MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team heads back to the St. Louis area and the site of the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four this weekend with a two-game series against the Lindenwood Lions at Centene Community Ice Center.
 
Both games on Friday and Saturday start and 6 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on FloHockey.tv.
 
This weekend's set begins a season-long, four-game road swing, as the Pios will then travel to New England to play Boston College and Northeastern on Oct. 24-25.
 
Denver is coming off an unbeaten opening weekend with a 1-1 tie at Air Force on Friday before a 6-0 win over Bentley on Saturday at Magness Arena. The Pioneers ended up outshooting the AFA Falcons by a 59-24 margin but only freshman Clarke Caswell's tying goal late in the third period found the back of the net. DU won 2-1 in the best-of-three shootout at the end, but the contest officially goes down as a tie.
 
Eric Pohlkamp led the Pioneers' offense in the home opener with his first career three-goal game, while defensive partner Eric Jamieson also had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Cale Ashcroft and Jake Fisher also tallied and Paxton Geisel put up a 21-save shutout in net.
 
Lindenwood is 2-2-0 through its first two weeks of the season and is coming off a road sweep at Lake Superior State last weekend with a 5-4 victory on Friday and a 7-4 defeat of the Lakers on Saturday. The Lions began the season at home on Oct. 3-4 with a pair of losses to Wisconsin.
 
DU and LU have met in two-game series twice before on Dec. 16-17, 2022 and Nov. 8-9, 2024, with both meetings coming in Denver. The Pioneers are 4-0-0 all-time against Lindenwood and will be traveling to the St. Louis area for the first time in their history to play the Lions, which began their men's ice hockey program in 2022-23.
 
Denver has a 14-1-1 record in its last 16 games against non-conference opponents and sports a 27-3-2 overall mark since the start of 2023-24 versus teams not from the NCHC.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers opened the 2025-26 season with an undefeated weekend as they went 1-0-1 in games against Air Force and Bentley.  DU tied Air Force 1-1 in the opener on Friday at the Academy before shutting out Bentley by a 6-0 score on Saturday at Magness Arena.
 
Clarke Caswell tied Friday's game with 4:07 left in the third period to force overtime, but the game officially ended in a tie after a scoreless extra period despite Denver holding a 59-24 edge in shots on goal.  The Pioneers won the shootout at the end, 2-1, after goals from Kyle Chyzowski and Sam Harris.
 
The Pios won on Saturday in the home opener with three goals from defenseman Eric Pohlkamp and a three-point night from his defensive partner Eric Jamieson (1g/2a).  Senior forward Cale Ashcroft and sophomore forward Jake Fisher also scored, and goalie Paxton Geisel stopped all 21 shots he faced in the shutout.  Freshman Quentin Miller got the start in net on Friday at Air Force and made 23-of-24 saves.
 
POHLKAMP HATTY: Junior Eric Pohlkamp recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday vs. Bentley and become just the 12th Denver defenseman to tally three goals in a game.  Former teammate Zeev Buium was the last to do it last season on Nov. 15, 2024 at North Dakota.  Prior to Buium, the previous hat trick by a DU defender was nearly 20 years earlier when Ryan Caldwell accomplished the feat on Feb. 14, 2004 at home vs. Minnesota State.
 
It was also the fifth time and Pohlkamp became the fourth different defenseman in NCHC history to register a hat trick, as he joins Buium, 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).
 
The Baxter, Minn., native has scored multiple goals on two other occasions—Nov. 1, 2024 vs. Yale and March 9, 2024 vs. Ferris State (with Bemidji State)—and has registered three or more points three other times—March 8, 2024 vs. Ferris State with Bemidji State (1g/2a), Nov. 8, 2024 vs. Lindenwood (0g/3a), and March 7, 2025 vs. Colorado College (1g/3a).
 
