DENVER – The No. 8 University of Denver hockey team faces Colorado College in a home-and-home series this weekend to determine who takes home the Gold Pan.
 
After winning both games and picking up five of a possible six points in the first series of the season in November, the Pioneers only need one point in the two games retain the trophy for a seventh season.
 
Friday night's contest in Colorado Springs is set for 7 p.m. MT. Saturday's puck drop in Denver is also scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. Both outings will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and Denver Sports 104.3 HD3. There are limited tickets available Saturday's games.
 
Denver (16-11-2, 12-6-0 NCHC) has 35 points in conference play this season after last weekend's sweep against then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth. The Pios stand in second place in the NCHC standings and are just three points behind first-place North Dakota (38), which does have two games in hand. Denver has a three-point edge over third-place Western Michigan (35) and is 16 points ahead of seventh-place Colorado College (19).
 
The Pioneers are looking to continue their success from last weekend's sweep, which began by edging Minnesota Duluth 4-3 in the series opener. Forward Sam Harris opened the scoring with less than a minute left in the first period, and freshmen Reid Varkonyi and Kyle Chyzowski both hit the back of the net in the second. Junior defenseman Cale Ashcroft scored his second goal of the season late in the second frame in what ended up being the game-winner. Jaker Fisher earned two helpers in the outing. Freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks was only beat when the Pioneers were on a five-minute major penalty kill early in the third. Hicks made 29 saves and only allowed one goal in the win despite leaving midway through the third period with a lower-body injury.
 
The following night, Hicks was back in net and played extra time with the contest going beyond regulation. Hicks finished with 19 saves before DU scored just over two and a half minutes into the 3-on-3. Kieran Cebrian fed the puck to Eric Pohlkamp, who carried the puck up the ice. Once the puck entered the offensive zone, Rieger Lorenz positioned himself perfectly for a pass from Pohlkamp and tapped in the puck for the overtime win. The Pioneers had 31 shots on goal in the win.
 
Colorado College (11-12-3. 5-8-3 NCHC) is coming off a competitive weekend with Arizona State. CC fell 6-5 in overtime in the series opener, but the Tigers came back with a 4-1 win the following day to split the weekend with the Sun Devils.
 
Earlier this season, the two Colorado teams played in a home-and-home set on Nov. 14-15. The series opener was scoreless entering the third period before CC got on the board first. Pohlkamp responded for DU with less than four minutes remaining in regulation to force OT, and Boston Buckberger netted the overtime-winner in the 2-1 victory; he also added an assist on Pohlkamp's tying tally.
 
The Pioneers won 3-2 the following evening when they traveled to Colorado Springs. Fisher netted the game's first goal just over two minutes into the game, and Eric Jamieson pushed the Pios to a 2-0 lead entering the third. Buckberger secured the game with a power-play goal in the final stanza and earned his second game-winner of the weekend, as Denver held off a CC comeback.
 
This weekend marks the 351st and 352nd all-time meetings between the Pioneers and Tigers, the most-played rivalry in college hockey. Denver holds the all-time series at 204-125-21, including a mark of 118-55-11 in Denver and 79-66-10 in the Springs. The Pioneers have won the past eight of 10 games.
 
DU is wrapping up a six-game, home-state stretch as they just completed a season-long four-game homestand last weekend. The Pioneers will travel to Nebraska to take on the Omaha Mavericks next weekend on Feb. 13-14 in their last regular-season away game of the year. The Mavs are the only team in the NCHC that the Pios have yet to face.
 

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ONE-OH GAMES: The Pioneers defeated Minnesota Duluth last Saturday by a 1-0 score in overtime, marking the first time in program history they won a game in overtime at 1-0. DU had only played one previous 1-0 OT contest in its 77-year history, a loss at Michigan Tech on Jan. 21, 1966.
 
Overall, Denver has a 22-12 all-time record in games that ended 1-0 and played its second of the season after losing by that same mark on Oct. 25 at Northeastern. The Pios' previous 1-0 win was on Feb. 26, 2019 at Colorado College and their last such victory at home was Jan. 19, 2019 vs. Omaha.
 
BIG BLOCKS: Denver blocked a season-high 21 shots on Friday, the team's most in a game since blocking 25 in last year's double-overtime game in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship vs. Western Michigan on March 22, 2025.  It was the most blocked shots in a regular-season contest by the Pios since they got in front of 23 pucks on Feb. 1, 2019 vs. North Dakota
 
Eric Jamieson posted a career-high five blocks on Friday while fellow D-partner Eric Pohlkamp also blocked five in the contest, one shy of his career high (Dec. 13 at St. Cloud State) and the eighth time this season he's blocked three or more shots.
 
