DENVER – The No. 8 University of Denver hockey team returns to Magness Arena to host NCHC-foe Arizona State Sun Devils in its last series of the 2025-26 regular season.
 
The series begins on Friday at 7 p.m. MT before Denver's honors its seniors on Saturday night in a 6 p.m. MT start. Both games will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan HD3. Saturday's contests will also be televised regionally on Altitude 2 and will be available in Canada on TSN+.
 
Limited tickets for both games are still available.
 
Denver (19-11-3, 15-6-1 NCHC) is currently tied for second in the NCHC standings with Western Michigan, with each team having 46 points apiece. The Pios are five points behind first-place North Dakota (51), which travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to face the WMU Broncos this weekend.
 
Arizona State (14-19-1, 7-14-1 NCHC) sits in eighth place with 22 points and trail sixth-place Miami and seventh-place Colorado College by three points. The Sun Devils are one point ahead of last-place Omaha (21), which hosts Miami this weekend. Only the top eight teams in the conference make the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Tournament.
 
The Pioneers are coming off their only bye of the season after sweeping Omaha in Nebraska with final scores of 5-2 and 3-1 on Feb. 13-14. Senior Rieger Lorenz and sophomore James Reeder both had big weekends, netting two goals and earning an assist each. Senior Samu Salminen combined for four helpers in the series, and freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks made 57-of-60 saves in the sweep, extending his own and the team's unbeaten streak to a season-best seven games (6-0-1).
 
The Sun Devils split at home against Omaha last weekend. The Mavericks took the series opener 4-2 before ASU rallied the following evening with a 6-3 win to avoid being swept.
 
Earlier this season, the Pioneers and the Sun Devils split a series in Tempe on Nov. 21-22. Denver won 7-1 in the series opener, with Salminen earning four points (1g/3a). Sam Harris scored two goals the following night to help DU rally from a two-goal deficit, but the Sun Devils went on to win 3-2 in overtime.
 
Denver has a 12-6-1 all-time record against Arizona State and is 3-2-0 in its last five games of the series. The Sun Devils are making their first visit to Magness Arena since winning 3-2 and 5-2 and Nov. 22-23, 2024. The teams met last year in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals, with the Pios winning 4-2 to end ASU's season.
 
DU has already secured a top-three seed in its quest for the National Cup, as the conference playoffs begin next week with the best-of-three quarterfinal series at Magness Arena.
 
The Pioneers can't secure the No. 1 seed for the NCHC postseason due to tiebreakers, but they can still earn a share of the Penrose Cup as regular-season champions if they win both games this weekend in regulation and Western Michigan wins both contests versus North Dakota, with at least one being in regulation.
 
Denver can take the No. 2 seed for the Frozen Faceoff playoffs as long as they finish with more points this weekend than WMU, which owns the tiebreaker. Both WMU-UND games start two hours ahead of DU and ASU's games (5 p.m. and 4 p.m. MT).
 

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LAST TIME OUT: Denver picked up its fifth series sweep of the season on Feb. 13-14 with wins of 5-2 and 3-1 on the road at Omaha.  After getting down 1-0 in Friday's first period, DU scored four straight en route to the series-opening victory.  James Reeder tallied twice while Clarke Caswell, Kyle Chyzowski and Rieger Lorenz also buried their chances in the Friday game at Baxter Arena.
 
Lorenz scored the game-winner the next night as he broke a tie in the third period, while Hagen Burrows and Jake Fisher also found the back of the net in the Saturday game.  Goaltender Johnny Hicks made a career-high 31 saves on in the series opener before stopping 26-of-27 shots in the weekend finale.
 
ROLL PIOS: DU is on a seven-game unbeaten streak, going 6-0-1 since Jan. 24.  It is the team's longest stretch without a loss this season after going on a 6-0-0 run from Nov. 1-21, and it is longest since Denver won each of its first 12 games to start the 2024-25 campaign (Oct. 5-Nov. 16, 2024).
 
Earlier this season, the Pioneers went 12 straight games without losing in regulation from Oct. 31-Dec. 12, going 9-3-0 in that stretch that included sweeps at defending national champion Western Michigan (Nov. 7-8), against rival Colorado College (Nov. 14-15) and at home versus Miami (Dec. 5-6).
 
