DENVER – Forward Rieger Lorenz scored 2:17 into overtime to lead the No. 11 Denver Pioneers hockey team to a 1-0 victory against the No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Saturday night at Magness Arena. 
 
Neither the Pioneers (16-11-2, 12-6-0 NCHC) nor Bulldogs (17-11-0, 8-10-0 NCHC) could get their first 49 shots into the back of the net before Lorenz’s tap-in tally during 3-on-3 play. Denver won 4-3 on Friday to earn its first weekend sweep of 2026 and fourth overall this season.
 
“I thought again we played well,” said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. “We played pretty disciplined, didn’t give them a ton. Really liked our first period, second period I thought was a little slow for us, but I really liked our third.
 
“We did not give them a ton throughout the night, only 19 shots. Inside the power plays we gave them early, and they didn’t have a lot of shots, the first three were on the power plays. So we did a nice job. We held their top line for zero points on the weekend—I’m not sure that’s been done yet this year. A great accomplishment, and Johnny Hicks was excellent.”
 
Freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks started his second game for the Pioneers and earned his first career shutout, denying all 19 shots that Duluth shot his way. Hicks made 29 saves on Friday night before leaving in the third period with a lower-body injury, and he now owns a 3-0-0 record, 0.55 goals-against average and .980 save percentage in two starts and seven games this season.
 
Lorenz registered his first goal in overtime and his third game-winner of his career. Junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp stood at the faceoff dot and sent a tape-to-tape pass to the far-side of the crease for the senior alternate captain. Junior forward Kieran Cebrian also had an assist on the goal and was strong in the circle by winning 60 percent of his faceoffs (12-of-20).
 
DU outshot UMD 31-19, including by a 14-4 margin in third period and overtime. Bulldogs netminder Adam Gajan finished by stopping 30 shots. The Pioneers outshot the Bulldogs 13-6 in the first period but UMD finished the edge in the second at 9-4.
 
Minnesota Duluth’s top-ranked power play didn’t convert on its two chances in the contest, while Denver didn’t capitalize on its lone man advantage as well.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers stay in-state next weekend as they take on the Colorado College Tigers in a home-and-home series. DU plays at Ed Robson Arena on Friday before hosting CC at Magness Arena on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on NCHC.tv.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pios improved to 7-1-0 in their last eight games against UMD and 11-2-0 in the past 13 matchups. Denver is also now 83-40-5 on home ice in the all-time series vs. Duluth.
• DU wrapped up their four-game homestand by going 3-1-0. DU’s homestay was tied for the longest of the season, and the squad closed out January having played eight-of-10 contests at Magness Arena.
• The Pioneers have won three straight contests on home ice, a season-best streak.
• Denver posted its sixth shutout of the season.
• The Pioneers won their second overtime game of the season (Oct. 31 vs. Alaska Anchorage) and is now 2-3-2 in OT this season.
• Rieger Lorenz scored his first career overtime goal, and his second game-winner of the season (Dec. 5 vs. Mimai).
• Johnny Hicks became the third Denver goaltender to post a shutout this year.
• Denver and Minnesota Duluth were facing off for the first time with both teams ranked since the then-No.3 ranked Pios beat the No. 6 Bulldogs in the 2022 NCAA West Regional Final in Loveland, Colorado.
• Duluth was visiting Magness Arena for the first time since March 15-16, 2024 in the NCHC Playoffs when Denver swept the best-of-three quarterfinal series. 
• Cale Ashcroft (1g/2a) and Kyle Chyzowski (2g/1a) both had their three-game point streaks come to an end.
• Eric Pohlkamp leads all NCAA players in shots on goal and surpassed 400 career shots this weekend.
• The teams’ six combined penalty minutes tied a season-low in a game for the Pioneers.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
 
2nd Period
No Scoring
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
Overtime
2:17 DU (1-0) – Rieger Lorenz tapped in Eric Pohlkamp’s pass from the right faceoff circle while stationed at the far-side of the crease.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Senior forward Rieger Lorenz
On game: “We’ve had a hard time closing out weekends here in the second half, so it was nice to see growth from our group. Obviously a good game yesterday. I thought our start was really good; [we] had a little bit of lapse in our mental game in the second and early third, but I thought we obviously pulled it out. It’s a big win for our group at this time in the season.”
 