The team's previous season high for blocked shots came in back-to-back games at North Dakota, denying 18 shots on Jan. 16 before preventing 19 shots on cage on Jan. 17.
 
HICKS' WEEKEND SWEEP OF DULUTH: Freshman Johnny Hicks won each of his first three starts and posted his first individual shutout on Saturday by making 19 saves in the 1-0 overtime victory against then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth.
 
The Kamloops, British Columbia, native finished the weekend sweep by making 48-of-49 saves vs. the Bulldogs, helping him earn his first career NCHC award as the conference's Rookie of the Week. He made his first career start on Friday and stopped 29 shots before leaving midway through the third period with a lower-body injury.
 
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 Friday versus UMD before Kyle Gaffney tallied on the power play at 4:02 of the third period.
 
SHARING THE (GOALIE) LOVE: Freshmen goaltenders Johnny Hicks and Quentin Miller combined for a team shutout in a 4-0 win against St. Cloud State on Jan. 24.  Hicks stopped all 22 shots—and also earned his first point in the game with an assist—to register his first career victory after playing the final 55:11 following a lower-body injury to starter Miller (one save) early in the first period.
 
It is the second straight season that a Denver goaltending tandem posted a team clean sheet, as Matt Davis (15 saves) and Freddie Halyk (six saves) stopped every shot they faced against North Dakota on Feb. 14, 2025.
 
Denying every shot to earn your first career victory has been a common occurrence for the Pioneers in the last five seasons, with both Hicks and Miller (19 save in a 4-0 win at Lindenwood on Oct. 14) accomplishing the feat this season. Davis recorded a clean sheet in his first career start on Oct. 16, 2021 vs. Air Force (25 saves), and Halyk did the same in his first win against Air Force two years later on Oct. 28, 2023 (24 saves).
 
LOVE FOR THE 'TENDYS: Each of Denver's three goaltenders have started games this season and have also picked up shutout wins.
 
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 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).
 
NOTABLES

• Jake Fisher had his first two-assist game and the fifth multi-point outing of his career on Friday.
• Kristian Epperson has six points (2g/4a) in his past seven games.
• Cale Ashcroft and Reid Varkonyi both scored their second goals of the season on Friday, with Ashcroft netting his first game-winning tally of the season and fourth of his career.
• Junior defenseman Garrett Brown returned to the Pios' lineup on Friday after missing three contests due to an upper-body injury. 
• Goalie Paxton Geisel played his first game on Friday since starting on Oct. 17 at Lindenwood.
• Goaltender Quentin Miller missed his first games of the season with a lower-body injury. He had his streak of making 24 consecutive starts come to an end, which was the longest streak by a DU goalie since Matt Davis started in the final 26 contests during the championship-winning campaign in 2023-24.
• Denver killed off 11 straight penalties across five games dating back to Jan. 16 at North Dakota before UMD scored on the power play early in the third period on Friday.
• DU earned its sixth shutout of the season on Saturday.
• The Pioneers won their second overtime game of the season (Oct. 31 vs. Alaska Anchorage) and are now 2-3-2 in OT this season.
• Rieger Lorenz scored his first career overtime goal on Saturday, and his second game-winner of the season (Dec. 5 vs. Miami). His goal at 2:17 of the extra frame was the fastest OT goal scored in a game this season that the Denver has been a part of.
• Lorenz also fired a season-high seven shots in the contest.
• The Pios wrapped up their four-game homestand by going 3-1-0. DU's homestay was tied for the longest of the season, and the squad closed out January having played eight-of-10 contests at Magness Arena.
• Denver has won three straight contests on home ice, a season-best streak.
• The Pios improved to 7-1-0 in their last eight games against UMD and 11-2-0 in the past 13 matchups. Denver is now 83-40-5 on home ice in the all-time series vs. Duluth.
• Denver and Minnesota Duluth were facing off for the first time with both teams ranked since the then-No.3 ranked Pios beat the No. 6 Bulldogs in the 2022 NCAA West Regional Final in Loveland, Colorado.
• Duluth was visiting Magness Arena for the first time since March 15-16, 2024 in the NCHC Playoffs when Denver swept the best-of-three quarterfinal series. 

