It’s finally opening day for Denver hockey.

Denver opens the season Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. against defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth, a 5-3 winner over Nebraska-Omaha in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference “pod” opener Tuesday.

That kicks off 10 games in quick succession. There is, at most, one day between every contest.

Coach David Carle said it’s less about practice and more about maintenance.

“We’re real grateful and we’re really excited for the opportunity to just get into it,” he said. “To have meaningful games right away is awesome.”

Like the world around them, the No. 4 Pioneers had to work with what was handed to them this year. Captain Kohen Olischefski said the Pioneers stayed away from each other as much as possible to avoid positive tests.

“Overall, considering the circumstances, I think we’ve done a great job of getting close as a team so far,” the senior forward said.

In spite of what Olischefski called “a lot of laying low” and taking mostly online classes, COVID-19 got into the locker room.

Within the last month, Carle said the Pioneers had one player test positive, which led to seven more stepping away, presumably due to proximity. Team activity was suspended for a “temporary amount of time,” but most players were cleared “in short fashion” and the other eight rejoined the team about two weeks ago.

When he’s gotten a look at the whole group, Carle said the impression was good.

“The pace at which we do things I think has been the most impressive,” he said. “When we’ve been full-team here the last couple weeks, how we can get up and down the ice and take away time and space has been the most impressive thing.”

The Pioneers lost several players to the pros but injected experience into the lineup with three graduate transfers, one at each position. Forward Steven Jandric was Alaska-Fairbanks’ leading scorer for two straight years. Defenseman Bo Hanson played for the Colorado Rampage before a solid three years at St. Lawrence. Goaltender Corbin Kaczperski hails from Yale, where he started 29 of 30 games last season and won 14 of them.

“They fit in really well right away,” Olischefski said.

Ready or not, familiar or not, it’s go time in Omaha.

“Everyone’s eager to play. Everyone extremely excited,” Olischefski said.