TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team heads to the southwest this weekend to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils in a two-game NCHC showdown at Mullett Arena.
 
Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT and will be broadcast regionally back in Colorado on Altitude TV. The following day's contest on Saturday is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT. Both games will also be available on NCHC.tv.
 
Denver advanced its record to 8-3-1 overall and 4-0-0 in conference play last weekend after sweeping then-No. 17 Colorado College in a home-and-home set to begin the Gold Pan series. After two full scoreless periods last Friday, CC opened found the back of the net first just under six minutes into the third. With less than four minutes remaining in regulation, defenseman Eric Pohlkamp tallied to keep the Pios alive and force overtime. After three and a half minutes of 3-on-3 play in the extra session, Boston Buckberger ended the game by going coast-to-coast and netting a wrister. Buckberger finished the night with two points after earning a helper on Pohlkamp's tying tally. 
 
Denver earned its second victory over CC on Saturday night at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs, with the Pioneers netting a goal each period. Jake Fisher opened the scoring for the Pios, going bar down just over two minutes into the game. Eric Jamieson hit the back of the net in the second with a strong wrister from the top of the left circle, shooting through a wall of skaters. Buckberger earned his second game-winner of the weekend with a power-play goal in the third, leading the Pioneers to their sweep over CC. Goaltender Quentin Miller stopped an impressive 38-of-40 shots on net by CC on Saturday.
 
Arizona State enters the weekend with a 4-7-1 overall record and 2-3-1 in NCHC play, after splitting last weekend's outings at North Dakota. The Sun Devils came up short in Friday's game, losing 5-2 to the No. 6 Fighting Hawks but got redemption the following day with a 4-2 victory. 
 
Denver and ASU have been facing off against one another since January 2017, and the Pios lead the all-time series at 11-5-1, including a mark of 4-3-1 in Tempe. When Denver traveled to Arizona last season for a two-game series, they split with the Sun Devils as both games exceeded regulation play and were determined in overtime. Aidan Thompson tallied the OT winner in the Friday game and Sam Harris netted his first career hat trick in Saturday's series finale.
 
Denver and Arizona State last faced off in the 2025 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals on March 21 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Pioneers prevailed 4-2 to end the Sun Devils' season.
 
DU has won five straight games and has won three straight on the road dating back to its sweep of defending national champion Western Michigan on Nov. 7-8. Dating back to last season, the Pios have won six straight road outings in conference play since sweeping Miami on Feb. 21-22.
 
The Pioneers will be wrapping up a three-game road swing this weekend and a stretch where they are playing 10 of their first 14 games away from Magness Arena. Denver begins a three-game homestay on Saturday, Nov. 29 versus Minnesota in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at Ball Arena.
   
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers swept their weekend series against in-state rival Colorado College, rallying for a 2-1 overtime victory on Friday in Denver before earning a 3-2 win on Saturday in Colorado Springs. Eric Pohlkamp tied the game at Magness Arena in the final minutes of the third period on Friday, and Boston Buckberger scored his first career overtime goal 3:34 into the extra frame.
 
Buckberger netted his second-straight game-winner on Saturday at Ed Robson Arena late in the third period after Jake Fisher tallied early in the opening stanza and Eric Jamieson scored his fifth of the season in the middle period.  Goaltender Quentin Miller stopped 63-of-70 shots, including 38 in the series finale.
 
HOW SWEEP IT IS: The Pioneers have posted back-to-back series sweeps for the first time this season.  DU then-No. 17 Colorado College last weekend in a home-and-home set and defeated defending national champion and then-No. 4 Western Michigan on the road at Lawson Arena on Nov. 7-8.
 
Overall, Denver's current five-game winning streak is its longest since winning 12 contests in a row to begin last season in 2024-25.  Nov. 8-9, 2024 vs. Lindenwood and Nov. 15-16, 2024 at North Dakota marked the last time the Pios swept back-to-back weekends.
 
WEEKLY AWARDS: Denver picked up two NCHC weekly awards for the second straight week as Boston Buckberger was named Defenseman of the Week and Quentin Miller was selected as Goaltender of the Week.  This is Buckberger's first top defender honor of the season and third of his career.  For Miller, he picks up his first-ever goaltender award and is recognized on the conference's list on back-to-back weeks after being selected as Rookie of the Week on Nov. 11.
 
