Those were the Pioneers Colorado College knows too well.

The home air agreed with Denver, which scored four unanswered goals starting with a deflating snipe from Reid Irwin with 11 seconds left in the second period. The Pioneers went on to chase goaltender Dominic Basse and win 6-1 on Saturday night at Magness Arena.

Junior transfer Brian Hawkinson, whose brother won a national championship at Denver, scored his first goal as a Tiger before the blowout got underway.

The Pioneers got their bearings immediately in their first game this season in their own barn. They snapped a four-game winless streak ahead of another home-and-home series with CC next weekend.

“You knew they were going to have a response after yesterday. Guys who have been here and played a lot of games against this team need to respond to that,” coach Mike Haviland said. “Some did and some didn’t, and we can’t have that.”

Irwin, a freshman defenseman, also scored the backbreaker 5:09 into the third period to chase Basse for the first time. Matt Vernon took over the crease for the first time since Basse earned his first career start in CC’s fourth game. Vernon made three saves in relief and allowed Brett Stapley’s second of the game, a breakaway out of the penalty box.

Colorado College’s penalty kill woes continued as the Pioneers went 2 of 4.

On the first goal of the game, Stapley cut through the middle of all four CC penalty killers and ripped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that beat Basse (17 saves). Goaltender Corbin Kaczperski got the secondary assist and also made 17 saves.

Carter Savoie, the conference’s leading freshman scorer, drilled a one-timer over Basse to give the Pioneers (4-7-1) their second power-play goal. It was his eighth goal in 12 games this season.

Jack Caruso spelled Kaczperski in the late stages and under completely different circumstances. The Denver goaltender who didn’t see the ice was Magnus Chrona, a preseason all-conference selection who was pulled Friday in CC’s 4-3 win.

The Battle for the Gold Pan is tied at a game apiece. CC (3-5-2) needs at least three wins and a tie in the six-game series to take the trophy back.

“We have a week to chew on this now,” Haviland said. “It’s a split on the weekend and we move forward.”

Outshot in the first half of the game, Basse came up with several impressive saves. He denied Griffin Mendel short-handed, flashed the glove on Kohen Olischefski and made a big stop that led to his team’s only goal at the other end.

Hawkinson went in on a breakout with Josiah Slavin. As his route closed up, Slavin readjusted and got the puck to Hawkinson, who slid it under Kaczperski’s leg pad. The junior, who hails from Centennial nine exits south of Magness, transferred from Miami before the season.

A one-goal lead heading into the third period was doable, but Irwin’s blast right before the horn signaled a change.

“We started to really kind of find our legs and ourselves there,” Haviland said. “You give up a goal with (11) seconds left and those are the momentum-killers.

“Next thing you know you’re just chasing it.”

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