DENVER – University of Denver hockey junior
Eric Pohlkamp is the 2025-26 NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year.
This is the seventh time that Denver has earned the award from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Pohlkamp becomes the fifth different Pioneer to pick up the accolade. It is also the fourth straight season that DU has earned Offensive Defenseman of the Year, with
Mike Benning winning in 2023 and
Zeev Buium being recognized in both 2024 and 2025.
Originally just Defenseman of the Year, the NCHC split the award in 2017 to honor both offensive and defensive blueliners.
Joey LaLeggia earned D-man honors in 2024 and 2015 and Hobey Baker Award-winner
Will Butcher was also named Offensive Defenseman in 2017.
Pohlkamp lead all of NCAA defensemen this season with 17 goals and 37 points in 38 games and also ranks first among all players in the nation with 166 shots on goal. He is third on Denver with 20 assists, while being second on the team and eighth among nation's rear guards in plus-minus rating (+24).
The Baxter, Minnesota, native was named to the 2025-26 NCHC All-Conference First Team, and he has recorded at least one point in 23-of-38 contests thus far and multiple points in 10 games. He is currently tied for first on DU with five power-play goals and is second on the squad with 11 power-play points (5g/6a).
Pohlkamp scored twice on Jan. 24 vs. St. Cloud State to set the NCHC record for the most goals by a defenseman in a single season with his 16th of the year, surpassing the previous conference high-mark of 15 that was held by a pair of DU players in
Benning (2021-22) and
LaLeggia (2014-15). His 17 goals this season are presently tied for the fourth-most in a single season by a Denver defenseman and the most by a Pioneer blueliner since
Greg Woods scored 19 times as a freshman in 1975-76.
He has totaled three points in a game three times this season and own seven such three-point contests in his career. He scored three goals for his first career hat trick in the home opener on Oct. 11 vs. Bentley, becoming the 12th defenseman to DU history to reach the mark. At the time, it was just the fifth instance and Pohlkamp became the fourth defenseman in NCHC history to register a hat trick. He also recorded his first career short-handed goal in the shutout victory of Bentley, the first man-down marker by a DU rear guard since Antti Tuomisto on Jan. 23, 2021.
Pohlkamp also had three points with two goals and an assist on Nov. 21 at Arizona State and matched a career high with three assists on Feb. 13 at Omaha. He owns three multi-goal outings this season and five overall in his career.
He earned his first career monthly honors as both the NCHC and the National Defenseman of the Month for November after combining for seven goals and three assists in eight games. His seven tallies tied for the third-most for NCAA blueliners in a single month since the start of the 2002-03 season (online records presently don't go back any further), with only Mercyhurst's Joseph Duszak (9, January 2019) and Boston University's Ahti Oksanen (8, January 2015) scoring more in a month. Pohlkamp registered eight goals in a nine-game period from Nov. 1-Dec. 5 and scored six goals in a six-game stretch from Nov. 1-21, 2025, which included a career-long, four-game goal streak from Nov. 1-14, 2025 (4g/2a). The four-game goal streak marked longest by a defenseman in both NCHC history and at DU since 2002-03.
Defensively, Pohlkamp is first on the Pioneers with 72 blocked shots and has blocked four or more in a game six times, including a career-high six blocks on Dec. 13 at St. Cloud State. He is fifth on Denver with 29 penalty minutes.
Pohlkamp represented NCAA hockey at the 2025 Spengler Cup from Dec. 26-31 and was one of the first 10 players to be named to the U.S. Collegiate Select Team. He recorded two goals and one assist while averaging 21:49 of ice time in three games, helping the college squad reach the championship game of the prestigious international holiday tournament.
Pohlkamp appeared in his 100th career NCAA contest on Jan. 16 at North Dakota and has suited up in 114 games across three seasons between Denver and Bemidji State. He is currently four points shy of 100 in his collegiate career with 39 goals and 57 assists.
This is the first individual award in Pohlkamp's career, and he is also a finalist for NCHC Player of the Year, which will be announced on Thursday. Pohlkamp was previously a finalist for the CCHA's Defenseman of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards in 2023-24 as a freshman at Bemidji State.
TICKETS: Tickets for DU hockey's Frozen Faceoff Championship matchup vs. Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at Magness Arena are available.
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