On his overtime goal: “Obviously going against that Plante line you want to have the puck when you’re going against them. So, we got some speed, kicked out to Ceebs (Kieran Cebrian), he kicked it out to PK (Eric Pohlkamp). And I think everyone in the building thought he was going to shoot that, including me—but luckily enough he found me.”
 
On the excitement in building: “It’s unreal. The last few weekends have been tough for us at home, so it’s nice to give the fans something to cheer about, and hopefully they keep supporting us like they have been all season.”
 
On facing Colorado College next weekend: “Like I said, we’ve had a hard time stringing weekends together, so I think this will be a big weekend for us to show the strides we’ve taken so far. And the downs we’ve had this season, hopefully we’ve learned from them and can prove that to ourselves this upcoming weekend with the big rivalry.”
 
Junior Defenseman Eric Pohlkamp
On the game-winning goal he assisted on: “Yeah, I thought myself that I was going to shoot the puck, but I saw him (Rieger Lorenz) kind of get positioned on that guy and move backwards, and we made a hyper-play to tap that in. Really happy for him, and he’s been all over the puck in this game, and I know he had a lot of chances. So nice for him to get that one for sure.”
 
On this win being a boost: “Yeah, I think so. I don’t know what to say about boost, but I think we just need to be more consistent. We have CC as a big rival coming next weekend, so we are home-and-home, and those are some fun games. We played them early in the year, so I know we’re going to be eager to play them and looking forward to it.”
 
On changes in defense: “Yeah, we kind of talked about it in there, just punting the ball, like just playing football. You know, we don’t want them to regroup and attack us. I really liked our commitment, and we made plays and offense against a tough line (of UMD), me and Jamo (Eric Jamieson). It was a lot of fun playing against those guys, but obviously really good players and it was an excellent job this weekend.”
 

TICKETS: Tickets for the remaining games of DU hockey’s 2025-26 campaign are available. Click here for more information.

 

According to ESPN’s lead league insider, Adam Schefter, the Buffalo Bills are hiring Denver Broncos assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard to be their defensive coordinator. It was reported earlier in the week that he would be the leading candidate for the job, and despite interest from other teams, Leonhard will be the Bills’ new defensive coordinator.

Leonhard has been one of the hottest names in the defensive coordinator market. He had interviews with the Los Angeles Chargers and Baltimore Ravens for their defensive coordinator positions and was linked and/or interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Jets. He was also considered the Broncos’ top in-house option to replace defensive coordinator Vance Joseph if he landed a head coaching job this offseason. However, with all signs pointing to Joseph staying in Denver, Leonhard explored his options and landed the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator job.

This is a bit of a loss for the Broncos’ defensive coaching staff. Leonhard was an assistant head coach and the team’s defensive pass game coordinator. They also fired their cornerbacks coach, Addison Lynch, earlier in the week, so it appears that the Broncos will be making some changes to their defensive coaching staff this offseason.

This is also the second coach the Buffalo Bills have taken from the Broncos’ staff. Earlier this week, they named former Denver Broncos offensive assistant coach Pete Carmichael Jr. their offensive coordinator. He has ties to the Bills’ newly hired head coach, Joe Brady, and now will be his offensive coordinator in Buffalo.

Leonhard will take over a Bills defense that struggled badly against the run and saw Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throw 3 touchdowns against it in the divisional round of the playoffs. If he can turn that defense around and quarterback Josh Allen plays at his usual MVP level, the Bills can be Super Bowl contenders once again in the AFC.