# Battle for Pikes Peak

The Battle for Pikes Peak is a college ice hockey rivalry series that is played between the Colorado College Tigers and the Air Force Falcons.

## Background

The two schools have played each other since the Air Force Academy introduced ice hockey to its sporting schedule in the 1968–69 season. Colorado College started its hockey program thirty years before in 1938 and had been the lone top tier college hockey team till the University of Denver added ice hockey in 1949. The rivalry between Colorado College and the University of Denver, commonly called the Battle for the Gold Pan, has had a far more reaching intensity and history. However, unlike CC and DU, which are 65 miles from each other, CC and the Air Force Academy are only 11 miles apart, with CC within the Colorado Springs city limits and the AFA adjacent to the city limits (with a very small portion within the city). In 2013, Colorado College and Air Force established the Pikes Peak Trophy in memory of former CC and Falcons head coach John Matchefts. Matchefts had compiled a record of 54-88-3 in five seasons (1966–71) at the Colorado College helm before posting a ledger of 154-150-6 in 11 years (1974–85) with Air Force.
The rules to the series are very similar to that of the more widely known Battle for the Gold Pan. There are however many distinct differences. Unlike the four games per year between CC and DU, Air Force and CC have traditionally played only two games per year (between 2011 and 2014 only one game was played), this is mostly done in part as Air Force and CC have never been in the same conference. Air Force is currently part of Atlantic Hockey America, while Colorado College is a founding member of both its former and current hockey leagues, respectively the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Both play a home-and-home series on weekends, where both teams play on each other's home ice on back-to-back nights. As of the upcoming 2024–25 season, CC plays its home games at Ed Robson Arena, while Air Force's home ice is Cadet Ice Arena. Both arenas feature NHL-sized rinks, in contrast to CC's former home of Broadmoor World Arena, with a larger Olympic-sized rink. Before Robson Arena opened in 2021–22, the difference in rink size was again similar to that of the rivalry between CC and DU. The setup is that the winner of the series wins the Pikes Peak Trophy. If a tie is reached then the trophy is retained by the previous winner. In the 2016/17 season both schools faced off again for only one game in the regular season. In the 2019–20 season, the teams faced off twice in a season for the first time in four seasons.

