DENVER – The No. 7 University of Denver hockey team won the 2024-25 Gold Pan series with a 4-1 victory over the No. 20 Colorado College Tigers on Friday night at Magness Arena. 
 
Having previously held the trophy, the Pioneers only needed to split the four-game season series to retain the hardware for a sixth straight year. DU and CC each won a contest in the first home-and-home set of the campaign on Dec. 13-14.
 
"it's a nice feather, for sure. It's a learned skill to have put teams away and win trophies, and we've, obviously, now checked that box here tonight in front of our home crowd," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "It's never easy, you don't get many opportunities to do it at home, to win trophies, so that's exciting for our fans. I thought the atmosphere was electric and tomorrow we're playing to try and play in front of them again next weekend, so there continues to be a lot on the line. Love the team effort that we had tonight, and we'll need that again tomorrow."
 
The Pioneers (25-9-1, 14-7-1 NCHC) were playing their last home game of the regular season and will wrap up the main campaign on Saturday when they go down to Colorado Springs to play the Tigers (17-15-1, 11-11-1 NCHC) in the series finale. That game will be available on NCHC.tv and will be televised in the Denver metro area on CW2 (KWGN-TV).
 
Sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp contributed on each of Denver's tallies with a career-high four points on a goal and three assists. Freshman James Reeder registered two points with a goal and a helper. 
 
Sophomore Sam Harris recorded the game-winning marker with his 20th of the season midway through the third period, and senior goaltender Matt Davis ended the night with only allowing one goal to get past him out of the 23 shots that Colorado College sent his way. 
 
Junior Samu Salminen registered his 25th career tally on the power play just 2:57 into the first period. Pohlkamp was credited with the primary assist after he brought the puck into the offensive zone and sent a pass to Salminen at the front of the net to open the scoring 
 
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal of their own early in the third, but Harris fired a snipe short-side off a pass from Reeder to put the Pioneers in front with 9:19 remaining in the outing.
 
Four minutes later after Harris' marker, Reeder registered his own goal with his ninth of the season, and Pohlkamp completed the scoring with an empty-net tally that went the length of the ice.
 
Tigers' goaltender Kaidan Mbereko stopped 28-of-31 shots that Denver tried to get past him. 
 
Brett Link netted CC's only goal at 4:30 of the third period on a redirection after DU had the lead for the previous 38:33.
 
Jack Devine, Connor Caponi, Matt Davis and Carter King were all honored before the game started as part of Denver's senior night. The class is the winningest in program history with 118 victories in their last four years.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Colorado College before beginning a best-of-three series in the NCHC Quarterfinals the following weekend, March 14-16. The opponents and location will be determined based on the results of Saturday's DU-CC and North Dakota-Omaha games.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU is 8-3-1 in its last 12 competitions and has won on Friday night in five straight weekends.
• Denver secured the Gold Pan for the sixth straight year and has captured it 19 times in the 33 years the trophy has been in circulation since 1993-94.
• The Pioneers are now 5-2-0 in the last seven meetings against the CC Tigers and owns 199 career victories against their rivals from the south.
• Denver moved up to No. 3 in the NCHC standings with 42 points and can earn home-ice advantage for next weekend's quarterfinals by picking up just one point on Saturday vs. CC or having North Dakota lose or play into overtime against Omaha.
• DU wrapped up a three-game homestand, which was the team's second-longest of the season behind its four-game homestay from Oct. 18-26.
• Eric Pohlkamp had a career-high four points (1g/3a). He previously had three points in a game three times prior, including twice this year. His three assists in the contest matched a personal best from Nov. 8 vs. Lindenwood.
• Carter King played in his 150th career game, becoming the 72nd Pioneer in program history to reach the mark and the third this season (Connor Caponi, Jack Devine).
• Matt Davis surpassed Buddy Blom on DU's all-time wins list and now sits tied with George Kirkwood for eighth place with 57 career victories.
• Samu Salminen's power-play tally marked his first man-advantage goal with Denver. 
• Sam Harris scored his 20th goal of the season, becoming the 11th NCAA player to reach that threshold in 2023-24.
• Defenseman Boston Buckberger was credited with the second assist on Salminen's marker which brought him to 13 points (3g/10a) in the past 14 games.  
• All three Pioneer points streaks ended on Friday's game—Aidan Thompson's nine-game run (4g/10a), Jack Devine's four-gamer (3g/4a) and Zeev Buium's four-game stretch (1g/4a) all came to a close in the 4-1 win. 
• DU sold out each of its 18 home games during the regular season with Friday's attendance being 7,023.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
2:57 DU (1-0) – PPG, Eric Pohlkamp sent a cross-pass to the crease during a rush up the ice and Samu Salminen one-touched the puck into the back of the net.
 
2nd Period
No Scoring
 
3rd Period
4:30 CC (1-1) – PPG, Brett Link redirected Philippe Blais-Savoie's shot from the point and into the cage.
10:41 DU (2-1) – Sam Harris fired a wrist shot high, short-side past the CC goaltender at the left circle.
15:10 DU (3-1) – James Reeder deflected Eric Pohlkamp's shot from the blue line.
19:01 DU (4-1) – ENG, Eric Pohlkamp sent the puck the length of the ice and into the empty net from his own zone.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On Eric Pohlkamp's night: "He was making finishing plays. The puck seemed to have a lot of control on his stick tonight. One of a number of guys that played extremely well—just asked him something about four points and he thought [the last time] might be peewee hockey, and he had a five-goal night. But happy for him. He works really hard at those things right away and cool to see him get rewarded at home." 
 
On the team's operation and play: "I thought that we were moving the puck on time—early, moving our feet, moving the puck—which you certainly saw some of the speed off of the rush. As the game went on, I thought they got a little bit better at getting their way, so we had to fight through some stuff to neutralize. That was a huge key for us, managing everything through the neutral zone against their skilled players, who can make you pay with not a lot of time and space."
 
Sophomore Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp
On experiencing the rivalry and the Gold Pan: "Yeah you kind of live for these games. I mean, you saw the crowd, the student section. I mean, they were piling in for the warmup. So I thought it was an awesome atmosphere. Obviously came down to the wire there for the third period and you know, it was a blast to play in. Lucky enough, we get to play them tomorrow in their building, which will be super fun, a super fun atmosphere with their stands kind of on top of you. So it was a really fun game, and that means a lot to these guys when they win the Gold Pan and you're seeing it right now."
 
On the team responding to pressure: "I mean, if you look at our last couple of weekends, I mean we're up one in the second, and we just take our foot off the gas and they come back. And then they climb back, we go to overtime, and then who knows what happens. So it's really nice to get the job done here Friday night, but again, we have to do it again tomorrow night too."
 
Sophomore Forward Sam Harris
On winning the trophy: "It felt unreal, especially after last weekend too with a hot goalie (against St. Cloud State) and then coming in tonight with him (Kaiden Mbereko) playing unreal. To pop three behind him and then four with the empty-netter, it was unreal." 
 
On his goal: "It felt unreal. I hadn't scored in a couple of games, so it felt really good to get one in. I didn't really look, just ripped it as hard as I could." 
 
On the arena atmosphere: "It was awesome, you know the chants, the engagement—it was really fun. It was loud, and it was a really great showing tonight."