Denver might no longer be in first place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, but the Pioneers have a great chance to run the table to close the regular season and possibly win the Penrose Cup, given to the NCHC’s top team in the regular season.

But the Pioneers also are focused on more important prizes.

In order to catch NCHC-leader North Dakota, the Pioneers will have to focus on Omaha in Nebraska this weekend.

Denver (22-7-1, 15-5-0 NCHC), No. 3 in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls, swept Omaha (19-13, 9-11) last month, winning 5-2 and 4-0 during the Pioneers’ 11-game unbeaten streak.

On Feb. 18, the Pioneers became the first team to clinch home-ice advantage for the three-game series in the NCHC quarterfinals March 11-13. Later that night, North Dakota also clinched home ice.

“Magness has been such a home-ice advantage for us this year with the record we have and the confidence we have in the building on our ice,” Denver coach David Carle said on the Campus Lounge Coach’s Show on Wednesday. “To be able to clinch and clinch this early — we still have four to go — it’s a real accomplishment for the group.”

The Pioneers are third in the Pairwise rankings, used to determine NCAA Tournament participants, and Carle hasn’t been afraid to look beyond conference play.

“It (the Penrose Cup) is certainly not something that we are focused on solely,” Carle said. “The national tournament is obviously a much bigger prize that we focus on. But to win the Penrose and be in this race and play meaningful hockey games right now, chasing something, I think is really good for our team and learning how to win big games in key moments and be in a real tight playoff race even though it’s not the ultimate trophy we want.”

North Dakota swept the Pioneers back in the first week of November. But that Pioneers team is extremely different from the one that takes the ice weekly now.

Since those losses to UND Nov. 5-6, the Pioneers have gone 17-3-1.

Omaha has found a bit of run of its own lately. The Mavericks are coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State and have won three of their last five, including an OT win at North Dakota Feb. 5.

Still, Omaha is sixth in the eight-team NCHC and will be hosting the Pioneers, who are in the middle of a five-game road stretch, their longest of the season.

“You have to learn how to win,” Carle said. “And that’s the really cool part of the next four games, we get the opportunity to do that.”

In the corners

The Pioneers had seven players named as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes for posting GPAs of at least 3.5. Those seven (Ryan Barrow, Bobby Brink, Magnus Chrona, Cole Guttman, Reid Irwin, Lane Krenzen and Kyle Mayhew) were joined by another eight named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team. To be eligible for the Academic All-Conference Team, student-athletes much have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.

Denver forward Carter Mazur, left, trips up Colorado College forward Tyler Coffey as the Pioneers take on the Tigers on Jan. 22 in Colorado College’s Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs.

Chancey Bush, The Denver Gazette