## Overall rivalry record

The following table details the game results since the inaugural 1969 meeting.
| Colorado College victories | Air Force victories | Tie games |
| No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score |
| 1 | December 5, 1969 | USAFA | Colorado College | 5–1 |
| 2 | December 6, 1969 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–2 |
| 3 | January 15, 1971 | USAFA | Colorado College | 8–6 |
| 4 | January 16, 1971 | Colorado College | Tie | 7–7 |
| 5 | February 12, 1971 | USAFA | Air Force | 7–4 |
| 6 | February 13, 1971 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–5 |
| 7 | January 19, 1972 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 12–4 |
| 8 | February 16, 1972 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 11–3 |
| 9 | March 5, 1972 | USAFA | Air Force | 10–5 |
| 10 | December 8, 1972 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–3 |
| 11 | December 9, 1972 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–4 |
| 12 | January 24, 1973 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 14–4 |
| 13 | February 21, 1973 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 9–6 |
| 14 | November 3, 1973 | USAFA | Colorado College | 15–1 |
| 15 | December 1, 1973 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 6–4 |
| 16 | January 15, 1975 | Colorado College | Air Force | 1–0 |
| 17 | February 19, 1975 | USAFA | Air Force | 7–6$^{OT}$ |
| 18 | February 11, 1977 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 7–2 |
| 19 | February 13, 1977 | USAFA | Colorado College | 5–4 |
| 20 | December 9, 1977 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 7–5 |
| 21 | December 10, 1977 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–5 |
| 22 | December 5, 1978 | USAFA | Air Force | 6–1 |
| 23 | February 6, 1979 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–2 |
| 24 | December 11, 1979 | USAFA | Colorado College | 7–4 |
| 25 | February 5, 1980 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 3–2 |
| 26 | November 21, 1980 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–2 |
| 27 | November 22, 1980 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 6–1 |
| 28 | December 1, 1981 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 29 | January 12, 1982 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 10–4 |
| 30 | December 14, 1983 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 7–6 |
| 31 | November 16, 1984 | USAFA | Colorado College | 13–4 |
| 32 | November 17, 1984 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 6–3 |
| 33 | November 8, 1985 | USAFA | Colorado College | 8–3 |
| 34 | November 9, 1985 | Colorado College | Air Force | 6–5$^{OT}$ |
| 35 | November 14, 1986 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–3 |
| 36 | November 15, 1986 | USAFA | Colorado College | 7–6 |
| 37 | November 13, 1987 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 5–1 |
| 38 | November 28, 1988 | USAFA | Colorado College | 5–2 |
| 39 | November 10, 1989 | USAFA | Tie | 3–3 |
| 40 | November 11, 1989 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 7–1 |
| 41 | January 22, 1991 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 3–1 |
| 42 | January 29, 1991 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–3 |
| No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score |
| 43 | December 10, 1991 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 4–1 |
| 44 | January 10, 1992 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 45 | November 11, 1992 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 12–3 |
| 46 | February 23, 1993 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–2 |
| 47 | November 12, 1993 | USAFA | Colorado College | 9–1 |
| 48 | November 23, 1993 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 5–1 |
| 49 | November 25, 1994 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 50 | November 26, 1994 | USAFA | Colorado College | 10–1 |
| 51 | December 5, 1995 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 52 | January 7, 1997 | USAFA | Colorado College | 3–2$^{OT}$ |
| 53 | January 6, 1998 | USAFA | Colorado College | 2–1 |
| 54 | February 24, 1998 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 6–2 |
| 55 | November 27, 1998 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–2 |
| 56 | January 28, 2000 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 10–0 |
| 57 | December 1, 2000 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 4–1 |
| 58 | January 25, 2002 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 8–1 |
| 59 | November 29, 2002 | USAFA | Colorado College | 7–0 |
| 60 | November 28, 2003 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 61 | October 22, 2004 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–1 |
| 62 | October 22, 2005 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 6–3 |
| 63 | October 6, 2006 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 2–1 |
| 64 | January 19, 2008 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 2–1 |
| 65 | November 28, 2008 | USAFA | Air Force | 4–1 |
| 66 | February 5, 2010 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 2–0 |
| 67 | November 12, 2010 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–4 |
| 68 | December 30, 2011 | Colorado College | Air Force | 2–1 |
| 69 | October 19, 2012 | USAFA | Colorado College | 6–2 |
| 70 | November 19, 2013 | Colorado College | Air Force | 3–1 |
| 71 | November 22, 2014 | USAFA | Air Force | 3–1 |
| 72 | November 27, 2015 | USAFA | Air Force | 4–3 |
| 73 | November 28, 2015 | Colorado College | Colorado College | 4–3 |
| 74 | November 26, 2016 | Colorado College | Air Force | 6–3 |
| 75 | December 29, 2017 | USAFA | Air Force | 6–3 |
| 76 | October 13, 2018 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 6–1 |
| 77 | February 14, 2020 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 6–2 |
| 78 | February 17, 2020 | USAFA | Colorado College | 4–2 |
| 79 | October 29, 2021 | USAFA | Air Force | 5–4 |
| 80 | October 30, 2021 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 8–1 |
| 81 | October 28, 2022 | Colorado Springs | Colorado College | 8–0 |
| 82 | October 29, 2022 | USAFA | Air Force | 6–3 |
| Series: Colorado College leads 65–15–2 |||||

### Goal count

| Team | Total goals |
| Air Force goals | 219 |
| CC goals | 429 |
| Total goals | 639 |
Updated as of November 26, 2016

### Head-to-head tally

| Type | Leader | Leaders W – L – T | Total matches |
| Air Force home games | CC | 32 – 5 – 1 | 38 matches total |
| CC home games | CC | 27 – 7 – 1 | 35 matches total |
| Overtime games | USAFA | 2 – 1 – 1 | 4 matches total |
* As of November 2016