Pohlkamp’s Hot Start Propels Denver Pioneers to Weekend Sweep
Denver Pioneers hockey defenseman Eric Pohlkamp is continuing to build on a strong finish to the 2024-25 season, opening the new campaign with points in both of his team’s games this past weekend. The junior from Baxter, Minnesota, delivered a standout performance, culminating in a first-career hat trick in a dominant 6-0 victory against Bentley at Magness Arena on Saturday.
Pohlkamp closed out the 2024-25 season with points in each of his final two NCAA Tournament contests,including a crucial goal in the Regional final against No. 1 Boston College. He’s carried that momentum into the new season, contributing a primary assist on Friday to help the Pioneers tie Air Force 1-1.
Dating back to the Boston College game on March 30 in Manchester, New Hampshire, Pohlkamp has accumulated six points in four contests, with four goals and two assists. He finished the 2024-25 season strong, recording 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in his last 27 outings.
The defenseman attributed his success on Saturday to strong teamwork. “I didn’t do much, the guys just gave me the puck,” Pohlkamp said.”The first one was in the slot and I kind of just whacked it home. Then (on the second) Reiger Lorenz just passed it backdoor and got lucky enough. The third one was probably my favorite, Kieran Cebrian and Brady Milburn made a heck of a play to get it to me. Hats off to those guys, they deserve it more than me.”
Pohlkamp’s hat trick performance places him in exclusive company, making him just the 12th defenseman in Denver history to score three goals in a single game. Former teammate Zeev Buium was the last Pioneer to achieve this feat, doing so with an empty-netter on November 15, 2023, at North Dakota. Prior to Buium,Ryan Caldwell accomplished the same in 2004 against Minnesota State. Pohlkamp is now one of only four defensemen in NCHC history to record a hat trick, joining Buium and Ronnie Attard, who achieved the feat twice while playing for Western Michigan.
Adding to his impressive weekend, Pohlkamp also scored a rare short-handed goal on Saturday, the first by a Denver defenseman in over four years, since Antti Tuomisto found the back of the net on January 23, 2021, at Omaha. This goal proved pivotal, coming at the end of a five-minute major penalty kill while the Pioneers held a 2-0 lead, and sparking a three-goal run in just 2:23 to secure the shutout victory.
“Obviously Fish (Jake Fisher) scored right after that, back door.So I think that gave us some momentum and kind of relaxed us a little bit because yesterday we were all kind of tensed up,” Pohlkamp explained. “So it was nice to get that one, for sure.”
Saturday’s game marked a breakthrough for the Pioneers’ offense after a strong but ultimately tied performance against Air Force on Friday. Denver outshot air Force 59-24, but only Clarke Caswell’s redirec