POHLKAMP STAYS HOT, EARNS D-MAN OF THE WEEK: Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp picked up where he left off last season as he began 2025-26 with four points (3g/2a) in Denver's opening weekend at Air Force and home opener vs. Bentley.  At the end of last season, Pohlkamp scored a key goal in the Regional Final vs. Boston College on March 30 and had the primary assist on Denver's tying goal late in the third period of its Frozen Four matchup vs. Western Michigan on April 10.  He now has points in each of his last four games he's played, totaling four goals and two assists in that time.
 
Pohlkamp was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week on Monday, picking up the honor for the fourth time in his career (also Oct. 21, 2024; Nov. 4, 2024; March 10, 2025). He added 12 shots, four blocks and a +3 plus/minus rating in the Pios' two games last week.
 
The junior recorded 22 points (7g/15a) in the last 27 games of the 2024-25 season, and his 35 points last year ranked second among team defensemen in scoring behind Hobey Baker Award-finalist Zeev Buium (48).
 
GEISEL BACK IN GOAL: Goaltender Paxton Geisel returned to the Denver crease on Saturday vs. Bentley after missing almost all of last season with a lower-body injury and recorded his first career shutout with a 21-save performance.  It was Geisel's second career start and first on home ice, as his last and only other start came on Dec. 9, 2023 at Western Michigan—an overtime victory.  Saturday was his third career game, as he last saw action in relief on Feb. 2, 2024 at home against WMU.
 
It was the first shutout by the Pioneers since Matt Davis and Freddie Halyk shared a team clean sheet last season on Feb. 14 vs. North Dakota.  The last Denver shutout in the home opener was by Devin Cooley on Oct. 13, 2018 vs. Alabama Huntsville (16 saves).
 
PENALTY KILL DELIVERS: Denver went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill during opening weekend.  Among the kills was a 5-on-3 by Air Force late in the first period on Friday after the Falcons had just scored and a five-minute major in the third period on Saturday vs. Bentley while the Pios held a 2-0 lead.
 
The Pioneers finished with an 81.7-percent success rate on the kill last season and went 7-for-9 on man disadvantages during the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
 
WEEKEND OF FIRSTS: Eight Pioneers made their collegiate debuts over the weekend, with Clarke Caswell, Kyle Chyzowski, Kristian Epperson, Eric Jamieson, Brady Milburn, Quentin Miller and Reid Varkonyi all skating in the season opener on Oct. 10 at Air Force and Payton Nelson seeing his first game action the next night on Oct. 11 vs. Bentley. Miller got the start in net for DU for opening night.
 
Caswell tallied his first career goal in the season opener and picked up his first multi-point game with a pair of assists against Bentley.  Jamieson grabbed his first points at home vs. Bentley, as he finished the night with a goal and two assists. Epperson and Milburn also earned their first collegiate points on Saturday with an assist each against the Bentley Falcons.
 
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS: The Pioneers outshot the Air Force Falcons 59-24 in the season opener on Oct. 10 for the most shots on goal since firing 66 on net against Lake Superior State on Oct. 20, 2017.  Denver's season high for shots on goal last year were 46 on Nov. 8, 2024 vs. Lindenwood, and the last time the Pios had 50 or more shots on net was when they had 56 on Dec. 2, 2022 vs. Arizona State.
 
DU outshot AFA by an 18-8 margin in the first period, 15-7 in the second, 22-8 in the third and 4-1 in overtime. The Pioneers +35 shot differential on Friday was their highest since having a +36 differential on Dec. 2, 2022 vs. ASU (56-20), and the shots on goal in the third were their most in a single frame since having 23 in the second period on Nov 3, 2023 vs. Colorado College.
 
NO FLY ZONE: Denver is unbeaten in its last eight games against Air Force (7-0-1) and had a 176:45 shutout streak of the Falcons that stretched across four games from Oct. 15, 2021 to Oct. 10, 2025.  DU still owns a shutout streak of nearly four full games against AFA at Magness Arena, as the Pios haven't allowed a goal on their home ice vs. the Falcons in 238:17.  Dylan Abood scored the last Air Force goal at DU's home rink at 1:43 of the first period on Oct. 10, 2015.
 
