Zeev Buium had a fresh­man sea­son for the ages a year ago, and now he’s got a chance to be one of the most dec­o­rat­ed play­ers in the his­to­ry of col­lege hockey’s most suc­cess­ful program.

Buium set a record for assists by a fresh­man defense­man at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver. He became the first Pio­neers fresh­man in three decades to reach 50 points in a sea­son. Oh, he also won a gold medal at the World Junior Cham­pi­onships, won a nation­al title and was select­ed in the first round of the 2024 NHL draft.

What could he do for an encore? How about defend­ing both titles and becom­ing the third play­er in pro­gram his­to­ry to win the Hobey Bak­er Award?

“Try­ing to go back-to-back with the nat­ty and world juniors is a chal­lenge, but it’s some­thing I want to go for,” Buium said. “(The Hobey Bak­er) would be a great hon­or. But for me, it’s the same thing as last year. I’m just going to focus on my day-to-day process, and the team and every­thing. I think if I’m play­ing good, if I’m doing my thing and I’m help­ing the team, every­thing else should take care of itself. 

“It’s not some­thing I’m going to think about, but it’s def­i­nite­ly some­thing I would love to do.”

Buium will be the high­est-draft­ed play­er to play for the Pios in pro­gram his­to­ry when DU opens the 2024–25 cam­paign Sat­ur­day night in Anchor­age, Alas­ka. He was DU’s fifth first-round selec­tion and the sec­ond-high­est pick. Craig Red­mond went sixth in the 1984 draft but had already left the pro­gram to play for the Cana­di­an nation­al team.

Buoyed by the return of Buium, plus seniors Jack Devine and Matt Davis, the defend­ing-cham­pi­on Pio­neers are the No. 1‑ranked team in both major pre­sea­son polls. Buium’s fresh­man All-Amer­i­ca sea­son, which includ­ed 11 goals, 50 points and a cou­ple of excel­lent per­for­mances against the best for­wards in the coun­try a year ago at the Frozen Four, will put him on the short­list of con­tenders for col­lege hockey’s top indi­vid­ual award.

“Absolute­ly I think he can (win the Hobey),” DU coach David Car­le said. “He’s a real­ly dynam­ic play­er who affects the game offen­sive­ly, defen­sive­ly when­ev­er he’s on the ice.

“I think you see the phys­i­cal matu­ri­ty that he’s already had through the sum­mer. Being the sec­ond-youngest play­er in col­lege hock­ey (last year), there was just going to be some of that nat­ur­al phys­i­cal and men­tal matu­ri­ty. I think as that grows, it’ll just increase his impact on the game and allow his brain to do a lit­tle bit more now that his body can do even more.”

The Pios do have key play­ers to replace, includ­ing Buium’s old­er broth­er, Shai, and Col­orado Avalanche prospect Sean Behrens on defense. Three for­wards also signed with NHL teams and left ear­ly. But Devine could be a Hobey Bak­er can­di­date as well, and Davis is back after his star-turn dur­ing a remark­able NCAA Tour­na­ment run.

The Pios are adding a pair of poten­tial impact trans­fers in for­ward Samu Salmi­nen and defense­man Eric Pohlkamp, get­ting anoth­er NHL pick back from injury (sopho­more defense­man Gar­rett Brown) and wel­com­ing three fresh­men who were also select­ed in the 2024 draft.

The beat goes on for DU, which won a record 10th NCAA title in April. With Buium as one of the anchors, the Pios will go hunt­ing for No. 11.

“Ten-ver” was the ral­ly­ing cry after knock­ing off pow­er­hous­es Boston Uni­ver­si­ty and Boston Col­lege at the Frozen Four a year ago. Is it time for … “Eleven-ver?”

“It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as eas­i­ly, but I’m sure when the time comes, some­thing will get picked up, and I’m excit­ed to see what that is,” Pios cap­tain Carter King said.

“We have a mature group. We have a lot of tal­ent com­ing back, and we have the best coach in col­lege hock­ey right now. So we’re always going to have a chance when you’ve got a team like that, and we’re just try­ing to put in all the work we need to, to put our­selves in this sit­u­a­tion and have that opportunity.”

DU hockey 2024–25 schedule

Date	Oppo­nent	Time
Oct 5	at Alas­ka Anchorage	8 p.m.
Oct 6	at Alas­ka Anchorage	7 p.m.
Oct 18	North­east­ern	7 p.m.
Oct 19	North­east­ern	6 p.m.
Oct 25	Wis­con­sin	7 p.m.
Oct 26	Wis­con­sin	6 p.m.
Nov 1	at Yale	5 p.m.
Nov 2	at Yale	5 p.m.
Nov 8	Lin­den­wood	7 p.m.
Nov 9	Lin­den­wood	7 p.m.
Nov 15	at North Dakota	6 p.m.
Nov 16	at North Dakota	5 p.m.
Nov 22	Ari­zona State	7 p.m.
Nov 23	Ari­zona State	6 p.m.
Dec 6	at West­ern Michigan	5 p.m.
Dec 7	at West­ern Michigan	4 p.m.
Dec 13	at Col­orado College	7 p.m.
Dec 14	Col­orado College	7 p.m.
Dec 28	UNLV	6 p.m.
Jan 3	at Maine	5 p.m.
Jan 4	at Maine	5 p.m.
Jan 10	Mia­mi	7 p.m.
Jan 11	Mia­mi	6 p.m.
Jan 24	at Min­neso­ta Duluth	6 p.m.
Jan 25	at Min­neso­ta Duluth	5 p.m.
Jan 31	Oma­ha	7 p.m.
Feb 1	Oma­ha	6 p.m.
Feb 7	at Ari­zona State	7 p.m.
Feb 8	at Ari­zona State	5 p.m.
Feb 14	North Dako­ta	7 p.m.
Feb 15	North Dako­ta	6 p.m.
Feb 21	at Mia­mi	5 p.m.
Feb 22	at Mia­mi	5 p.m.
Feb 28	St. Cloud State	7 p.m.
Mar 1	St. Cloud State	6 p.m.
Mar 7	Col­orado College	7 p.m.
Mar 8	at Col­orado College	6 p.m.

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