DENVER – The No. 1-ranked Denver Pioneers hockey team will host its 75th Anniversary celebration this weekend as the program gets set to host approximately 150 alumni during its home series against the Lindenwood Lions at Magness Arena.
 
Among the activities planned are alumni games, pre and post-game receptions, on-ice alum recognition and the Pioneers wearing for the first time their new third jerseys—a throwback and ode to the inaugural 1949-50 squad.
 
Denver's two games against Lindenwood will be broadcast exclusively on NCHC.tv, with both Friday and Saturday's contests beginning at 7 p.m. MT. DU will wear its new uniforms both nights. Limited tickets are available.
 
The Pioneers could also make some history against LU. DU, which became the sixth NCAA program to win 1,600 games all-time following their last victory, is riding a season-opening eight-game winning streak and is one shy of tying the 2001-02 squad for the longest to start a campaign in school history.
 
Denver owns the top offense in the country by averaging 5.1 goals per game and is led by its first forward line of Jack Devine, Carter King and Aidan Thompson. Each member of the Pioneers' trio ranks in the top 10 in the NCAA in scoring and is also on their own personal season-opening eight-game point streak—the longest of the careers for Devine and Thompson.
 
Massimo Rizzo (five goals, 12 assists) also had points in each of his first eight contests to start last season (Oct. 7-Nov. 4, 2023) while Jarid Lukosevicius was the last player to have a longer run with a nine-game season-opening point stretch to start 2018-19 (eight goals, five assists).
 
Thompson combined for four points in DU's weekend sweep at Yale last weekend, including totaling two goals and an assist on Saturday in a 5-1 victory in New Haven. Thompson earned his first career NCHC Forward of the Week award and was joined in the league honors by fellow teammate Eric Pohlkamp, who was named Defenseman of the Week after also having four points overall and three (two goals, one assist) in a 6-0 win in the series opener at Yale on Friday.
 
The Pioneers split their goaltenders in the series for the first time this year, as senior Matt Davis had a 22-save shutout on Friday before having his first night off after starting 33 consecutive contests. Sophomore Freddie Halyk guarded the pipes for the first since last December on Saturday and stopped 21-of-22 shots in his season debut.
 
Denver and Lindenwood are set to meet in just their second-ever series, as the squads last played in the middle of 2022-23 in what was the Lions' debut season at the NCAA Division-I level. The Pioneers won by scores of 5-0 and 5-4 in the Dec. 16-17, 2022 set at Magness Arena.
 
This weekend marks the final home non-conference matchup of the season for Denver and the penultimate non-NCHC series of the year, as the squad begins league play next weekend at No. 10 North Dakota. The Pioneers' final non-conference series is after the New Year on Jan. 3-4 at No. 5 Maine.

DU has won 17 consecutive games against non-conference opponents since Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State and is 10-0-1 in non-NCHC contests at home dating back to Jan. 7, 2023 against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PIONEERS: Denver will commemorate 75 years of Pioneer hockey throughout 2024-25 to recognize its diamond jubilee as a program.  DU will host its 75th Anniversary reunion this weekend, Nov. 8-9, when Lindenwood visits Magness Arena.  Among the activities set for the weekend is pre-game and post-game receptions for alums, alumni games on Saturday and an on-ice recognition for all of former players in attendance during Saturday's first intermission, with each of the team's NCAA-record 10 championship trophies set to make an appearance as well.
 
The 2024-25 season is actually the 76th in DU hockey history, but the team's 75th anniversary of its first game is in December.  The Pioneers' first ever contests were at home on Dec. 19-20, 1949 against Saskatchewan, with the squad losing 17-0 and 9-1 in the series.  Denver's first win was Jan. 27, 1950 at Wyoming, and the program's first home victory came against that same Wyoming squad on Feb. 18, 1950 (10-6) at the old DU Arena.
 
SWEET 16-HUNDRED: Denver hockey won its 1,600th all-time game in its victory on Saturday at Yale, becoming just the sixth program in college hockey history to reach the mark. Only Minnesota (1927), Michigan (1805), Boston College (1720), Boston University (1671) and North Dakota (1640) have more wins, but the Pioneers are the newest of the programs to reach the milestone (began 1949) as the other five squads started play in 1922-23 or earlier.
 
The Pioneers all-time winning percentage as of Nov. 3 was .609, which is the fourth-highest among the six programs and higher than both North Dakota and Michigan at the time (both at .604). DU is expected to play in its 2,800th game sometime during the 2025 postseason.
 
