abstract
| - The Denver Pioneers are a Men's Division I team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The University of Denver began playing ice hockey in 1949 in a surplus WWII naval drill hall that had been re-purposed into the 5,200 seat DU Arena, where the Pioneers would play up until 1997. The Pioneers went 4-13 that first season, but soon became a competitve program, and in 1956, the hiring of legendary coach Murray Armstrong would make the Pioneers the dominant program in NCAA hockey during the 1960s. Armstrong's teams won 5 NCAA titles (58, 60, 61, 68 and 69) with a steady pipeline of talented players, mostly from Western Canada. The greatest of these teams was the 1960-61 DU team that went 30-1-1, and won the NCAA Championship Game 12-2, the largest margin of victory in history. Other highlights of the 60s included a victory and a tie against the 1960 U.S. and Soviet Olympic teams, respectively, as well as the 1968-69 Denver NCAA Championship team, led by future NHLers Keith Magnuson, Cliff Korroll and Craig Patrick, which defeated Ken Dryden's Cornell team in the title game, 4-3. The Pioneers fielded many strong teams in the 1970s, and a several in the 1980s and 90s, but were unable to claim another NCAA crown until 2004, when the Pioneers defeated Maine 1-0 in a memorable title run under coach George Gwozdecky. The Pioneers proved the title was no fluke when they repeated as Champions in 2005 with a 4-1 win over North Dakota. Today, the Pioneers play to sellout crowds of 6,000+ in Magness Arena, part of a $75 million sports complex that was completed in 2000.
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