University of Denver Spring 2026

League. Because players in those leagues receive stipends and can sign entry-level contracts with the NHL, the NCAA long considered them professionals and barred them from playing college hockey. The emergence of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules in college athletics changed the landscape, however, and gave NCAA eligibility to players in the CHL this past offseason. The result was an influx of freshmen from a new recruiting frontier. Most of the CHL players who joined the Pioneers came from the Western Hockey League, which includes teams from western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. For Carle, this new pipeline is a throwback to the days of legendary coach Murray Armstrong, who led DU from 1956 to 1977 and won national championships in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, and 1969. “[With] Murray Armstrong coming down from Regina [Saskatchewan] and bringing many great players and families … for us, it’s kind of a reversion back to how it was pre-1973,” Carle said. The lead-up in Loveland On the road to the Frozen Four, DU hosted an NCAA regional at Blue Arena in Loveland, Colorado, for the third time in program history. The Pioneers opened play with a 5-0 beatdown of Cornell behind goals from Jake Fisher, Kieran Cebrian, Sam Harris, Caswell, and Rieger Lorenz. Two nights later, they followed that up with the 6-2 victory over Western Michigan. It was the sixth matchup of the season between the two squads and the fourth postseason meeting in the past two years. The win avenged a semifinal loss for the Pioneers in last year’s Frozen Four, when Western Michigan went on to win the national championship. “I want to commend the fans who came out and made this the best regional we’ve been part of, from an atmosphere perspective,” Carle said after the win. A blue-blood battle In Las Vegas, DU faced perhaps its toughest test of the season during the semifinal battle against Michigan. The Pioneers and Wolverines are ranked first and second, respectively, for the most NCAA Division I college hockey national championships. DU broke the tie when they won the 2024 title—their 10th—and further cemented their status as a hockey powerhouse with this year’s win, while Michigan has been in a championship drought since 1998. In addition to being the most storied programs in college hockey, the teams also included two of this year’s three Hobey Baker Hat Trick award finalists. DU junior Eric Pohlkamp led the Pioneers and all defensemen nationally in scoring with 39 points, while his 18 goals set an NCHC record for defensemen. Meanwhile, Michigan senior forward T.J. Hughes, who had 21 goals and 35 assists, led national scoring with 56 points. The award ultimately went to Max Plante from University of Minnesota Duluth, a forward with 25 goals and 52 points. As it turned out, DU was more than up to the test. The Pioneers got goals from Chyzowski and Cale Ashcroft during the first and second periods, but they trailed 3-2 in

the third until Caswell tied the game with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Neither team scored in the first overtime, but DU senior captain Kent Anderson put the game winner in the net a little over halfway through the second overtime. At just over 92 minutes, it was the longest game in program history. A comeback for the crown When it came time for the championship game against Wisconsin, the ice was firmly tilted against the Pioneers for the first two periods and into the third. Denver entered the game bruised from the double-overtime win two days earlier, and with Wisconsin leading 1-0, the Pioneers trailed in shots— 26-6 on goal and 58-22 overall. For the second straight game, Hicks had been peppered by a flurry of shots with little relief. None of that mattered, though, when Lorenz got perhaps the grittiest—and certainly the most meaningful—goal of his career. The senior was in front of the net when

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER MAGAZINE | SPRING 2026