BUCKY GOES BACK-TO-BACK: Defenseman Boston Buckberger scored in both games last weekend against Colorado College, marking the first time in his collegiate career he has tallied in consecutive games. He netted his first career overtime goal on Friday vs. CC before tallying his third career game-winner on Saturday.  His first game-winning goal came last season on Nov. 16, 2024 at North Dakota.
 
Fellow rear guard Cale Ashcroft was the last Pioneer to score the game-winning marker in back-to-back regular season contests, as he did it on Dec. 14, 2024 vs. Colorado College and Jan. 3, 2025 at Maine.
 
Buckberger was named NCHC Defenseman of the Week on Tuesday, his first honor of his season and third career top D-man award at Denver.  He is tied with classmate and blueliner Eric Pohlkamp for the most game-winning goals this season (two).
 
IT'S MILLER TIME: Freshman goaltender Quentin Miller is among the nation's goaltending leaders as he ranks seventh with a 1.58 goals-against average, fifth in save percentage (.942) and tied for fourth with two shutouts.  He made 67-of-70 saves last weekend in the series sweep of Colorado College, including facing and saving his first career penalty shot by Tomas Mrsic in the first period on Friday and made a 19 stops in the third period on Saturday—the most in a single period this season by a DU keeper.
 
He was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week on Tuesday, marking his first such award of his career and second-straight NCHC weekly accolade.  Miller was recognized as the conference's Rookie of the Week for games from Nov. 3-9.
 
He posted career highs in both games on Nov. 7-8 at Western Michigan, stopping 35-of-36 shots in the Friday outing before making 41 saves on 44 shots faced on Saturday. 
 
The Montreal, Quebec, native has made nine consecutive starts, winning five in a row and hasn't lost in regulation in the past six games (5-1-0).  He began his collegiate career on a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) and recorded a 117:17 shutout streak by tying Air Force in the season opener on Oct. 10 (1-1) before posting wins at Lindenwood on Oct. 18 (4-0) and Boston College on Oct. 24 (7-3).  Magnus Chrona was the last DU netminder to go unbeaten in his first three career starts, as he won his first seven outings to begin the 2019-20 campaign.
 
Miller's first career victory came in a 19-save shutout and a 4-0 victory at Lindenwood on Oct. 18.  Posting a shutout for your first NCAA win hasn't been an uncommon occurrence in recent years for the Pioneers, as Matt Davis recorded a clean sheet in his first career start on Oct. 16, 2021 vs. Air Force (25 saves) and Freddie Halyk did the same in his win against Air Force on Oct. 28, 2023 (24 saves).
 
POHLKAMP'S GOAL STREAK: Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp went on a career-long four-game goal streak that began Nov. 1 against Alaska Anchorage and ran through Friday's game against Colorado College.  The run by Pohlkamp (4g/2a)—who had two previous three-game goal streaks as a freshman at Bemidji State in 2023-24—was the longest by a DU defenseman since at least the start of the 2002-03 season and the longest by a blueliner in the history of the NCHC.
 
The goal streak was the longest by a defenseman in the NCAA this year and the longest since Cole Hutson also went on a four-game run for Boston University from Feb. 22-March 8, 2025 (4g/4a).
 
Pohlkamp leads the Pioneers in scoring with 13 points and also paces the program in overall goals (8), game-winning goals (2-tied), shots (55) and penalty minutes (17) while ranking second in plus/minus rating (+12-tied).  His eight goals lead all NCAA defensemen and are tied for ninth overall, while his 13 points rank third among blueliners in the country.
 
The Baxter, Minn., native owns four multi-point games this season, which included his first career hat trick on Oct. 11 vs. Bentley.
 
DOMINANT DEFENSE: The Pioneers rank fourth in the nation and lead the NCHC by allowing 1.7 goals against per game, and they have held opponents to one goal or fewer in seven of the 12 contests this year.
 
Denver ranks fifth in the country in scoring margin at 2.0, as the team's 3.7 goals for per game are tied for the eighth-best in the NCAA.
 
