DENVER – Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp scored three goals and goaltender Paxton Geisel recorded a shutout on Saturday night in the No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team's 6-0 victory over the Bentley Falcons at Magness Arena.
 
Denver (1-0-1) used a four-goal third period to break open the home opener and secure its first win of the new season. The Pioneers tied Air Force 1-1 on Friday in the season opener at the Academy.
 
Pohlkamp's hat trick was the first of his career and his third career multi-goal outing. He is the 12th Pioneers defensemen to score three markers in a game, with former teammate Zeev Buium being the last to do so on Nov. 15, 2024 at North Dakota.
 
"I think my shots have kind of been all over, and I kind of just threw it on the net, and lucky enough it went in," Pohlkamp said. "So my teammates made actual plays to get those. I mean that second one was pretty much back door, the first one was too. So they did a great job for me, and just had to shoot on the net."
 
Making his first start since Dec. 9, 2023, Geisel earned his first career shutout with a 21-save performance. Denver's previous clean sheet came from Freddie Halyk on Nov. 1 at Yale, and Saturday marked the first shutout on Magness ice by a DU netminder since Matt Davis and Halyk shared a team shutout on Feb. 14, 2025 against North Dakota.
 
Pohlkamp's defensive partner Eric Jamieson also had a three-point evening with a goal and two assists—the first of the freshman's collegiate career. Sophomore forward Jake Fisher tallied and added a helper, while junior Rieger Lorenz and rookie Clarke Caswell contributed a pair of assists each.
 
Pohlkamp opened the scoring at 13:39 of the opening period off a feed from Caswell and Salminen doubled DU's lead on a redirection during a power play with 2:38 left in the middle frame. Pohlkamp began a run of three goals in a matter of 2:23 with a short-handed marker at 9:02 of the third and completed the hat trick at 11:25.
 
Easton Hesse made 32-of-38 saves in goal for Bentley (0-2-0), with Denver recording double-digit shot totals each period.
 
The Pioneers finished 1-for-4 on the power play and nullified the Falcons' only man-disadvantage chance early in the third—a five-minute major.
 
Denver's last shutout victory in its home opener was Oct. 17, 2024 in a 3-0 win against RPI.
 
UP NEXT: Denver now gets set for a four-game road swing that begins with two contests at Lindenwood next Friday and Saturday. The Pioneers then head to Boston to play Boston College and Northeastern on Oct. 24-25 before returning to Magness Arena for homecoming on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver and Bentley were facing off for the first time ever.
• DU is now unbeaten in its last nine home openers (7-0-2) and is 15-1-2 in its past 18 home opening nights. Overall, the Pioneers improved to 54-18-5 all-time in home openers and sports a 20-5-2 record in home-opening contests at Magness Arena.
• Denver had its first shutout victory in the home opener since winning 3-0 over RPI on Oct. 17, 2014.
• DU is 14-1-1 in its past 16 games versus non-conference opponents.
• Eric Pohlkamp is the 12th Denver defenseman to score three goals in a game and the fourth rear guard in NCHC history to record a hat trick (Zeev Buium; Western Michigan's Ronnie Attard, 2x).
• Pohlkamp also netted his first short-handed goal of his career. Carter King was the last Pioneer to tally on the man disadvantage on March 28, 2025 against Providence in the NCAA Regional Semifinals in Manchester, N.H.
• Dating back to last year's NCAA Tournament, Pohlkamp now has points in four-straight contests (4g/3a) since March 30, 2025 vs. Boston College.
• Kristian Epperson, Eric Jamieson and Brady Milburn all picked up their first career collegiate points with assists in the outing, and Jamieson tallied his first career goal in the game as well.
• Clarke Caswell had his first career assist in the NCAA after tallying in his Pioneer debut on Friday at Air Force.
• Freshman Payton Nelson played his first career game.
• Paxton Geisel made his second career start and first since Dec. 9, 2023 at Western Michigan. It was his third career game, as he last saw action on Feb. 2, 2024 at home against WMU.
• Geisel earned his first career shutout, which also marked the first clean sheet by a Pioneer goalie since Matt Davis and Halyk shared a team shutout on Feb. 14, 2025 against North Dakota. 

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
13:38 DU (1-0) – Eric Pohlkamp knocked in the puck in the low slot after taking a pass from Clarke Caswell from below the goal line.
 
2nd Period
17:22 DU (2-0) – PPG, Samu Salminen redirected Kristian Epperson's pass into the back of the net from the slot.
 
3rd Period
9:02 DU (3-0) – SHG, Eric Jamieson created a rush with a poke-check and Eric Pohlkamp hit twine with a roster after taking a cross-feed from Rieger Lorenze with two seconds remaining on the Pios' penalty kill.
10:11 DU (4-0) – Jake Fisher deflected Cale Ashcroft's centering pass into the back of the net.
11:25 DU (5-0) – Eric Pohlkamp went high, far-side with a shot after gathering a drop pass by Brady Milburn.
17:24 DU (6-0) – Eric Jamieson tallied with a one-time snap shot at the right circle.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the big penalty kill in the third period: "Yeah, they did a really nice job of executing, you know, all 5 D that were used, six forwards, Paxton, I thought we disrupted them. It was nice, there wasn't a lot of whistles. I think whistles helped the power play a lot of times, or on the kills, and especially a five-minute major. So we just got we're able to keep the clock moving and it's hard for them to change on the fly. I like their pressure and what we're able to do on that, it's good to get some practice at it for the five minute major.
 
On the third period goals: "Yeah, I think it's nice for the guys to get rewarded on it. Certainly, you know, we had a lot of shot volume on the weekend, and lots were made on the new people on the team and trying to get them comfortable at the level and the timing and all of that. So to see some go into the back of the net was really good for everyone."
 
Junior Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp
On the victory: "I think it's huge. You know, it's huge for our confidence to get the home opener. Obviously it gives us some confidence winning.. It's nice for the fans too, they come out to this game, and I know we have a lot of parents in town. So it was nice to get this win, and hope there's more to come."
 
On his short-handed goal being the dagger to the game: "I think so, and then obviously Fisher scored right after that, back door. So I think that gave us some momentum and kind of relaxed us a little bit because yesterday we were all kind of tensed. So it was nice to get that."
 
Junior Goaltender Paxton Geisel
On his first game of the year: "Yeah, felt good. Obviously, it's been a while since I've played a full game, last year having surgery. Guys played great in front of me, pretty much limiting a lot of great A's (scoring chances). So yeah, feels good. We were on top of everything in this game.
 
On first start in nearly two years: "Yeah, it's good. It doesn't really matter when it comes or that I got a shutout. Regardless, the team played great, big improvement from last night too. I think us as a group, we're all doing pretty well moving forward. So I think that's the goal for us."
 
On the big penalty kill in the third period: "Yeah, feels good obviously. Big PK, we were super clean with it. So luckily that goal (by Bentley) is batted in with the middle of that guy's hand (and is disallowed). But the guys were great. Our coaching staff are phenomenal with the PK. We work on it all the time in practice, so seeing the guys execute was very nice to see."

 
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