NOTABLES:

• Eric Pohlkamp scored his first career short-handed goal on Saturday vs. Bentley, the first Denver defenseman to score during a man disadvantage since Antti Tuomisto on Jan. 23, 2021 at Omaha during the 2020-21 COVID-shortened season.
• The last short-handed goal by a Pioneer was by forward Carter King on March 28 against Providence in the NCAA Regional Semifinals in Manchester, N.H.
• Denver scored three goals in a matter of 2:23 in the third period on Saturday (Eric Pohlkamp, 2x; Jake Fisher). The team's fastest three goals last season was in 2:46 on Feb. 1 vs. Omaha (Rieger Lorenz, James Reeder, Boston Buckberger).
• DU is now 27-3-2 against non-conference opponents since the start of 2023-24 and own an unbeaten 13-0-1 mark on home ice versus non-NCHC squads since Jan. 7, 2023.
• Denver and Bentley faced off the for the first time ever.  The last time DU played a squad for the first time was on Oct. 27, 2023 when it hosted Augustana in that season's home opener (5-5 tie in OT).
• The Pioneers visited the Air Force Academy for the first time since Oct. 15, 2021 and played the AFA Falcons for the first time since Oct. 28, 2023 at Magness Arena.
• The last time Denver tied its season opener was Oct. 13, 2017 when it drew Notre Dame 2-2 in South Bend, Ind. 
• The Pioneers' last tie was by a 3-3 score on Jan. 31, 2025 against Omaha. The Mavericks won that 16-round NCHC shootout by a 4-3 score.
• Denver is now 7-3 all-time in shootouts under head coach David Carle after winning the skill competition last Friday at Air Force.  

ROAD SWINGIN': Denver gets set for a season-long four-game road swing that begins with a two-game series at Lindenwood on Friday and Saturday.  The Pioneers close the stretch on Oct. 24-25 in Boston at Boston College and Northeastern.
 
DU will spend most of the first half of the season on the road, as it will play five of its first six games and 10 of the first 14 contests away from Magness Arena.  Overall, the Pios will play 12 of their first 19 outings on the road before the Holiday Break and starting a season-long four-game homestand after the New Year.
 
HISTORY VS. LINDENWOOD: The Pioneers get set to make their first-ever trip to the Centene Ice Center and the home of Lindenwood hockey.  DU and LU have played four times previously, with the Pios sweeping each home series at Magness Arena.  The two programs first met on Dec. 16-17, 2022, with DU winning those contests 5-0 and 5-4.  Lindenwood visited Denver again last season on Nov. 8-9 during the Pioneers' 75th Anniversary Weekend celebration, and DU won each outing by 4-1 scores.  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.
 
LAST TIME VS. LU: (Nov. 9, 2024): No.1 Denver beat the Lindenwood Lions 4-1 on Saturday night at Magness Arena to wrap up the program's 75th Anniversary Weekend.  DU swept the non-conference weekend series against LU after also winning by a 4-1 score on Friday.  The Pioneers improved to 10-0-0 on the season, setting a program record for the longest winning streak to begin a campaign.  Sophomore Sam Harris scored two goals in the third period and netted the game-winning tally with 14:41 left.  Juniors Rieger Lorenz and Aidan Thompson also scored for Denver.  Senior goaltender Matt Davis secured the win by saving 17 out of 18 shots sent his way.  As part of its 75th Anniversary celebration, Denver honored approximately 150 former players on the ice in an extended first intermission.
 
