LetsGoDU

New Gold Pan Unveiled

From: Denver Post
by Mike Chambers

Saturday night, nearly three years after the University of Denver lost the original Gold Pan, a new traveling trophy that signifies the state's NCAA hockey bragging rights will be unveiled at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.

At the conclusion of DU's two-game, home-and-home series against Colorado College, the new Gold Pan's manufacturer, Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co., will deliver the trophy to the winning team.

The 20-pound bronze sculpture is significantly different from the original Gold Pan, simply an authentic silver mining utensil. The new trophy is supported by three hockey sticks and a puck, with inscriptions on the face of the pan that read "DU" and "CC" in school fonts and "Rivalry since 1949."

CC coach Scott Owens oversaw the project. He was a CC assistant coach under Don Lucia when Lucia and former DU coach Frank Serratore unveiled the first Gold Pan in 1993.
"It's a big deal," Owens said.

No one has to convince DU seniors Adrian Veideman, Mike Handza and Glenn Fisher. The Pioneers took control of the Gold Pan in 2004 and have owned its rights since. But the senior class had only a brief time with the trophy as freshmen because it went missing after DU won the 2004 NCAA title.

"The senior class, especially, really wants it," Handza said. "The freshmen don't really know what it means until we either lose it or get it back."

DU needs to win both games to control the new trophy. CC needs only to tie one of the games, because the Tigers swept the Pioneers - 5-1 and 3-2 - on Dec. 1-2. The Gold Pan goes to the winner of the four-game, regular-season series, but it must be won outright.

"Players on this team haven't had success with the Gold Pan, and once you get it, it's hard to get it away," Owens said.

Fisher can't imagine losing it as a senior.

"It's a big deal, and there is a lot of other stuff riding on this weekend," he said. "We win two games and we get the trophy and third place in our league."

DU cannot finish worse than fifth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and is in good shape to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and begin at the West Regional at the Pepsi Center. CC could finish anywhere from third to seventh in the WCHA and is on the bubble to make the 16-team national field.

Both teams have struggled lately. DU is 1-3-1 in its past five games and has not swept a WCHA opponent in six consecutive weeks. CC is on a four-game losing streak and winless in its past six games.

"Everyone is upset with the splits we've been having, and the one point we got in Michigan Tech," Fisher said. "It's not good enough. We want a sweep."

Owens says the Tigers' struggles are "our inability to score at key times and offensive in general."