 games, totaling 33 points for 1.375 points per game. The Pioneers will be the No. 5 seed in the 2021 NCHC Frozen Faceoff, while the Broncos will be the No. 6 seed.
Colorado College and Miami each finish with 18 points, but the Tigers played two fewer games, making them the No. 7 seed (0.818 points per game), while the RedHawks are the No. 8 seed (0.750 points per game).
Friday’s Omaha at North Dakota game and Saturday’s Minnesota Duluth at St. Cloud State game, which will determine the second and third seeds, are still on as scheduled. UND is locked into the No. 1 seed as Penrose Cup champions and Omaha cannot move out of the No. 4 seed, with all four teams having only one game remaining (23 games played).
The 2021 NCHC Frozen Faceoff will then take place March 12-16 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., where a tournament champion will be crowned.