HISTORY VS. LINDENWOOD: The Pioneers get set to play their second-ever series with Lindenwood after the Lions began NCAA play in 2022-23.  The two programs first met on Dec. 16-17, 2022, with DU winning both contests by 5-0 and 5-4 scores at Magness Arena.  Matt Davis posted a shutout in the first outing and Justin Lee tallied the game-winning goal with 2:27 left in regulation in the series finale.  Denver also played Lindenwood when it was an ACHA squad in an exhibition prior to start the 2021-22 season, with the Pioneers winning 9-1.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (Dec. 17, 2022): Senior captain Justin Lee scored the game-winning goal with 2:27 remaining regulation and the No. 1 Denver Pioneers hockey team held off the Lindenwood Lions for a 5-4 victory at Magness Arena.  DU now heads into the holiday break on a season-long, seven-game winning streak and has won five straight matchups on home ice.  Lindenwood (4-12-0) rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period, as Mitch Allard scored 22 seconds into the frame while Cade DeStefani tallied his second of the night at 13:33.  Lee netted his second goal of the season and his first career game-winner on his own rebound, as his second shot beat Lions goaltender Trent Burnham between the pads.  Sophomore forward Tristan Broz registered a career-high four points, as he scored in the second period and recorded three helpers, including the secondary assist on Lee's game-winner.
 
CONNECTIONS: DU director of sports performance Matt Shaw is from St. Louis, Missouri … Jared Wright and Joe Prouty are from Burnsville, Minnesota … Cale Ashcroft and LU's Drew Kuzma and Aidan Yakimchuk are both from St. Albert, Alberta … Boston Buckberger and Jaeden Mercier are each from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan … Denver's Kent Anderson, Matt Davis, Carter King and Rieger Lorenz and Lindenwood's Ethan Zielke are all from Calgary, Alberta … Eric Pohlkamp and Alexander Lundman both played for Bemidji State last season … Lorenz was a teammate of Coltan Wilkie with the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers in 2020-21 … Anderson played on the AJHL Drumheller Dragons with Aidan Yakimchuk in 2018-19 … Alexandros Aslanidis previously played in the NCHC with Western Michigan.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Lindenwood begins this season with a 2-5-1 mark and is coming off a 0-1-1 weekend at Robert Morris.  The Lions lost 3-3 on Friday before playing to a 2-2 tie on Saturday, though they did fall 2-1 in the end-of-game shootout to the Colonials.  Lindenwood is winless in its last three games since splitting a series at the NCHC's Miami the previous weekend, winning 4-2 and losing 4-1.  The Lions began this season with a 4-2 win at then-No. 9 Wisconsin on Oct. 11 before falling 3-2 in overtime the next night.  This weekend marks the final contests of a season-opening 10-game road trip, as LU will play its home opener on Nov. 15-16 against Ohio State.  Lindenwood is making its second trip to Colorado this year, after losing both games at the Air Force Academy on Oct 18 and 20.  David Gagnon leads the team in scoring with four goals and seven points, while Jack Anderson is tied for second with five points (1g/4a) but paces the team with four assists.  Ethan Zielke is tied with Anderson in points and is second in goals with three.  Goaltender Owen Bartoszkiewicz has started seven of the eight games this year and owns a 2-5-0 record, 2.45 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.  Alexandros Aslanidis started the last game for LU at RMU.
 
NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: The Pioneers wraps up its six-game, home non-conference schedule this weekend against Lindenwood.  Overall, DU will play 12 non-conference games this season, which began with a two-game set in Anchorage, Alaska, against the UAA Seawolves on Oct. 5-6.  Denver will make two trips to the northeast during the year, as it traveled to Connecticut to play Yale on Nov. 1-2 and will head out again to play Maine to begin the New Year on Jan. 3-4.  The Pios' games to Orono against the Black Bears will be their first since Oct. 14-15, 2005.
 
Denver hosted Hockey East's Northeastern in its first home games of the year as part of Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 18-19, with the Pioneers raising their championship banner prior to the Saturday series finale.  DU then faced the Big Ten's and former WCHA-foe Wisconsin on Oct. 25-26 and will conclude its home non-NCHC schedule with its 75th Anniversary reunion weekend on Nov. 8-9 vs. Lindenwood.
 
