Denver sophomore defenseman Boston Buckberger has been named the recipient of the NCAA’s Elite 90 award for scholastic achievement at the 2025 Division I men’s ice hockey championship.
Buckberger is an accounting major in DU’s Daniels College of Business and carries a cumulative 4.0 grade-point average. He was presented with the Elite 90 award following Denver’s practice on Wednesday at Enterprise Center ahead of the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four.
Founded by the NCAA, the Elite 90 award recognizes the spirit of a student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s championships.
Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above academically that have participated in a sport for at least two years with their school. All ties are broken by the number of credits completed.
The Saskatoon, Sask., native is the ninth overall Denver student-athlete to earn the Elite 90 award and the fourth member of the hockey program. Buckberger joins teammate Kent Anderson, who earned the accolade last season, as well as Gabe Levin in 2016 and Erich Fear in 2019 as Pioneer hockey players to pick up the honor.
He is the second DU student-athlete in 2024-25 to earn the Elite 90, as men’s soccer’s A.J. Francois was also awarded it during the NCAA College Cup in December in Cary, N.C. The University of Denver is the third institution to have three or more Elite 90 winners since Jan. 1, 2024, joining Arizona State and Oklahoma State.
A two-time member of the NCHC academic all-conference team and an NCHC distinguished scholar-athlete in each of his first two collegiate seasons, Buckberger was also recognized as an AHCA national all-American scholar and a Collegiate Sports Communicator’s academic all-district team member in 2023-24 (this season’s awards will be released later this summer).
On the ice, the defenseman has recorded career highs in 2024-25 with 30 points, ranking third among Pioneer defensemen in both goals (nine) and assists (21). Prior to suffering a season-ending, upper-body injury on March 22 against Western Michigan in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game, Buckberger had played in all 41 contests and had scored three goals in his previous five outings and registered 14 points in his last 13 games (five goals, nine assists).
He also added 36 blocked shots, 22 penalty minutes and was leading the team with a plus-30 plus-minus rating prior to getting hurt. Buckberger had played in each of the first 85 games of his collegiate career before missing the NCAA Northeast Regional semifinals versus Providence on March 28 due to his injury.