CONNECTIONS: DU director of sports performance Matt Shaw is from St. Louis, Missouri … Cale Ashcroft and LU's Drew Kuzma are both from St. Albert, Alberta … Boston Buckberger and Jaeden Mercier are each from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan … Quentin Miller of the Pioneers and Charles Savoie of the Lions are both from Montreal, Quebec … Denver's Kent Anderson, Eric Jamieson and Rieger Lorenz and Lindenwood's Ethan Zielke are all from Calgary, Alberta … DU's Kyle Chyzwoski and LU's John Evans are both from the Surrey area in southwest British Columbia … Adam Raesler was on a team with DU's Kent Anderson in 2020-21 with the AJHL's Drumheller Dragons … Liam Beerman was at Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school at the same time as the Pioneers' Sam Harris (2020-2021) and Kristian Epperson (2020-2022) … Lindenwood goalie Klayton Knapp previously played in the NCHC with Minnesota Duluth.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS:  Lindenwood is 2-2-0 to start the new season and is coming off a road sweep at Lake Superior State last weekend.  LU won 5-4 on Friday and 7-4 on Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  The Lions hosted then-No. 20 Wisconsin in the season opener on Oct. 3-4, losing 3-0 and 7-2.  Charles Savoie paces the team in scoring through four games with seven points on two goals and four assists.  Giovanni Morneau is second with six points and leads the squad with four goals.  Klayton Knapp has started three games in net for LU and has a 1-2-0 record, 4.37 goals-against average and .875 save percentage. Now in its fourth season of existence, Lindenwood went 8-22-2 last season, with road wins at Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Miami and Omaha.
 
NON-CONFERENCE PLAY PREVIEW: The Pioneers will play 11 non-league games this season, with the team making trips to Boston, St. Louis and down to Colorado Springs.  Bentley, Alaska Anchorage and Maine will visit Magness Arena during the year, and DU will host Minnesota in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at Ball Arena in downtown Denver on Nov. 29.
 
The Pioneers began the campaign on the road at Air Force on Oct. 10 before hosting Bentley the next night on Oct. 11 in the home opener.  DU now heads out on the road for back-to-back weekends, facing Lindenwood on Oct. 17-18 before playing Boston College and Northeastern on Oct. 24-25 in its final road non-league games of the year.
 
After visiting Alaska Anchorage and Maine last season, Denver welcomes both the Seawolves and Black Bears to Colorado in 2025-26.  DU hosts UAA for Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 31-Nov. 1 before taking on Maine after the New Year on Jan. 2-3.
 
The Pioneers went 13-1-0 against non-NCHC opponents during the 2024-25 season and 5-1-0 against teams from Hockey East Association.  Denver defeated Providence and Boston College in the 2025 NCAA Tournament owns a 9-2-0 record in their contests vs. Hockey East over the previous two seasons (2023-2025).
 
Overall, DU owns a 13-0-1 mark at home in non-NCHC contests since Jan. 7, 2023 vs. Alaska Fairbanks.  The Pios are 27-3-2 overall against non-conference opponents since the start of 2023-24.
 
ST. LOUIS CONNECTIONS: Denver hockey director of sports performance Matt Shaw is from St. Louis … St. Louis Blue head coach Jim Montgomery served five seasons in the same role with the Pioneers from 2013-2018, winning a national championship in 20217 … DU hockey has 13 alumni that have played for the Blues, including Hockey Hall of Famers Glenn Anderson (1994-1996) and Craig Patrick (1974-75), as well as 2005 NCAA national champion Paul Stastny, who suited up for five seasons in Missouri (2013-18) and grew up in St. Louis … Former DU goalie Jack Caruso's father, Mike, is an executive with the Blues, and Jack was a part of both the Pioneers' 2022 and 2024 national titles … Alum McKade Webster is also from St. Louis and won championships in 2022 and 2024 as well, serving as team captain for the NCAA-record title team in 2023-24… Denver was one of the first programs to play Lindenwood University (based in nearby St. Charles), one of the newest teams in NCAA Division I that began play in 2022-23.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver stayed at No. 5 in the country in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey media polls that were released on Monday.  The Pioneers began the year at No. 4 in each ranking's preseason list.
 