DU went 13-2-1 against non-conference opponents a season ago, which included wins in each of the final nine such contests and four in the NCAA Tournament.  The Pios have also won 17 consecutive games against non-conference opponents since Nov. 11, 2023 at Arizona State and is 10-0-1 in non-NCHC contests at home dating back to Jan. 7, 2023 vs. Alaska Fairbanks.
 
DIVINE DEVINE: Senior Jack Devine leads the nation in scoring and has registered assists in each of the first eight games of the season (1g/13a), a career high for both the longest assist and point streak for the forward.
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native has registered multiple points in five of the eight games, including in four consecutive outings from Oct. 19-26.  Devine opened the season with a personal-best four assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (all on the power play) and recorded three points (1g/2a) on Oct. 26 against Wisconsin.
 
THOMPSON TALLIES: Junior forward Aidan Thompson picked up his first NCHC Forward of the Week award on Monday after totaling four points (2g/2a) in the two-game series at Yale last weekend. He recorded three points (2g/1a) on Saturday in a 5-1 victory for his fourth career three-point contest.
 
Thompson is second on the Pioneers in both goals (6) and points (15), with the latter ranking tied for second overall in the NCAA.  He has points in each of the first eight games of the season and is on a personal-best six-game assist streak.
 
The Fort Collins, Colorado, native set a career high for assists/points in a game on Oct. 19 vs. Northeastern with four helpers. It was the second four-assist game of the year by a Pioneer as Jack Devine also accomplished the feat in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage.
 
POHLKAMP SHOWS OFF SHOT: Sophomore Eric Pohlkamp leads all DU defensemen with four goals and 31 shots, with the latter ranking second overall on the team.  The Baxter, Minnesota, native is tied for the NCAA lead in goals by a blueliner (Sam Rinzel, Minnesota, 4) and ranks second among players at his position in shots (Chris Hedden, Air Force, 36).
 
Pohlkamp picked up his second NCHC Defenseman of the Week award of the season on Monday after also being selected for the honor on Oct. 21. He combined for four points (2g/2a) in the two-game sweep of Yale, including tallying two goals and an assist in a 6-0 win on Friday. It was his first multi-point game with the Pioneers and the second two-goal and three-assist contest of his career, as he last tallied twice on March 9, 2024 vs. Ferris State and had a goal and two assists on March 8 vs. Ferris while with Bemidji State.
 
The defenseman is on a career-long seven-game point streak (4g/5a) and has assists in each of his last three contests, which ties s personal best (Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2023, with BSU).
 
DAVIS CONSISTENT IN NET: Goaltender Matt Davis went on a run of starting 33 consecutive games beginning on Jan. 5 vs. Niagara and ran through this past Friday, Nov. 1 at Yale.  He was finally given the night off on Saturday at Yale after posting a 27-4-2 record, 2.02 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and three shutouts during the streak that stretched across two seasons.
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native is currently riding a personal 16-game winning streak dating back to March 9 of last season vs. Colorado College.  He has posted several long shutouts streaks during that time, including a single-season career-best 127:18 from March 9-16, a personal-long 136:52 run that stretched across the two seasons from April 11-Oct. 4, and his current season high and active 112:19 streak that dates back to the first period on Oct. 26 vs. Wisconsin.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Jack Devine leads the country in assists (15) and points (16).
• Carter King leads the nation in goals (7) and ranks tied for 10th in points (11).
• Matt Davis ranks first in the nation in wins (7), eighth GAA (1.43) and 11th in save% (.939).
• Eric Pohlkamp is tied for the most goals by a defenseman in the country (4) and is tied for fourth among all D-men in points (9).
• Aidan Thompson is second in the NCAA in points (15) and goals (6-tied) and tied for seventh in assists (9).
• Sam Harris is tied for second in the NCAA in goals (6) and is third in power-play goals (4).
• Zeev Buium is tied for third in the nation in assists (10), leading all defensemen the category. He ranks tied for second among all D-men in points (10).
• Boston Buckberger is tied for sixth among all defensemen in assists (6).

PLAYING AHEAD: The Pioneers have had the lead or have been tied for nearly the entire season, as they've only trailed for 18:04 of game time this season.  DU didn't trail for the first 244:12 of the season (4+ games).
 