 
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD

• Eric Pohlkamp leads all NCAA D-men and ranks tied for ninth overall among all skaters in goals (16).  His 28 points are first among defensemen in the nation, while his 127 shots paces all NCAA players.
• Boston Buckberger is tied for fourth in goals (8), sixth in points (23) and 10th in assists (15) among defensemen.
• Eric Jamieson is tied for eighth among all college D-men in goals (6).
• Quentin Miller is tied for fourth in shutouts (3).

 
GOING FOR THE GOLD (PAN): The Pioneers won both games against Colorado College on Nov. 14-15 and need just one point in the final meetings of the regular season on Feb. 6-7 to secure the trophy for a seventh straight year.  DU didn't secure the hardware in this first series as the opener was decided in overtime (2-1) before the Pios won 3-2 the next night in Colorado Springs.
 
CC needs to win both games this weekend in regulation to earn the trophy outright for the first time since 2018-19.
 
In circulation since 1993-94, the Gold Pan is given to the team that wins the season series between the in-state rivals.  DU has captured it 19 times compared to CC's 13 and only needs to split the four-game series this season to retain the hardware for another year.
 
The Denver-Colorado College rivalry is the most-played series in college hockey history, as the programs have faced off in 350 all-times games and surpassed Michigan and Michigan State (349 games) for the top spot last season. Michigan-Michigan State will also meet in a two-game series this weekend.
 
HISTORY VS. COLORADO COLLEGE: DU and CC get set for its 351st all-time matchup, the most in college hockey history and one more than Michigan-Michigan State (349).  The Pioneers lead the all-time series at 204-125-21 and are 8-2-0 in the last 10 matchups.  Denver went 3-1-0 in the regular season last year to claim the Gold Pan for a sixth consecutive campaign.  The Pioneers won both games earlier this season, with them picking up a 2-1 OT win on home ice on Nov. 14 before holding off a Tigers comeback bid on the road on Nov. 15 in a 3-2 victory.  The teams faced off in five games in a row last season from March 7-16, 2025—regular-season finale and NCHC Quarterfinals—marking the first time in the history of the rivalry that they had played that many games in a row.  The Pioneers won the best-of-three series 2-1 after dropping Game 1.  Denver holds a 14-4-0 edge in the last 18 games of the series and is 26-5-1 in the past 32 matchups since the start of 2018-19.  At home, the Pios have a 118-55-11 mark against the Tigers and had won 12 straight "home" outings that dated back to Dec. 13, 2019 prior to losing Game 1 in last year's quarterfinals.  The Pioneers own a 79-66-10 record in road games versus the Tigers and is 7-2-0 all-time at Ed Robson Arena.  DU is 170-98-21 all-time against CC in conference play.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING (NOV. 15, 2025): The No. 4 Denver hockey team completed the weekend sweep of the No. 17 Colorado College Tigers on Saturday with a 3-2 win at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs.  DU stretched its season-long winning streak to five games and earned series sweeps on back-to-back weekends.  Junior Boston Buckberger, sophomore Jake Fisher and freshman Eric Jamieson all scored for Denver, while Cale Ashcroft, Hagen Burrows, Clarke Caswell, Sam Harris, Rieger Lorenz and Brendan McMorrow each had an assist.  Pioneers freshman goaltender Quentin Miller stopped 38-of-40 shots faced, including 19 in the third period.  Buckberger scored on the power play with 4:10 left in the third period in what was the eventual game-winner and marked the first time he had tallied in consecutive games in his career; he netted his first career OT goal in Friday's 2-1 win in Denver.
 