CARLE CLOSING IN ON 200: Denver hockey head coach David Carle is two victories shy of reaching the 200-win mark and would join Murray Armstrong and George Gwozdecky as DU bench bosses to reach the milestone.
 
Carle coached in his 300th game on Nov. 6 at Colorado College, with his 195 wins and a .683 winning percentage through the first 300 games being the second-best among all DU coaches; only Armstrong posted better marks in Pioneer history with 203 victories and a .707 win-percentage.
 
HERE'S JOHNNY!: Freshman Johnny Hicks is unbeaten in his first seven career decisions at 6-0-1, and he has started each of the last six games after Quentin Miller suffered a lower-body injury on Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State. Hicks' seven-game unbeaten stretch is the longest to begin a collegiate career by a DU netminder since Magnus Chrona went 7-0-1 in his first eight starts to begin the 2019-20 campaign.
 
He earned his first NCHC Goaltender of the Week award and his second weekly honor of the season on Feb. 17 after stopping 57-of-60 shots in the series at Omaha, including a career-high 31 stops in the opener. He was named the conference's Rookie of the Week early in the month on Feb. 3 after making 48-of-49 saves in a sweep of Minnesota Duluth, which included making his first career start on Jan. 30.
 
The Kamloops, British Columbia, native owns a 1.04 goals-against average and .962 save percentage in 11 games and six starts this season.  He has allowed one goal or fewer in five of the last seven games.
 
Hicks also recorded a 100:33 shutout streak across three games that began on Nov. 16 at North Dakota and included Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State and Jan. 30 vs. Duluth before Kyle Gaffney tallied on the power play at 4:02 of the third period.
 
RIEGER RISING: Junior forward Rieger Lorenz tallied his third game-winning goal of the season on Feb. 14 at Omaha to stretch his goal streak to a career-love five games.  His current run surpassed defenseman Eric Pohlkamp's four-game stretch with a goal from Nov. 1-14 (4g/2a) for the longest of the season by a Pioneer.
 
Overall, it is the longest goal streak by a DU player since Miko Matikka netted a marker in six consecutive contests from Nov. 4-24, 2023 (6g/1a).  Lorenz's previous personal-best stretch with a tally was three contests in a row as a sophomore from Nov. 11-19, 2023 (4g/0a).
 
The Calgary, Alberta, native is also on a career-long, five-game point streak (5g/2a) and has eight points (6g/2a) in his past seven contests since Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State.
 
STREAKING

• Rieger Lorenz's five-game goal and point streaks are both career longs (5g/2a).
• James Reeder is on a four-game point streak (2g/3a).
• Sam Harris has matched a career long (third time) with a three-game assist streak (1g/3a).

LAST SECOND SCORE: Freshman Clarke Caswell scored in the final second of the second period on Feb. 13 at Omaha to mark just the seventh instance of a DU player tallying at 19:59 of a period since the 2000-01 season.  He is the first Pio to score in the last second of a stanza since Cameron Wright also did it in the middle frame on Nov. 13, 2021 vs. Western Michigan.
 
EYEING THE TENZER STREAK: Denver is aiming to extend its "Tenzer" Streak of winning 20 or more games in a season this weekend against Arizona State. The Pioneers have reached that win threshold in each of the last 24 consecutive full seasons, the longest active stretch in the country that dates back to 2001-02.
 
The streak is named after former DU Director of Hockey Operations David Tenzer, who spent 16 seasons with the program from 2001-02 (the start of the streak) until retiring in 2017.  The program only played 24 total contests in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.
 
HARRIS CLOSING IN ON 50 GOALS: Junior forward Sam Harris is two tallies away from reaching the 50-goal milestone in his collegiate career. He would be the 63rd player in program history to reach the mark and the first since Carter King did it last season on March 28, 2025 vs. Providence during the NCAA Tournament. Jack Devine also reached the 50-goal threshold during the 2024-25 season.
 
