NOTEBOOK: Eric Pohlkamp Stays Scorching to Open New Season

DENVER – Denver Pioneers hockey defenseman Eric Pohlkamp picked up the place he left off from final season.
 
The junior from Baxter, Minnesota, closed the 2024-25 marketing campaign with factors in every of the ultimate two NCAA Tournament contests—together with a key objective within the Regional Final versus No. 1 Boston College—and opened the brand new season this previous weekend with factors in each of DU’s video games. He contributed the first help on Friday to assist the Pioneers tie Air Force 1-1 earlier than scoring his first profession hat trick on Saturday in a 6-0 victory in opposition to Bentley within the dwelling opener at Magness Arena.
 
Dating again to that BC sport on March 30 in Manchester, New Hampshire, Pohlkamp now has six factors within the 4 contests with 4 targets and two assists. He had 22 factors (seven targets, 15 assists) in his final 27 outings of 2024-25.
 
Pohlkamp discovered twine on Saturday with pinpoint accuracy off wrist photographs for his third profession multi-goal sport, however he shortly credited his teammates for getting him the puck on his tape.
 
“I didn’t do much, the guys just gave me the puck,” Pohlkamp mentioned. “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.”
 
He joined a choose record of Pioneers along with his hat trick efficiency, as he grew to become simply the twelfth defenseman in Denver historical past to tally three targets in a sport. Former teammate Zeev Buium was the final to do it when he completed the feat with an empty-netter within the last minutes of play final Nov. 15 at North Dakota.
 
Prior to Buium, Ryan Caldwell was the earlier Pioneer rear guard with a hat trick on Feb. 14, 2004 at dwelling in opposition to Minnesota State. In NCHC historical past, Pohlkamp is simply the fourth defenseman to attain three targets in an outing as he joins Buium and Ronnie Attard, who did it twice for Western Michigan on Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate and Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado College.
 
Pohlkamp additionally scored a uncommon short-handed objective on Saturday as properly, because the final time a DU defenseman tallied shorthanded was greater than 4 years in the past when Antti Tuomisto did it on Jan. 23, 2021 at Omaha throughout that COVID-shortened season.
 
That man-disadvantage marker was Pohlkamp’s second of the evening and got here simply on the finish of DU killing off a five-minute main penalty whereas holding onto a 2-0 lead. The Pioneers’ offensive floodgates, so to talk, opened from the tally because it started a run of three targets in a matter of two:23 to safe the Pios’ lead en path to the shutout win.
 
“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 mentioned. “So it was nice to get that one, for sure.”
 
Saturday’s sport was additionally good for Denver to lastly rating a flurry of targets and earn the win after a robust efficiency on Friday resulted in solely a tie. DU outshot Air Force 59-24 total, however solely Clarke Caswell’s redirection off Pohlkamp’s shot with 4:07 left within the third interval discovered the again of the online within the season-opening contest.
 
“I think it’s nice for the guys to get rewarded,” mentioned head coach David Carle on Saturday. “Certainly, you know, we had a lot of shot volume on the weekend, and lots were made on the new people on the team and trying to get them comfortable at the level and the timing and all of that. So to see some go into the back of the net was really good for everyone.”
 
GEISEL IN GOAL
 
Paxton Geisel made his return to the Denver crease on Saturday after lacking almost all of final season with a lower-body harm. He shined in internet by posting a 21-save shutout.
 
“Felt good. Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve played a full game, last year having surgery,” Geisel mentioned. “Guys played great in front of me, pretty much limiting a lot of great A’s (scoring chances). So yeah, feels good. We were on top of everything in this game.”
 
It was Geisel’s second profession begin and first on dwelling ice, as his final and solely different begin got here on Dec. 9, 2023 at Western Michigan—an extra time victory. Saturday was his third profession sport, as he final noticed motion in reduction on Feb. 2, 2024 at dwelling in opposition to WMU.
 
“It doesn’t really matter when it comes or that I got a shutout,” Geisel mentioned of his first begin in almost two years. “Regardless, the team played great, big improvement from last night too. I think us as a group, we’re all doing pretty well moving forward. So I think that’s the goal for us.”
 
It was the primary clear sheet since Matt Davis and Freddie Halyk shared a workforce shutout final season on Feb. 14 in opposition to North Dakota. The final Denver shutout within the dwelling opener was by Evan Cowley (26 saves) on Oct. 17, 2014 versus RPI.
 
