The team won the 2005 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament, the 7th title in program history.

Coach George Gwozdecky had called him the 'best goaltender in the country' the previous year and finding his successor would be critical for the program's chances.

Though the there were excuses as to why the Pios weren't at their top form, defeating tough competition was exactly what the team would need to do if they hoped to retain their status as champions.

The addition of Paul Stastny helped buoy the offense, led by Gabe Gauthier and Matt Carle.

With the platooning of Fisher and Mannino paying dividends in the win column, Denver shot to the top of the standings and earned the #1 ranking by mid-February.

While their ranking wasn't too consequential by then, as they had all but guaranteed themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament, the losses put Denver into a tie with Colorado College for the conference lead.

Though Denver and Colorado College were tied with identical records, the Pioneers held the tiebreaker and received the #1 seed for the WCHA tournament.

[3] They met long-time rival North Dakota at the Xcel Energy Center and the two battled through a defensive struggle.

[4] To make matters worse, Minnesota was the host for the West Regional and, since the Gophers were also a #1 seed, Denver was slotted to open in Amherst, Massachusetts.

While Denver was expected to roll over the unranked BSU squad, the Pios found themselves trailing twice early in the game.

[6] As a consequence of Fisher's struggles against Bemidji State and Peter Mannino stronger performance over the course of the entire season, Gwozdecky ended the goaltender rotation and went with his best option in goal.

Jeff Drummond opened the scoring early in the first but Denver's lead was erased just a few minutes later on a power play marker from Travis Zajac.

Despite a furious assault by North Dakota in the third, Denver's lead held and the game was salted away by Gabe Gauthier's 26 goal of the season into an empty net.