The University of Maine’s hockey team will find out exactly where it stands this weekend when the Black Bears travel to take on the Denver Pioneers, who have won two of the last four NCAA Division I championships and have at least 30 wins in each of the last four campaigns.
Denver is 12-6-1 and currently ranked sixth in both national polls while the Black Bears are 11-7-1 and 15th in one poll and 18th in the other.
The teams will play at 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Magness Arena in Denver, Colorado. The teams split 2-1 decisions in Orono a year ago.
Head coach David Carle’s Pioneers have gone 136-46-6 over the last four-plus seasons including national championships in 2023-24 and 2021-22.
They are the first program to reach double digits in national championships with 10.
They went 31-12-1 a year ago and lost to eventual national champion Western Michigan 3-2 in double overtime in their Frozen Four semifinal.
“This is a great challenge and a great opportunity for us,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr, whose Black Bears will take a three-game winning streak into the series. “They’re one of the best teams in the country, perennially. They’re having another great year. They’re well-coached. They have great players.
“So let’s go test ourselves. I think it’s awesome,” Barr added.
“We’re going to have to play a near-perfect game both nights,” said UMaine senior left wing and co-captain Thomas Freel. “They’ve won the national championship 10 times and multiple times in the last five to 10 years.
“So they’re the model other teams form themselves after. They’re super well-coached and super well-structured. It’s going to take our best effort this weekend,” Freel added.
UMaine junior defenseman and assistant captain Frank Djurasevic said the team will be ready for the challenge.
“Our group can go against anybody in the country when we’re playing our best,” Djurasevic said. “We have to make sure we can find our best, consistently.”
The Pioneers lost their top four point-getters and standout goalie Matt Davis from last year’s team but they have a solid nucleus back, including a pair of 2024-25 National College Hockey Conference third team selections in junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp and junior left wing Sam Harris.
Pohlkamp is the team’s leading scorer with 20 points on 12 goals and 8 assists and Harris has eight goals and seven assists.
Pohlkamp had 11 goals and 24 assists a year ago and Harris led the Pioneers in goals with 23 while adding 12 assists.
Denver’s other top point-producers this season are junior defenseman Boston Buckberger (5-11-16), freshman center Clarke Caswell (3-13-16), senior left wing Rieger Lorenz (6-9-15), senior center Samu Salminen (5-9-14) and sophomore right wing James Reeder (4-10-14).
Quentin Miller is having an outstanding freshman season in goal for the Pioneers with an 11-5-1 record, a 1.92 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
Denver is fourth in the country in goals scored (3.95) and in goals-against (1.95).
Freshman left wing Justin Poiner continues to lead the Black Bears in scoring with 17 goals and 9 assists for 26 points. He is second in the country in goals scored.
He is the first Division I men’s player since 2005-06 to score 17 goals in his first 19 career games, and his current streak of three games with two goals and an assist in each is the first since Omaha’s Taylor Ward during the 2021-22 season.
Senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt is next with 3-14-17 followed by junior right wing Josh Nadeau (10-6-16), freshman right wing Miguel Marques (6-10-16), junior center Max Scott (3-9-12), senior left wing Owen Fowler (7-4-11) and junior right wing Charlie Russell (4-7-11).
Junior Albin Boija is 7-5-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a .903 save percentage and freshman Mathis Rousseau is 4-2, 2.53, .897.