STREAKING:

• Rieger Lorenz is on a three-game assist/point streak (1g/3a).
• Boston Buckberger is on a three-game point streak (2g/2a).
• Sam Harris is on a three-point streak (1g/2a).

NOTABLES

• Denver is improved to 204-125-21 all-time against Colorado College and has won four straight games in the series.  DU is 7-1-0 in the last eight meetings against CC.
• The Pioneers are now 118-55-11 at home and 78-66-10 on the road all-time vs. the Tigers. DU owns a 7-2-0 mark at Ed Robson Arena.
• DU only needs one point in the Feb. 6-7 series vs. Colorado College to secure the Gold Pan trophy for a seventh straight season.
• Denver and Colorado College have faced off 350 times in their history in the most-played rivalry in college hockey history.
• The Pios are on a three-game road winning streak and haven't lost in regulation in six straight games dating back to Oct. 31 (5-1-0).
• DU is now 1-1-1 in overtime this season as Friday's OT win marked its first since Feb. 7, 2025 at Arizona State (5-4).
• Quentin Miller faced and saved his first career penalty shot at 12:35 of the first period by Tomas Mrsic on Friday.  It was the first penalty shot against Denver since Omaha's Zach Urdahl on Jan. 19, 2024 (goal).
• Hagen Burrows appeared in his 50th career game last Friday.
• Samu Salminen won 13 faceoffs on Saturday, tying a season high and marking the third time this season that he has won that many draws in a game.
• Rieger Lorenz's three-game assist streak is tied for the longest of the season by a Pioneer.

HISTORY VS. ARIZONA STATE: Denver went 2-3-0 against Arizona State in 2024-25, with the Pioneers ending the Sun Devils' season with a 4-2 win in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals on March 21 in St. Paul, Minn.  DU and ASU are in the same NCHC pod with Colorado College, with the team from the desert winning the regular-season series (3-1-0).  The teams last played in Tempe on Feb. 7-8, with Denver winning 5-4 in overtime in the opener before Arizona State took a 6-5 OT victory the next night.  ASU won both games in Denver on Nov. 22-23, 2024, marking the first time that DU suffered consecutive home losses on the same weekend since Jan. 31-Feb 1, 2020 vs. Minnesota Duluth, ending a run of 34 straight home series without getting swept.  Denver and Arizona State have faced off in now five straight seasons, with last year marking the Sun Devils' first in the NCHC.  The Pios lead the all-time series at 11-5-1 and is 4-3-1 on the road.  Denver is 2-2-0 all-time at Mullett Arena, with three of the contests needing overtime.  DU is 6-4-0 in the last 10 meetings and owns a 6-2-0 all-time mark on home ice against Arizona State.  Denver played ASU four times during the 2021-22 campaign, marking the most contests for the Pioneers against a then-non-conference opponent in a single season since also playing four games against U.S. International University (San Diego, California) in 1983-84.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (MARCH 21, 2025): No. 6-ranked Denver secured its spot in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship Game with a 4-2 victory against No. 11 Arizona State in the conference semifinals at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.  Junior forward Aidan Thompson scored the go-ahead goal that broke a 2-2 tie at 10:08 of the third period on a 2-on-1 rush with senior forward Carter King.  Thompson also added an assist in the contest, while King and Jack Devine each finished with two helpers for multi-point evenings as well.  Sophomores Boston Buckberger and Sam Harris tallied in the first period for the Pioneers, and graduate student forward Connor Caponi sealed the victory with an empty-net marker with 63 seconds left to play.  Goaltender Matt Davis made 27 saves, including stopping all 12 shots in the first period and nine in the third period.  It took just 89 seconds for DU to get on the scoreboard, with Buckberger's shot from the point landing in the back of the net after getting through traffic and going off the crossbar. It was the fastest goal to begin a game this season for the Pioneers.  ASU rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game with goalie Luke Pavicich leading the squad with 28 saves.
 