Overall, Denver has not trailed in 348:14 of the 480 minutes of game play this season, leading for 349:10 and has been tied for 112:46
 
HISTORIC WIN STREAK: The Pioneers have won 17 consecutive games dating back to last season on March 9 against Colorado College.  It is the third-longest win streak across multiple seasons in program history, with only a pair of 19-game runs from Feb. 13-Dec. 13, 1960 and Jan. 13-Dec. 2, 1961 being longer.
 
Overall, DU's current 17-game streak is the longest since winning 22 contests in a row from Jan. 5-March 16, 1968 en route to a championship.
 
Denver went 9-1-0 in its last 10 games of 2023-24 and is 23-2-1 in the 26 contests since the start of February 2024. 
 
NOTABLES

• Denver improved to 10-1-0 all-time against Yale and has won each of its last four games in the series. DU is 3-0 in games in the city of New Haven and 2-0 at Ingalls Rink, with the program making its debut at "The Whale" on Friday night.
• DU had its shutout streak of Yale end at 190:50, and goaltender Freddie Halyk had his personal shutout streak of the Bulldogs end at 130:50. Both runs that ended on Saturday began on Nov. 25, 2023 in Denver.
• Zeev Buium played in his 50th career game and picked up his second multi-point game of the season.
• Freshman defenseman Alec Whipple made his collegiate debut on Saturday, while Sam Harris missed his first game of the season (upper-body injury, day-to-day).
• Eric Pohlkamp's multi-goal game on Friday was the first by a defenseman since Zeev Buium recorded his with an overtime goal on March 22, 2024 vs. St. Cloud State in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals.
• Jake Fisher recorded his third multi-point game of the season on Friday.
• The Pioneers' 6-0 win on Friday marked their largest margin of victory and first shutout of the season.
• Denver posted a season-high faceoff-winning percentages in both games at Yale.
• Rieger Lorenz had a then-team season-high and career-most eight shots on goal on Friday. Aidan Thompson topped that with 11 shots on goal on Saturday.

STREAKING

• Jack Devine is on a career-long eight-game assist/point streak (1g/15a).
• Carter King is on an eight-game point streak (7g/4a).
• Aidan Thompson is on an eight-game point streak (6g/9a) and six-game assist streak (3g/9a), both career longs.
• Eric Pohlkamp is on a career-best seven-game point streak (4g/5a) and has matched a personal-long three-game assist streak (2g/3a)
• Sam Harris has tied a career long with points in each of the last five games he's played (4g/4a). His four-game goal streak, which tied a career best, ended on Friday.
• James Reeder is on the longest point streak of his career at four games (1g/3a).

PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver is the top-ranked team in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live nationals polls, a position it has held in each of the six rankings this year and seven straight dating back to the final list of last season
 
The NCHC has five schools ranked, all of which are in the top 15—the most among all conferences.  Overall, the league has the third-most schools in the USCHO.com poll, with Hockey East and the Big Ten both having six.  The Colorado institutions lead the NCHC in the rankings with Colorado College at No. 8/8 behind Denver, while North Dakota comes in at No. 10/10, tying the NCHC for the most in the top 10. St. Cloud State ranks at No. 12/14 and Western Michigan is at No. 14/12.  Omaha and Arizona State received votes in both polls.
 
MILESTONE MEN: Graduate student Connor Caponi and senior Jack Devine each played in a milestone game on Friday night, as Caponi became the 70th player in program history to play 150 contests while Devine skated in his 125th career outing that night as well.
 
Caponi was the first player to reach the 150-game mark since Kyle Mayhew on March 10, 2023 vs. Miami, and he is 17 contests from tying former teammate Ryan Barrow's school record of 168 games played (2017-2022). Barrow reached the milestone in the 2022 NCAA National Championship Game where he scored the game-tying goal that sparked DU to a 5-1 victory against Minnesota State.
 
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: The Pioneers' 2025 senior class is on pace to be the winningest group in school history and became the 16th class to win at least 100 games on Friday at Yale.  The seniors' current 101 total victories rank tied for the ninth-most in program history.  Among the 2025 grads' accomplishments have been three Gold Pan trophies, two Penrose Cups, an NCHC Frozen Faceoff title and two national championships.
 
Last year's senior class of 2024 finished tied with the fourth-most wins in the program annals with 103 victories and registered a .708 winning percentage (103-41-5).  Only the classes of 2005 (112 wins), 2019 (105) and 2018 (105) had more victories than last season's seniors.
 