The NCHC is tied with the Big Ten and Hockey East for the most schools ranked in the top 10 (three).  The conference's five total ranked squads are third-most in the nation, with defending champion Western Michigan at No. 2/2, North Dakota at No. 8/8, Arizona State at No. 15/16 and Colorado College at No. 19/20 joining the Pioneers.  All nine league teams earned votes in the polls, with Omaha, Miami, Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State all being recognized by the electorate.
 
IN OPENERS: Denver is now a 44-25-8 all-time in season openers and started the regular season on the road for the third year in a row after playing in Alaska to start the previous two campaigns.  The last time DU began a campaign on the road in three consecutive seasons was 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20.  The Pioneers are unbeaten in their last five season openers (4-0-1) after tying Air Force in this year's opener on Oct. 10 (DU did win the shootout at the end).
 
DU improved to 54-18-5 all-time in home openers and 20-5-2 in home-opening contests at Magness Arena after defeating Bentley 6-0 on Oct. 11—its first home-opening shutout since Oct. 13, 2018 vs. Alabama Huntsville.  The Pioneers are now unbeaten in their last nine home openers (7-0-2) and are 16-1-2 in the last 19 opening nights at Magness.
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Senior Kent Anderson was named the 96th team captain in program history prior to the season on Oct. 3.  This is his first time serving as a team captain; he was an alternate captain with the Drumheller Dragons of the USHL in 2020-21.
 
Senior forwards Rieger Lorenz and Samu Salminen and junior defenseman Boston Buckberger were all chosen as alternate captains.
 
Salminen was captain of Jokerit's U20 squad in 2021-22 after being an alternate the previous year, and he served as captain of Team Finland at the 2022 IIHF U18 World Championship.  Buckberger was previously an alternate in 2022-23 with the Lincoln Stars of the USHL.
 
ROSTER BUILDING: Denver returns 16 players from last season and is welcoming 10 newcomers, all of whom are freshmen.  DU is bringing back 8-of-13 forwards, 7-of-8 defensemen and 1-of-3 goaltenders from 2024-25.
 
The Pioneers' 26-member squad features seniors Kent Anderson, Rieger Lorenz and Samu Salminen, and there are eight juniors to round out the upperclassmen.  DU has nine players that were part of the 2024 National Championship squad.
 
Seven players from last year's team signed professional contracts after the season, including five with NHL squads.
 
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: The Pioneers are the sixth-youngest squad in the NCAA this season with an average age of 21.0 as of Oct. 1.  Denver was the second-youngest squad in each of the previous two years with an average age (20.9 at start of each season).
 
Denver is welcoming 10 freshmen to its squad, with Kristian Epperson being the youngest with a birthdate of May 16, 2006.  DU is one of 23 programs in the country with 10 or more freshmen, and its 10 rookies this year tied for the 15th-most.  The Pioneers' three seniors are tied for the eighth-fewest in the country.
 
The Pioneers had 11 freshmen when they won the 2024 national championship and their 2022 championship squad featured nine freshmen.
 
DENVER IN THE DRAFT: Incoming freshmen Kristian Epperson and Brendan McMorrow were both selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2025 NHL Draft on June 28.  Epperson was chosen 88th overall in the third round while McMorrow was picked at No. 196 in round 7.
 
This is the 24th straight year that Denver has had a player chosen in the NHL's annual entry selection, and the Pioneers have now had multiple picks in each of the last 10 drafts.  It is the second-straight summer that Denver has had two players selected by the same NHL franchise in the draft, as Jake Fisher (No. 121) and Tory Pitner (No. 185) were each picked by the Colorado Avalanche in 2024.
 
Denver's 14 NHL Draft picks on its roster are the third-most in the NCAA behind Boston University (19) and Michigan State (15).
 

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