Harris matched a career-best with a nine-game point streak from Nov. 8-Dec. 12 (5g/5a), the longest stretch of the season by a Denver skater.
 
NOTABLES

• The Pioneers picked up their fifth weekend sweep of the season and first on the road since Nov. 7-8 at Western Michigan. All five series sweeps have come versus conference opponents.
• The Pioneers finished their road schedule of the regular season with a 10-5-2 mark and was unbeaten in their final four away contests (3-0-1), tied for their longest such road streak of the season (Nov. 7-21, 4-0-0).
• Sam Harris is on a three-game assist streak marks the eight time a Pioneer has registered a helper in three consecutive contests.
• DU is now unbeaten in its last seven games against Omaha (6-0-1) and is 8-1-1 in the last 10 contests of the series.
• The Pios improved to 44-14-6 all-time against the Mavs and 18-9-3 in Nebraska. Denver was playing its first series in Omaha since Jan. 19-20, 2024.
• James Reeder registered his third career multi-goal game on Feb. 13 and second of the season (Nov. 1, 2025 vs. Alaska Anchorage).
• Eric Pohlkamp and Samu Salminen both surpassed 50 career assists with their trio of assists on Feb. 13. It was the fourth and fifth time this season that a Denver player had a trio of assists in a game this season, with James Reeder last doing it on Nov. 29 vs. Minnesota.
• For Pohlkamp, it was his third, three-point game of the season (Oct. 11 vs. Bentley, Nov. 21 at Arizona State).
• Kyle Chyzowski scored his first career game-winning goal on Feb. 13
• Garrett Brown (five) and Jake Fisher (four) each tied a career high in shots on goal.
• Denver recorded its fifth comeback win of the season and second when trailing after the first period.
• DU played on Valentine's Day for the second straight season and the Pioneers improved to 13-6-2 all-time in 21 all-time games on Feb. 14.

HISTORY VS. ARIZONA STATE: Denver is 3-2-0 in its last five games against Arizona State, with both losses coming in overtime.  The teams opened their four-game regular season series on Nov. 21-22 in Tempe, with DU winning 7-1 in the opener before falling 3-2 in OT in the weekend finale.  The Pios went 2-3-0 against ASU in 2024-25, with Denver ending the Sun Devils' season with a 4-2 victory in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals on March 21 in St. Paul, Minn.  DU leads the all-time series at 12-6-1 and is 6-2-0 on home ice, but both of those home losses came in ASU's last visit to Magness Arena on Nov 22-23, 2024 as the Pios fell 3-2 and 5-2.  That was 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.  Overall, the Pios are 5-5-0 in the last 10 meetings vs. the Devils and have a 5-4-1 mark in Tempe.  Denver and Arizona State have faced off in now five straight seasons, with last year marking the Sun Devils' first in the NCHC.  The teams played 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 (NOV. 22, 2025): The No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team rallied from a two-goal deficit but ultimately lost 3-2 in overtime to the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mullet Arena in Tempe.  The extra-time defeat ends DU's season-long, six-game winning streak, but the team has yet to lose in regulation in each of its last eight contests (6-2-0) dating back to Oct. 31 against Alaska Anchorage.  Junior forward Sam Harris scored both goals for the Pioneers to force overtime after Arizona State  tallied the first two of the evening in the first period. Harris scored from a tough angle with 5:11 left in the second period and then buried his own rebound at 13:33 of the third after taking advantage of a Sun Devil player falling to the ice. Harris also found the back of the cage for a third time early in the second period, but the goal was eventually disallowed after ASU won a coach's challenge for offside. Senior forward Samu Salminen and junior defenseman Garrett Brown had assists on Harris' first tally, and the left wing's second marker came unassisted. DU goaltender Quentin Miller made 24 saves on 27 shots faced, including 14 in the second and third periods and two in overtime.  Of the six all-time games that DU and ASU have played at Mullet Arena, four of them have been decided in overtime. The other two instances were blowout victories by the Pioneers, who won 7-1 on Friday night in the opener of the weekend set.
 