CONNECTIONS: DU Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Leu worked at the Sports Medicine Institute Physical Therapy Clinic and Arizona Boys Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1996-1999 … Denver's Kent Anderson, Eric Jamieson and Rieger Lorenz and ASU's Justin Kipkie are all from Calgary, Alberta … Boston Buckberger and Chase Hamm are both from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan … Cale Ashcroft and Carmelo Crandell are both from St. Albert, Alberta, and played together with the AJHL Sherwood Park Crusaders in 2021-22 … Jake Fisher won a USHL Clark Cup Championship with ASU's Brasen Boser with the Fargo Force in 2023-24 … Hagen Burrows played on the USHL Sioux City Musketeers with Sam Court and Samuel Urban in 2023-24 … Garrett Brown was a teammate of Bennett Schimek with USHL Sioux City in 2021-22 … Eric Pohlkamp was on the USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders at the same time as Connor Hasley (2021-22) and Joel Kjellberg (2022-23) … Johnny Hicks played with Justin Kipkie on the WHL Victoria Royals at the end of the 2024-25 season … Kristian Epperson and Brendan McMorrow were at the U.S. National Team Development Program at the same time as Lincoln Kuehne and Cullen Potter in 2023-24 … Payton Nelson was a teammate of Ben Kevan with the USHL Des Moines Buccaneers in 2023 … ASU's Sean McGurn won a U Sports Championship in an undefeated season in 2023-24 at the University of New Brunswick with DU's Will Healey, who was in the same position at the time.
 
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS: Arizona State owns a 4-7-1 overall record this season and is currently in sixth place in the conference standings with six points and a 2-3-1 NCHC mark. After falling 5-2 in the series opener at then-No. 6 North Dakota last Friday, the Sun Devils won 4-2 on Saturday to end a four-game winless streak (0-3-1).  ASU began the season by hosting No. 6 Penn State, losing both by 6-3 and 4-2 scores, but the series was more tightly contested than the scores would indicate.  Arizona State won the Ice Breaker Tournament on home ice on Oct. 10-11, defeating Notre Dame and Alaska Fairbanks.  Bennett Schimek leads the team and ranks tied for seventh in the nation with 18 points.  He is also first on the squad with 13 assists, tied for fourth in the NCAA.  Cruz Lucius is second in scoring with 15 points and paces the squad and is seventh in the country with nine goals.  Cullen Potter ranks third on the team in scoring with eight points (2g/6a).  Goaltender Connor Hasley has played eight games this season and owns a 3-4-0 record, 2.90 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.  Samuel Urban has taken the crease in five contests, posting a 1-3-1 mark, 3.30 GAA and .912 save percentage.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: Denver will be wrapping up a stretch where it is playing 10 of its first 14 games on the road.  The Pioneers played a season-long, four-game road swing from Oct. 17-26 at Lindenwood, Boston College and Northeastern and had five of its first six outings away from Magness Arena.  Overall, Denver will play 12 of its first 19 contests away from home before going into the Holiday Break in December.
 
The Pioneers open 2026 with two, season-long, four-game homestands in the month of January and will host at Magness for nine-of-12 contests from Jan. 2-Feb. 7.
 
MAGNESS MADNESS: Denver set a new single-game attendance record at Magness Arena on Friday, Nov. 14 as 7,073 fans watched the rivalry matchup with Colorado College.  The Program bested the previous single-game high for arena of 7,051 on Oct. 19, 2024 against Northeastern when the Pioneers raised its 2024 championship banner to the rafters.
 
Overall, 13,888 people watched the series sweep of Northeastern on Oct. 18-19, 2024—the most for a two-game weekend in school history and breaking the previous mark by more than 1,200 fans.  DU sold out each of its first 20 home regular-season games in 2024-25, averaging 6,559 fans on the year to set a new attendance record.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver moved up one spot to No. 3 in the nation in both weekly polls after being fourth in last week's USCHO.com and USA Hockey rankings.  The Pioneers began the year at No. 4 on each preseason list.
 
The NCHC's four ranked teams are tied for second-most in each poll and joins the Big Ten with each of their four squads in the top 10.  Hockey East has seven ranked squads while the ECAC also has four featured in the polls.
 
Denver leads all league teams with their No. 3 ranking and is joined on the lists by Minnesota Duluth at No. 4/4, North Dakota at No. 6/6 and Western Michigan at No. 8/7.  The other five league members—Arizona State, Colorado College, Miami, Omaha and St. Cloud State—also received votes in at least one of the polls.
 