CONNECTIONS: The Pioneers' Kyle Chyzowski and the Tigers' Tomas Mrsic are both from Surrey, British Columbia … DU's Kent Anderson, Eric Jamieson and Rieger Lorenz and CC's Jackson Unger are all from Calgary, Alberta … Garrett Brown and Philippe Blais-Savoie are both from San Jose, Calif. … Brown played with Gavin Lindberg with the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks at the end of the 2022-23 season … Denver's Kieran Cebrian (2020-2023) and Cale Ashcroft (2022-2023) were teammates with Drew Montgomery (2020-2023) and Philippe Blais-Savoie (2022-23) with the USHL Tri-City Storm … Mateo Mrsic was on the Chilliwack Chiefs at the same time as Brady Milburn (2021-2025) and Quentin Miller (2024-25) … Jake Fisher was a teammate with Merril Steenari during the Fargo Force's USHL Clark Cup championship season in 2023-24 … Boston Buckberger was a teammate with Klavs Veinbergs at the USHL Lincoln Stars in 2022-23 … Paxton Geisel was teammates on the Dubuque Fighting Saints with Max Burkholder (2021-2023), Fisher Scott (2022-23) and Riley Stuart (2021-2023) … Geisel played with Ryan Koering on USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks to start 2023-24 … CC has two players from Colorado on its roster in Kaiden Mbereko (Aspen) and Fisher Scott (Carbondale), while DU also has two in Kieran Cebrian (Denver) and Payton Nelson (Centennial) … Denver's Sam Harris (San Diego) and Colorado College's Jordan Brisson (Manhattan Beach) and Merril Steenari (Aliso Viejo) are all from Southern California.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Colorado College owns an 11-12-3 overall record this season and is currently tied for seventh place in the NCHC standings with 19 points, registering a 5-8-3 mark in conference play after 16 games.  The Tigers have split their last three series after going 0-4-1 from Nov. 29-Jan. 3.  CC hosted Arizona State last weekend and lost 6-5 in overtime on Friday before earning a 4-1 victory on Saturday.  Owen Beckner paces the team in scoring with 19 points (6g/13a) and leads the squad with 13 assists.  Klavs Veinsbergs in the top goal scorer with seven and is tied with Gavin Lindberg (6g/10a) for second in scoring on the squad with 16 points (7g/9a).  Senior Kaidan Mbereko has started 24-of-26 games in goal for the Tigers, owning a 10-10-3 record, 2.53 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. Colorado College opens a three-game road swing on Saturday in Denver and will play five of its last seven games on the road.
 
IN POHL POSITION: Junior Eric Pohlkamp leads all NCAA defensemen and ranks tied for ninth among all skaters in the country with 16 goals this season.  He is also first among players at his position in total scoring with 28 points.
 
Pohlkamp is tied for fourth in program history for the most goals by blueliner in a single season, and it is the most goals by a blueliner since Craig Redmond and Jim Leavins also 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 each of the past two seasons as a sophomore at Denver in 2023-24 and as a freshman at Bemidji State in 2022-23.
 
POHLKAMP ETCHES HIS NAME IN NCHC HISTORY: Blueliner Eric Pohlkamp scored twice on Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State for his third multi-goal game of the season and took the top spot in the NCHC record book for goals by a defenseman.  His 16 goals are the most in a single season in NCHC history, breaking a tie with a pair of other Pioneers that previously held the conference mark as Mike Benning tallied 15 in 2021-22 and Joey LaLeggia did the same in 2014-15.
 
Overall, eight Pioneers rank in the top 14 on the NCHC list, which includes Zeev Buium (2024-25) and Benning (2022-23) tied for fourth in the league annals with 13 goals each with Western Michigan's Ronnie Attard (2021-22) and Miami's Grant Hutton (2017-18). Additionally, LaLeggia is tied for eighth (12, 2013-14) and Pohlkamp (2024-25) and Buium (2023-24) are tied for 10th (11 goals) in the league record book.  The NCHC began play in 2013-14.
 
OFFENSIVE DEFENDERS: Denver has received 34.3 percent of its goals this season from D-men (34-of-99), 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 only four other programs have multiple blueliners with five or more markers: Air Force (3), Clarkson (2), Minnesota Duluth (2), St. Thomas (2).
 
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 leads all NCAA defenders with 16 goals and 28 points this season, while Buckberger is tied for fourth at his position in tallies and sixth in points (23).  Jamieson is tied for second among rookie blueliners in goals.
 
TIME FOR HOME COOKING: The 2026 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.  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 has 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 are flights to North Dakota on Jan. 16-17 and Omaha on Feb. 13-14 and a bus trip to Colorado College on Feb. 6.
 
PIONEERS IN THE POLLS: Denver ranks No. 8 the latest USCHO.com poll and is at No. 9 in the newest USA Hockey ranking after both were released on Monday.  The Pioneers began the year at No. 4 in each preseason media poll and are presently No. 11 in the NPI computer rankings that will determine this year's NCAA Tournament field.
 
The NCHC is the only conference with each of its teams ranked in the top 10, while the Big Ten has three and the ECAC has two. Overall, the league's four-ranked squads are tied for the second most with the Big Ten and ECAC and trail only Hockey East (five).  Joining DU in the rankings from the NCHC are North Dakota (3/3), Western Michigan (4/4) and Minnesota Duluth (10/10).  Miami received votes in each poll while Colorado College earned a single vote in the USCHO.com ranking.
 

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