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, who are 65 miles from each other, CC and the Air Force Academy are only 11 miles apart. In 2013, Colorado College and Air Force established the Pikes Peak Trophy in memory of former CC and Falcons head coachJohn Matchefts. Matchefts had compiled a record of 54-88-3 in five seasons at the Colorado College helm before posting a ledger of 154-150-6 in 11 years with Air Force. The rules to the series is 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, this is mostly done in part as Air Force and CC have never been in the same conference. Air Force is currently part of the Atlantic Hockey Association, 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. The home ice for the Colorado College Tigers is the Broadmoor World Arena, while the home ice for the Air Force Falcons is Cadet Ice Arena. The difference in rink size is 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.