The Pios will seemingly use all three of its goaltenders via the early season as they alter to life with out Matt Davis, with Geisel becoming a member of freshmen Quentin Miller and Johnny Hicks within the rotation. Miller made the beginning within the season opener on Friday at Air Force and completed with 23 saves on 24 photographs.
 
PENALTY KILL DELIVERS
 
The Pioneers weren’t on the penalty kill usually throughout opening weekend, however they have been up the duty after they have been down a person on the ice. DU went an ideal 4-for-4 in man disadvantages and was profitable in a number of key moments that might have turned the tide of the outings.
 
With Air Force having simply scored on Friday, the Falcons had almost three minutes of energy play time on the finish of the primary and early within the second, together with a 1:03 benefit at 5-on-3. Denver survived due to a number of faceoff wins by Samu Salminen throughout that two-man drawback late within the opening body, permitting the Pios to get to the locker room down by only one.
 
“I thought the kills at the end of the first–especially the 5-on-3–Samu Salminen winning those three faceoffs to essentially kill off the 5-on-3 was critical in the hockey game,” mentioned Carle on Friday evening. “You look at the data and the odds once we killed that, your odds of winning go up tremendously if you can kill off an extended 5-on-3.”
 
On Saturday, DU was up 2-0 early within the third interval however Bentley had an opportunity to get again within the sport with a five-minute main energy play. The Falcons had three photographs within the 5 minutes and whereas they did discover the again of the online, that objective was shortly overturned by the on-ice officers because it was batted in by a Bentley participant’s hand.
 
The Pioneers flipped the momentum with Pohlkamp scoring shorthanded with two seconds remaining within the Falcons’ prolonged man benefit, pushing their result in 3-0 and beginning a four-goal third stanza.
 
“It was nice, there wasn’t a lot of whistles. I think whistles help the power play a lot of times, and especially on a five-minute major. So we were able to keep the clock moving, and it’s hard for them to change on the fly,” Carle mentioned after Saturday’s sport. “I like their pressure and what we’re able to do on that.”
 
MORE NOTABLES

• Freshmen Clarke Caswell, Kyle Chyzowski, Kristian Epperson, Eric Jamieson, Brady Milburn, Quentin Miller, Payton Nelson and Reid Varkonyi all made their collegiate debuts on Friday whereas Payton Nelson performed in his first sport on Saturday.
• DU was beginning the season on the street for the third-straight season.
• The Pios at the moment are 44-25-8 all-time in season openers and are unbeaten up to now 5 (4-0-1).
• DU is unbeaten in its final 9 dwelling openers (7-0-2) and is 15-1-2 in its previous 18 dwelling opening nights. Overall, the Pioneers improved to 54-18-5 all-time in dwelling openers and sports activities a 20-5-2 document in home-opening contests at Magness Arena.
• DU is 14-1-1 in its previous 16 video games versus non-conference opponents.
• Clarke Caswell scored his first profession objective/level on Friday at Air Force. He had his first multi-point sport on Saturday with a pair of assists.
• Kristian Epperson, Eric Jamieson and Brady Milburn all picked up their first profession collegiate factors with assists within the outing, and Jamieson tallied his first profession objective within the sport as properly.
• The matchup on Saturday marked the first-ever assembly between Denver and Bentley.
• Denver was dealing with Air Force for the primary time since Oct. 28, 2023 at Magness Arena and final visited the Academy on Oct. 15, 2021.
• Denver is now unbeaten in its final eight video games in opposition to Air Force (7-0-1) and is 41-4-2 all-time in opposition to the Falcons and 14-2-2 at Cadet Ice Arena.
• DU had its shutout streak over Air Force finish on Friday evening at 176:45, stretching throughout 4 video games and courting again to the Oct. 15, 2021 on the Academy.
• The Pioneers’ 59 photographs on objective was its most since firing 66 on Lake Superior State on Oct. 20, 2017. DU’s season excessive for photographs on objective final yr was 46 on Nov. 8 vs. Lindenwood.
• Denver’s 22 photographs on objective within the third interval have been its most in a body since having 23 within the second interval on Nov 3, 2023 in opposition to Colorado College. DU’s season excessive for photographs in a interval final yr was 20 on March 2 in opposition to St. Cloud State.

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