DENVER – Junior defenseman
Eric Pohlkamp of the University of Denver hockey team has been named to the United States Collegiate Select Team for the prestigious 2025 Spengler Cup international tournament in December in Davos, Switzerland.
Pohlkamp is among five players that were added on Thursday to a roster that will be made up of 25 players from across NCAA men's ice hockey. The competition runs from Dec. 26-31, with host HC Davos, Team Canada, HC Fribourg-Gotteron, Sparta Praha and IFK Helsinki joining the college selects as participating teams in the 2025 tournament.
The Baxter, Minnesota, native has totaled 63 points (25g/38a) in 78 career games over the past two seasons with Denver and Bemidji State. He recorded a career high in scoring last season with DU by registering 35 points on 11 goals and 24 assists, ranking second among all team defensemen in points and tied for fifth at his position in the country in goals. Pohlkamp also tied for second in the nation with a plus-31 rating and paced the Pioneers with 60 blocked shots.
A 2024-25 All-NCHC Third Team member and named to the league's Preseason All-Conference Team last month, the blueliner began the new season with four points across two games last week to earn the NCHC Defenseman of the Week award. He had an assist last Friday at Air Force and scored three goals on Saturday against Bentley in the home opener for his first career hat trick.
Pohlkamp is just the 12th defenseman to score three goals in a game in the DU record book, and he is the fourth rear guard (fifth time) in NCHC history to record a hat trick, joining former teammate
Zeev Buium (Nov. 15, 2024 at North Dakota), Western Michigan's Michael Joyaux (Feb. 2, 2021 vs. St. Cloud State) and WMU's Ronnie Attard, who did it twice (Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate; Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado College).
Selected by San Jose Sharks at No. 132 in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft, Pohlkamp also recorded his first career short-handed goal last Saturday against Bentley to become the first Pioneers D-man to tally while a man-down since Antti Tuomisto on Jan. 23, 2021 at Omaha. He also added 12 shots on goal, four blocks and a plus-3 rating in the Pioneers' two games last weekend.
Pohlkamp won't be the only Pioneer at the tournament, as Associate Director of Sports Medicine
Aaron Leu was named as the head athletic trainer of the U.S. College Team last summer. Leu is in his 22nd year at DU and has worked with the men's ice hockey program as the head athletic trainer for 21 of those seasons.
Two Denver players have suited up for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in recent years while a student-athlete, with
Massimo Rizzo doing so in 2023 and
Ian Mitchell in 2019.
Charlie Cerrato (Penn State), T.J. Hughes (Michigan), Cole Knuble (Notre Dame) and Danny Nelson (Notre Dame) were also named to the U.S. Collegiate Select team on Thursday. Last week, the "First Five" members of the squad were announced, which included Aiden Fink (Penn State), Mac Gadowsky (Penn State), Jake Livanavage (North Dakota), Joey Muldowney (Connecticut) and Alex Tracy (Minnesota State).
This will be the second time an American-based select team has taken part in the Spengler Cup, following a U.S. squad that won the tournament in 1988. All returning First and Second Team All-Americans received an automatic invitation to the team. The remainder of the roster, which will include representation from all six conferences, will be constructed by the USCS coaching staff and organizing committee, with guidance from select NHL scouts.
TICKETS: Single-game tickets and 5-game mini plans for DU hockey's 2025-26 campaign are on sale now.
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