DENVER – Sophomore defenseman
Zeev Buium and senior forward
Jack Devine of the University of Denver hockey team have been named First Team All-Americans for the 2024-25 campaign by the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Both Buium and Devine are repeat winners as All-Americans in the West region and were two-of-six players in this year's group of 24 that have made the national list multiple times. The two Pioneers earned first-team honors as well in 2023-24.
Denver now has 56 All-American players in the program's 76-season history, and this is the fourth straight campaign where the squad has had at least one. The Pioneers have had multiple players honored in each of the last three campaigns.
Buium, 19, was named the NCHC Player of the Year and led all NCAA defensemen in scoring this season with 48 points while ranking second among all skaters with 35 assists, with only Devine having more (44). One of two unanimous selections on the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Buium recorded a career-high 13 goals this season and registered multiple points 13 times. He picked up points in 30-of-41 games he played and tallied 38 points (13g/25a) in the final 31 outings.
The San Diego, California, native ranked third on the Pioneers in scoring and blocked shots (50), second in penalty minutes (44), and his plus-17 rating was tied for the fourth-highest on the squad.
Buium began the campaign with three assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage and scored three goals on Nov. 15 at North Dakota to become the first Pioneer defenseman to record a hat trick since Ryan Caldwell on Feb. 14, 2004 versus Minnesota State. It was the 10th hat trick by a D-man in school history and was just the third, three-goal outing by a rear guard in the NCHC—Western Michigan's Ronnie Attard had the previous two: Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate and Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado College. Buium also recorded a trio of points on Nov. 9 vs. Lindenwood (0g/3a), Jan. 10 vs. Miami (1g/2a) and March 28 vs. Providence (1g/2a) and owns 10 such three-point contests in his collegiate career.
Named the NCAA Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player, Buium combined for five points on two goals and three assists in victories against No. 2-seed Providence and No. 1 Boston College on March 28-30 to help Denver secure its second-straight Frozen Four berth and its sixth trip to the final weekend in the last nine seasons. The rear guard tallied in both outings of regionals to stretch his goal streak to a personal-best three games.
He was named NCHC Defenseman of the Week three times, including earning the honor following a four-point weekend (1g/3a) against Miami on Jan. 10-11. Those were his first games back at Denver after helping the United States win its second-straight gold medal at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. The defenseman served as an alternate captain on Team USA, averaged the second-most ice time among all players at the tournament (25:13) and had assists on both the game-tying and overtime-winning goals in the championship final against Finland.
A repeat winner of the NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year award in 2024-25, Buium ranks 10th all-time in scoring by a DU rear guard with 98 career points (24g/74a). It is the most points by a Pioneer blueliner in their first two seasons since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point campaigns as a freshman and sophomore in 1975-76 and 1976-77.
Buium was picked No. 12 overall in the first round by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Draft in June 2024, two months after helping Denver win its NCAA-record 10th national championship. Buium was the first American chosen at last year's entry selection and is the second-highest draft pick in program history (Mark Redmond, 1984, No. 6 Overall, Los Angeles Kings).
Devine, 21, was a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the second straight season and led the nation in 2024-25 with 57 points and 44 assists while playing in all 43 games. He is just the third Pioneer to finish first in the country in scoring, joining
Bobby Brink in 2021-22 (57) and
Ed Beers in 1981-82 (84).
He also recorded 13 goals, scoring 11 times since the New Year. On the power play, Devine tallied five markers and led the team with 27 power-play points (5g/22a).
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is the first Pioneer to record back-to-back 50-point seasons since Daryn McBride in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51), and he owns two of just four 50-point campaigns by DU players since 2012. Devine, who also finished with the NCHC scoring title with 32 points, has registered at least a point in 34-of-44 contests this year and multiple points in 16 outings
Named to the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Devine produced two career-long point streaks of eight games, doing so to start the season from Oct. 5-Nov. 2 (1g/15a) and again from Nov. 9-Dec. 13 (1g/10a). He began the season with a career-high four assists on Oct. 14 at Alaska Anchorage and recorded multiple points five of the first six contests from Oct. 19-26 (1g/6a). He owns five games this season with three or more points, as he also achieved the performance on Oct. 26 against Wisconsin (1g/2a), Nov. 14 at North Dakota (0g/3a), Feb. 8 at Arizona State (0g/3a) and March 16 versus Colorado College (0g/3a).
Devine was twice named the NCHC Player of the Month, earning the accolade in both October and February. He led all NCAA players with 14 points (1g/13a) in October to also earn National Player of the Month accolades. The right wing had points in seven of the eight games in February (5g/9a) and recorded multiple points in six of the outings to be the first DU player to earn NCHC top players honors in multiple months in a single season since defenseman Mike Benning (December 2022, February 2023).
A finalist for the NCHC Forward of the Year award, Devine appeared in his 150th career game on Feb. 22 at Miami and registered two assists in the contest to reach 150 career points—the 22nd Pioneer to reach the milestone and first since Rhett Rakhshani in 2010. He is the highest-scoring player in the modern era of Denver hockey and ranks 12th on the all-time scoring list with 163 points (57g/106a), the most since Rick Berens had 180 points (94g/86a) from 1987-1991.
Devine is one of 10 players in the program record book to tally 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career and was the first to join the 50-100-150 club since Dave Shields from 1986-1990 (71g/108a). He suited up in 162 career games, tied for the eighth-most in school history.
Selected by the Florida Panthers in the seventh round at No. 221 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Devine was part of the winningest senior class in Denver hockey history that won 124 games, two Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions, the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship, four gold pan trophies over rival Colorado College, reached three NCAA Frozen Fours and earned national championships in 2022 and 2024.
The All-American Teams were announced on Friday night at Stifel Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, as part of the Hobey Baker Award ceremony during the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four.
Overall, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference had five players named to All-American teams, with Alex Bump of Western Michigan joining Buium and Devine on the West First Team and North Dakota's Jake Livanavage and Arizona State's Artem Shlaine earning second-team honors.
