Eric Pohlkamp had a different instant reaction when he found out the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals and championship were coming to campus sites this season.

The Baxter, Minnesota, native and Denver star defenseman looks forward to every trip he can make back to his home state, especially for high-level playoff hockey at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul — a building he grew up dreaming of playing in.

But by the time he skated onto the ice at Magness Arena for last Saturday’s NCHC semifinal against Western Michigan, Pohlkamp’s mind had completely changed.

“Playing last Saturday, I was so happy they made the change,” Pohlkamp said this week. “It was such a cool game to play and it was really exciting. To be honest, I’m 0-for-2 in my career in conference championships, so hopefully I get one this Saturday.”

What awaits this Saturday (6 p.m. NCHC.tv) is the biggest game Magness Arena has hosted in decades. Not only is a trophy on the line, but so is No. 4 DU’s 12-game unbeaten run that spans back to the last meeting between these two powerhouses that have owned the last decade in college hockey.

“That’s (how it is) this time of year, as well, and how a lot our games have been against Duluth,” Pioneers coach David Carle said. “They’ve had an excellent season. You don’t make it to this game without being at your best. The way they played against North Dakota this last Saturday night, the way they beat St. Cloud (in the quarterfinals), it’s gonna be an excellent hockey game on Saturday.”

The only time these two teams faced off this season was in a two-game series at Magness Arena to close out January. Up to that point, DU was 2-5-1 in January, was down freshman starting goaltender Quentin Miller and hadn’t won a Friday game in over a month.

Everything changed when the Bulldogs, led by veteran coach Scott Sandelin, came to town. Behind fellow freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks, the Pios won 4-3 in the series opener and then again the following night with a 1-0 overtime win that featured Hicks’ first career shutout and sparked his incredible run in net over the last two months.

DU also held UMD’s excellent top line of Max Plante, Zam Plante and Hunter Anderson to zero points on the weekend.

“It was a good battle,” senior forward Rieger Lorenz told The Denver Gazette. “They’re a good team. I think they play pretty similar to us. They’ve got some offensive skill, obviously, with that one line there. They play super hard defensively and their goaltending is amazing.”

In what should’ve been a clear sign of what was to come, Hicks went save for save with an Olympian in UMD’s Adam Gajan, while the rest of the Pios showed they can buckle down and play winning hockey in a tight, physical game.

That’s exactly what Carle is expecting again on Saturday. Both teams will enter knowing that their season will continue next weekend at the NCAA Tournament, but it’s as good of a test as any for the kind of hockey games they’re going to need to win to advance to next month’s Frozen Four.

“We’re gonna get pushed, we’re gonna get better,” Carle said. “We’re not gonna play this team in the regionals, we know that. I think both of these teams are looking forward to the opportunity to (get) a dry run, per se, of what you want to be playing for in three weeks’ time (at the Frozen Four). A lot of work is still to be done to get there, but, gosh, to get this experience for our 10 freshmen and a lot of their young players, I know everybody’s looking forward to this experience.”

Both DU and UMD are essentially locked in as No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament with the Pios set to play next weekend at Blue Arena in Loveland. But no one would be surprised if both of these teams found a way to meet up again in Las Vegas in a few weeks.

The Pios and Bulldogs have won five of the last eight NCAA titles (facing each other in the 2017 championship game) and boast a combined 10 Frozen Four appearances in the last decade alone.

“You talk about a winning pedigree and program, our two programs are the two winningest in the last 10-12 years,” Carle said. “It’s a real marquee matchup from the mentality side and teams that expect and want to be in games like this and expect to win games like this. It’s gonna be a great challenge on both sides.”

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No. 4 Denver vs. No. 6 Minnesota Duluth

What: NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship

When: 6 p.m. Saturday at Magness Arena

Series history: DU leads 139-90-13

NCHC Frozen Faceoff series history: DU leads 5-2

Most recent postseason matchup: DU 5-2 win on March 16, 2024, to sweep best-of-3 NCHC Frozen Faceoff quarterfinal series