DENVER – Defenseman Boston Buckberger scored 3:34 into overtime to complete the Denver Pioneers hockey team’s comeback in a 2-1 victory against the No. 17 Colorado College Tigers on Friday night at Magness Arena.
DU and CC conclude their weekend series on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT down at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. The series finale will be broadcast exclusively on NCHC.tv.
Denver (7-3-1, 3-0-0 NCHC) trailed late in the third period, but D-man Eric Pohlkamp tied the game off a rebound from junior Sam Harris with 3:26 remaining in regulation to stretch his goal streak to a career-long four games.
Buckberger tallied his first career OT goal and second game-winner on a rush, as he found the back of the net with a wrister while streaking up the ice on the left side following a pass from Rieger Lorenz. The junior also added an assist to his first goal of the season.
Friday’s Gold pan opener was a goaltending duel, between Denver freshman Quentin Miller and Colorado College senior Kaidan Mbereko. Both netminders finished with 29 saves, as DU ended with a 31-30 edge in shots on goal.
After a scoreless first two periods, Riley Stuart broke the stalemate 5:41 into the third after taking a pass from Ryan Alexander at the wall and hitting twine with a wrister from the slot. It came just moments after Mbereko denied a shot from Lorenz in the high crease area.
Colorado College (6-4-1, 1-3-1 NCHC) had a chance to take a lead in the opening frame as the Tigers were awarded a penalty shot attempt, but Tomas Mrsic ensuing backhand shot on the breakaway was denied by Miller.
Friday outing was the highest-attended hockey game in Magness Arena history with 7,073 fans packing the rink. The previous program best was 7,051 on Oct. 19, 2024 against Northeastern when DU raised its 2024 national championship banner.
The victory was the Pioneers’ senior class’s 100th career win, making them the 17th group in program history to reach the century mark.
UP NEXT: The Pioneers begin a three-game road swing on Saturday at Colorado College before traveling to Tempe next weekend to face the Arizona State Sun Devils on Nov. 21-22.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The Pioneers are on a season-long four-game winning streak and haven’t lost in regulation in five straight contests.
- Denver is improved to 203-125-21 all-time against Colorado College and have won three straight games and is 6-1-0 in the last seven meetings. The Pioneers are 118-55-11 at home and 36-22-7 at Magness Arena against the tigers.
- DU is now 1-1-1 in overtime this season and won its first game that needed extra time since Feb. 7, 2025 at Arizona State (5-4).
- Boston Buckberger scored his first career overtime-winning goal and registered his second career game-winning goal (Nov. 16, 2024 at North Dakota).
- Freshman goaltender Quentin Miller made his eight consecutive start in net.
- Eric Pohlkamp scored to push his goal streak to a career-long four games (4g/2a) three-game goal/point streak (3g/2a).
- Miller made his first career save on a penalty shot at 12:35 of the first period on Tomas Mrsic’s attempt. It was the first penalty shot against Denver since Omaha’s Zach Urdahl on Jan. 19, 2024 (goal).
- Hagen Burrows appeared in his 50th career game.
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
12:35 CC (0-0) – PS, Quentin Miller saved Tomas Mrsic’s backhand shot on a penalty shot.
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
5:41 CC (0-1) – Riley Stuart took a feed from Ryan Alexander and scored on a wrist shot from the slot that went glove-side.
16:34 DU (1-1) – Eric Pohlkamp knocked in a rebound from the right side after Sam Harris’ first two shot attempts were saved.
Overtime
3:34 DU (2-1) – Boston Buckberger took the puck from Rieger Lorenz, streaked through the neutral zone and scored with a wrister from the left side.
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the game: “It was almost like they (Colorado College) needed to score to wake us up a little bit. I thought they (Colorado College) played extremely well. They made life really difficult on us. If not for Quentin Miller, I think scores would be a lot different going into the third. That’s a goalie’s job is to keep his team within range, and he did that. Obviously (CC goalie) Kaidan [Mbereko] made some big saves as well, but I don’t think as many as Quentin did throughout the first two periods. Then we responded in the third after they scored and had a couple looks and got a timely goal. Again, we didn’t have the puck much in the 3-on-3 (overtime), but the one chance we did get, we made it count.”
On mindset going into the game: “I know it sounds like a lot, but the scoring we have felt has been inconsistent. A lot of it was just our puck pressure up the ice. I thought they did a nice job in the neutral zone. You know, they’re one-on-one battle level, they’re sick detail. They were knocking a lot of pucks down. I just thought their intensity in the 50-50s was higher than ours and fed a lot of their transition going the other way. We talked about it, they’re a more skilled team I think this year than they were a year ago. And again, Quentin Miller played excellent.”
Sophomore Defenseman Boston Buckberger
On scoring in overtime: “It felt great honestly. I felt snake-bitten throughout the year, for the first month or so. For that one to fall was really nice. To get the team win was even better.”
On the rivalry with Colorado College: “We know there’s a lot of energy. It was kind of a weird, sloppy game. It was back-and-forth. I knew once we got our first goal that the crowd and our arena was going to erupt and give us some energy. I think that helped us segway to get
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