DENVER – University of Denver hockey junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp has been named a top-10 finalist for the 2026 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top men's college hockey player in the nation.
 
Pohlkamp leads all NCAA defensemen this season with 17 goals and 37 points in 38 games and also ranks first among all players in the country with 166 shots on goal. He is third on Denver with 20 assists, while ranking second on the team and eighth among the nation's rear guards in plus-minus rating (+24). Pohlkamp 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).
 
The Baxter, Minnesota, native has earned a pair of honors from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference over the past week, as he was named the 2025-26 NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year and was recognized on the All-Conference First Team. He is also a finalist for the league's Player of the Year award.
 
Pohlkamp's two goals on Jan. 24 versus St. Cloud State marked his 15th and 16th of the year to set the NCHC record for the most goals by a defenseman in a single season, surpassing the previous conference high-mark of 15 that was held by a pair of DU players in Mike Benning (2021-22) and Joey 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 owns 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 against 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 has recorded at least one point in 23-of-38 contests thus far and multiple points in 10 games, including three multi-goal outings.
 
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 run with a tally was longest by a defenseman in the NCHC record book and in DU history 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 tournament.
 
A 2023 NHL Draft pick of the San Jose Sharks at No. 132 overall (fifth round), 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.
 
Pohlkamp joined Denver in 2024-25 after spending the previous season with Bemidji State as a freshman. He has registered 72 points (28g/44a) in 82 career contests with the Pioneers over the past two years.
 
This is the fourth time in the last five seasons that Denver has had a top-10 finalist, and Pohlkamp becomes the fifth Pioneer up for the award in that time as he joins Bobby Brink in 2022, Jack Devine in 2024 and 2025 and Zeev Buium in 2025. Denver has had two previous Hobey Baker Award winners in Matt Carle in 2006 and Will Butcher in 2017.
 
The NCHC had two players earn top-10 honors from the Hobey Baker Award committee with Minnesota Duluth's Max Plante joining Pohlkamp on the list. DU junior defenseman Boston Buckberger was also a team nominee for this year's honor.
 
The 10 finalists were selected by voting from all 63 Division I college hockey head coaches and online fan balloting. This year's Hobey Baker winner will be chosen from the 10 finalists by the 30-member selection committee, as well as an additional round of fan balloting running from March 19-29 on hobeybaker.com. Criteria for the award includes displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.
 
The final three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be announced on April 2, and the Hobey Baker Award will be handed out on Friday, April 10 during the NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 

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