College Hockey Outdoors CC DU

Colorado College and Denver University have a rivalry that goes back over 50 years.  And next year, they will be the first two teams playing hockey at Coors Field in Denver.

The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings are already scheduled to play at Coors Field in February of 2016.  The CC DU game will take place one week earlier on February 20.

A very cool combination.  And a nice warmup before the big NHL game.

College Hockey News shared these quotes from the Athletic Directors:

“We couldn’t be more excited to be announcing this game, which we are very pleased to do in partnership with our longtime rivals Colorado College as well as the Colorado Rockies and NCHC,” Denver athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes said.

“We are thrilled to be taking our rivalry with the University of Denver outside in 2016,” CC athletic director Ken Ralph said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players and we are grateful to the Colorado Rockies, the Coors Field staff and the University of Denver for making this a reality for our team. We are looking forward to a large crowd in a beautiful setting as our teams display that college hockey is indeed thriving in the state of Colorado.”

The Denver Post and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette also posted these player reactions:

“It’s exhilarating,” Colorado College junior Jared Hanson said. “It will be the biggest game many of us will ever play. Growing up, you watch the NHL outdoor games and dream of playing in something like that. To do that against a rival like Denver makes it even more exciting. It will be a blast to play in.”

“It’s going to be awesome,” DU junior center Quentin Shore said of the outdoor game. “We all watch the outdoor games and it will be a dream come true to play in one. The fact that we get to play CC in downtown Denver is unreal.”

Photo courtesy of Cliff.