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: ASU has a 14-19-1 overall record this season and is currently in eighth place in the NCHC standings with 22 points and a 7-14-1 conference mark.  The Sun Devils are one point ahead of Omaha (21) in last place and are three points back of both Miami and Colorado College (25) in sixth and seventh.  Arizona State ended a six-game losing streak on Saturday against Omaha, picking up a 6-3 win after the Mavericks won 4-2 on Friday in the series opener. Since Jan. 9, ASU is 3-9-0 and were swept by North Dakota, Western Michigan, St. Cloud State.  The Sun Devils are 5-9-0 on the road this season with their last victory coming in overtime at Colorado College on Jan. 30 (6-5).  Cruz Lucius leads ASU and ranks second in the nation with 45 points. His 15 goals also lead the team while he is tied with Bennett Schimek for first in assists with 30. Schimek is second on the team with 42 points (12g/30a), while Cullen Potter is next on the scoring list with 26 points (12g/14a).  Goaltender Connor Hasley has played 23 game and sports a 10-10-0 record, 3.1 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Samuel Urban has a 4-9-1 mark, 3.5 GAA, .907 save percentage and one shutout in 15 outings.
 
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS: Denver's 2026 seniors won their 112th career game on Feb. 14 at Omaha, moving into a tie with the 2005 squad for the second-most victories by a class in program history. The group became the 17th class in DU's annals to record 100 career victories when they reached the milestone on Nov. 14 vs. Colorado College.
 
So far, the 2026 seniors' accolade list includes four Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, three, 30-win seasons, 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.
 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Eric Pohlkamp leads all NCAA D-men and ranks tied for 24th overall among all skaters in goals (16).  His 31 points first among defensemen in the nation, while his 142 shots pace all NCAA players.
• Boston Buckberger is tied for seventh in goals (8), 12th in points (24) and 17th in assists (16) among all defensemen.
• Eric Jamieson is tied for 13th among all college D-men in goals and second among rookie D-men in markers (6)
• Quentin Miller is tied for ninth in shutouts (3).

PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 8 in both the latest USCHO.com and USA Hockey polls that were released on Monday.  The Pioneers began the year at No. 4 in each preseason media poll and are presently No. 9 in the NPI computer rankings that will determine this year's NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC leads all conferences is tied with the Big Ten and CCHA for the second-most teams ranked in the USCHO.com poll with four, as only Hockey East has more (5). In the USA Hockey rankings, all five conferences have four teams listed. The NCHC is the only league will all of its teams in the top 10, with North Dakota at No. 3/3, Western Michigan at No. 4/4 and Minnesota Duluth at No. 9/9 joining DU. St. Cloud State earned votes in each poll as well.
 
LOVE FOR THE 'TENDYS: Each of Denver's three goaltenders have started games this season and have also picked up shutout victories. DU's five total shutouts are tied for the most by an NCAA team this season (Augustana, Maine, Union).
 
Freshman Quentin Miller started opening night on Oct. 10 at Air Force and owns three individual clean sheets this season. Junior Paxton Miller denied all 21 shots he faced in the home opener on Oct. 11 vs. Bentley for the first home-opening shutout since Devin Cooley on Oct. 13, 2018 vs. Alabama Huntsville. Rookie Johnny Hicks picked up the win by stopping all 22 shots he faced in a team shutout with Miller on Jan. 24 and secured his first individual clean sheet with 19 saves on Saturday vs. Minnesota Duluth.
 
The last time DU had three goaltenders each record a shutout in a season was in 2019-20 when Magnus Chrona (two), Cooley (two) and Michael Corson (one) all did it. The 2023-24 season was the previous time the Pioneers had three netminders start in at least one game (Matt Davis, Freddie Halyk, Geisel).
 
OFFENSIVE DEFENDERS: Denver has received 31.0 percent of its goals this season from D-men (35-of-113), including 30 combined tallies from three Pioneers in Eric Pohlkamp (16), Boston Buckberger (8) and Eric Jamieson (6).
 
The Pioneers are the only program in the country with three rear guards with six or more goals and one of four squads in the nation to have multiple blueliners reach that goals threshold: Air Force, Clarkson, St. Thomas.
 