PENALTY KILL DELIVERING: Denver ranks ninth in the NCAA on the penalty kill, nullifying 87.9 percent of opponent power-play opportunities.  The Pioneers went 3-for-4 on the PK last weekend vs. CC.
 
DU has killed off 13 straight penalties twice this season, accomplishing the feat from Oct. 10-25 and Oct. 31-Nov. 8.
 
The team finished with an 81.7-percent success rate on the kill last season and killed off 17 straight penalties across five games from Oct. 5-25, 2024.
 
SO FAR, SO GOOD IN NOVEMBER: Denver is 5-0-0 to begin the month of November and has guaranteed its 31st consecutive full month with at least a .500 record or better dating back to January 2021.
 
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: Denver's 2026 seniors won their 100th career game last Friday vs. Colorado College to become the 17th class in program history to win at least 100 career games.  Their 101 victories are currently tied for the 10th most by a graduating class.
 
The Pioneers' 2025 seniors finished as the winningest group in the school annals last season with 124 career victories, with that group setting the record with its 113th career win on Feb. 7, 2025 at Arizona State.  The 2024 class also surpassed the century mark and finished with 103 victories, tied for fifth-most.
 
Among the 2025 seniors' accomplishments were four Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, two Penrose Cups as conference regular-season champions, an NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, three Frozen Four trips and two national championships. They went 67-14-5 in home games at Magness Arena during their career.
 
So far, the 2026 seniors' accolade list includes three, 30-win seasons, three Gold Pans, the 2022-23 NCHC Penrose Cup, 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, back-to-back trips to the NCAA Frozen Four in 2024 and 2025 and the 2024 national championship.
 
SHOTS ON SHOTS ON SHOTS: The Pioneers presently rank fourth in the country at 38.3 shots per game and have fired 40 or more shots in four contests so far this season.
 
Denver fired 49 shots on goal in each game of the series against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and finished with a combined total of 98-37.  It was the most shots by DU in a two-game series since outshooting Arizona State 99-40 on Dec. 2-3, 2022.
 
DU had a 35-14 edge in shots on goal at Northeastern on Oct. 25 and only allowed two shots on goal in the first period, the fewest in a stanza since also allowing just two shots on goal in the second on Oct. 5, 2024 at Alaska Anchorage.  On Oct. 18, Denver outshot Lindenwood 49-19, which included by a 19-4 margin in the second period and the plus-15 shot differential was the highest for a single stanza this season. 
 
The Pioneers began the season on Oct. 10 by outshooting the Air Force Falcons 59-24, the team's most shots on goal since firing 66 against Lake Superior State on Oct. 20, 2017.  Denver's plus-35 shot differential was its highest since having a plus-36 differential on Dec. 2, 2022 vs. ASU (56-20), and the 22 shots on goal in the third were its most in a single frame since having 23 in the second period on Nov 3, 2023 vs. Colorado College.
 
Denver's season high for shots on goal last season were 46 on Nov. 8, 2024 vs. Lindenwood, and the previous time the Pios had 50 or more shots on net was when they had 56 on Dec. 2, 2022 vs. Arizona State.
 
BALL ARENA SHOWDOWN NEXT WEEK: The University of Denver will host the Minnesota Golden Gophers at NHL's Ball Arena on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. MT in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.  The initial announcement of the Pioneers hosting was on April 15, 2024 and the exact date was finalized on July 16, 2025 following the release of the Colorado Avalanche NHL schedule.
 
The DU hockey program will serve as the host of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game for the third time in its history and will be playing in the contest for the fourth time.  DU previously hosted the games at Magness Arena on Oct. 11, 2008 vs. Notre Dame (5-2 win) and Dec. 29, 2012 vs. Boston University (6-0 win).  The Pioneers previously played Minnesota in the USHHOF Game on Oct. 9, 2004 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (5-2 loss).
 
Denver will be playing its second-ever game at Ball Arena since the building first opened in 1999.  The Pioneers defeated in-state rival Colorado College 2-0 in their first regular-season game at the arena on Jan. 27, 2023 in front of a crowd of 17,952—the highest attended indoor hockey game in the state of Colorado in DU history.
 
It will be a double-header of hockey at Ball Arena on Nov. 29 as the Avalanche hosts the Montreal Canadiens earlier that day at 1 p.m. MT.
 

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