DEVINE CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: Senior forward Jack Devine recorded two points (0g/2a) last weekend at Yale and now has 122 points in his career, tied for 52nd all-time in program history with Matt Carle (2003-06) and Darrell Morrow (1978-82).  He is one point from moving into the top 50 among all players in Pioneer history.
 
Devine became the 103rd Pioneer to reach 100 career points after scoring in his 109th contest on March 8, 2024 at Colorado College.  The Glencoe, Illinois, native led the team and ranked fourth in the nation with 27 goals in 2023-24.  It was the most tallies by a Pioneer since Ryan Dingle also had 27 in 2005-06.
 
The forward is five goals away from being the 61st player in school history to score 50 career goals and the first since Cole Guttman on Feb. 11, 2022 against Minnesota Duluth.
 
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver has sold out each of its four home games season, averaging 6,846 fans.  The Pioneers set attendance records on Oct. 18-19 during homecoming weekend against Northeastern, including a new single-game high with a crowd 7,051 on Saturday for its banner-raising ceremony and series finale.  Overall, 13,888 people watched the series sweep of NU—the most for a two-game weekend in school history and breaking the previous mark by more than 1,200 fans.
 
In 2023-24, DU set a home attendance record by averaging 6,130 fans at Magness Arena across 20 games, besting their previous high mark of 6,022 over the course of 24 contests in 2006-07.  Denver had a sold-out crowd of 7,033 for its regular-season finale against Colorado College on March 9, which at the time was the highest-attended hockey game at Magness Arena in program history.  DU had set its last high mark for attendance in its previous game against CC on Nov. 3 at Magness with a crowd of 7,021.
 
Overall, 122,594 people watched the Pioneers at Magness Arena in 2023-24 (20 games) after 133,117 people visited DU's home rink in 23 games in 2022-23 (the second-highest attended season in the rink's history).  If the 17,952 that witnessed Denver defeat Colorado College at Ball Arena on Jan. 27, 2023 are included in the data (it officially counted as a DU home game), then 151,069 people watched Pioneer home games in 2022-23—the highest total attendance for the team since 1999.
 
PIONEERING OFFENSE: Denver led the country in scoring a season ago (4.59 goals/game) and ranks first in the NCAA in the category after eight games in 2024-25, averaging 5.1 goals per game on 41 total tallies.  DU has scored at least four goals in each contest this year.
 
The Pioneers, who recorded 202 total goals last season, have had 13 different players score and 17 of the 21 skaters that have suited up in a game have registered at least one point.
 
DOMINANT AT THE DOT: The Pioneers rank sixth in the nation by winning 56.3 percent of their faceoffs this season, including posting season-high winning percentages of .640 and .643, respectively, on Friday (32/50) and Saturday (45/70), at Yale.
 
Kieran Cebrian leads Denver in faceoffs at a 61.7 percent (82/133), while Carter King ranks first on the team in wins at 106 and second with winning percentage (.604).  King set a personal best by winning 20-of-34 faceoffs on Oct. 19 against Northeastern for the most wins by a Pioneer since Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts.
 
KILLER PENALTY KILL: Denver has killed off 91.2 percent of its penalties this season (23/25), including all five man-disadvantage opportunities last weekend at Yale.
 
The Pioneers had a stretch of 17 straight kills that began in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage (four games) and ended with Wisconsin tallying on its first power-play chance on Oct. 25—the longest such streak since they were successful on 19 man disadvantages during the 2022 postseason, from March 11 through April 7, 2022.
 
Denver killed off 89.7 percent of its penalties over the final 13 games in 2023-24, going 26-for-28 in a stretch that began on Feb. 24.  DU was perfect in nine of those games, including going 4-for-4 on the PK on three occasions and seven straight in the final five outings of the season en route to the 2024 championship.
 
PIOS POWER UP: Denver is converting on 32.5 percent of its power plays, which includes man-advantage goals in each of the last four games and in seven of the eight outings this year.  DU has converted multiple times while man-up in two contests this season, including going 4-for-9 in the season opener on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage—the most scored in a game by the squad since Dec. 4, 2021 at Arizona State (4-of-6).
 
Jack Devine is first on the team with 10 power-play points (0g/10a), while Sam Harris leads the squad with four man-advantage goals.  Five of Devine's six assists in Alaska on Oct. 5-6 came while DU was a man-up on the ice, while all four of Zeev Buium's assists in that series came on power-play goals.


TICKETS: Limited tickets for Denver hockey's 75th anniversary in 2024-25 are available. Click here to purchase and for more information.