Denver defensemen scored 40 goals last season, with Zeev Buium (13) and Pohlkamp (11) leading the position group in double-digit tallies.  The Pios had 22.9 percent of their markers in 2024-25 come from blueliners (40-of-174).
 
Pohlkamp 16 goals and 31 points this season lead all NCAA defenders in each category, while Buckberger is tied for seventh at his position in tallies and tied for 12th in points (24).  Jamieson is tied for second among rookie blueliners in goals.
 
IN POHL POSITION: Junior Eric Pohlkamp leads all NCAA defensemen and ranks tied for 24th among all skaters in the country with 16 goals this season.  He is also first among players at his position in total scoring with 31 points.
 
Pohlkamp is tied for fourth in program history for goals by blueliner in a single season, and it is the most markers by a blueliner since Craig Redmond and Jim Leavins each tallied 16 times in 1982-83; Ross Woodley scored 16 goals as well in 1971-72.  Mike Busniuk's 18 markers in 1973-74 is currently next on the list for Pohlkamp to chase in third place.
 
The Baxter, Minn., native is looking to become the first NCAA defenseman to score 20 goals in a season since 2002-03 when Colorado College's Tom Preissing tallied 23.  Pohlkamp leads the Pioneers in goals, points, power-play goals (4-tied), game-winning goals (3), shots (127), plus/minus rating (+12-tied) and ranks second in power-play points (8-tied).
 
His previous career high for goals was 11, which he accomplished in each of the past two seasons as a sophomore at Denver in 2023-24 and as a freshman at Bemidji State in 2022-23.
 
HOME COOKING: The back half of Denver's 2025-26 season features plenty of home games at Magness Arena, as the Pioneers will play 11 of its final 16 games in their friendly confines after the New Year.  DU played eight-of-10 outings in January on home ice, with a pair of season-long, four-game homestands on Jan. 2-10 and Jan. 23-31.  Denver also had a stretch of six-straight outings in the state of Colorado from Jan. 23-Feb. 7.
 
The Pioneers had 12 of its first 19 contests of the season on the road, including 10-of-14 to start the campaign.  Their only away contests in 2026 were flights to North Dakota on Jan. 16-17 and Omaha on Feb. 13-14 and a bus trip to Colorado College on Feb. 6.
 
HOBEY NOMINEES: The Pioneers have two players nominated for this year's Hobey Baker Award as junior defensemen Boston Buckberger and Eric Pohlkamp are both up for the honor as the top player in college hockey this season.
 
Overall, the DU duo are among 87 total nominees in college hockey and 18 from the NCHC.
 
The Pioneers have had two previous winners of the Hobey Baker Award, with both being defenders in Matt Carle (2006) and Will Butcher (2017).  Current NHLers' Zeev Buium (2025) and Bobby Brink (2022) were Hobey Hat Trick Finalists from Denver over the past four years.
 
HONOR ROLL: The Pioneers had all 15 of their returning players be named to this year's NCHC Honor Roll.  Players must have compiled a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average while having completed at least one full academic year at their institution to be eligible for the Honor Roll, previously called the Academic All-Conference Team.
 
Kent Anderson, Cale Ashcroft, Garrett Brown, Boston Buckberger, Hagen Burrows, Kieran Cebrian, Jake Fisher, Paxton Geisel, Sam Harris, Rieger Lorenz, Tory Pitner, Eric Pohlkamp, James Reeder, Samu Salminen and Alec Whipple were all named to this year's Honor Roll, with DU's 15 players tied for the second-most among all conference teams.
 
Denver did lead all NCHC squads with 13 players being recognized as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes for posting a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Anderson, Ashcroft, Buckberger, Burrows, Cebrian, Fisher, Geisel, Harris, Lorenz, Pitner, Pohlkamp, Reeder and Whipple were named Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, with seniors Anderson and Lorenz picking up the accolade all four years of their college careers.
 
Freshmen and first-year players with their squads will be added to both lists over the summer once they complete a full academic year. DU has a 10-member freshman class, and the team combined for a 3.72 GPA during the fall 2025 academic quarter.


TICKETS: Tickets for the remaining games of DU hockey's 2025-26 campaign are available. Click here for more information.