Bauer NCHC Player of the Week Archive
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After leading each of their teams to unbeaten series at home last weekend, the Bauer NCHC Players of the Week for week three come from Minnesota Duluth, Denver and Colorado College. Garnering Bauer NCHC Player of the Week accolades for Oct. 15-21, 2018 are UMD sophomore defenseman Scott Perunovich for Offensive Player of the Week, his blue line partner junior Nick Wolff for Defenseman of the Week, Denver freshman forward Cole Guttman for Rookie of the Week and CC junior Alex Leclerc for Goaltender of the Week.
This is Perunovich’s sixth career NCHC weekly honor, but first this season and first Offensive Player of the Week nod. Leclerc also snagged his sixth NCHC weekly award and fourth career Goaltender of the Week honor, but first of the season. Wolff and Guttman each collected their first career NCHC weekly award.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Scott Perunovich, Minnesota Duluth
Sophomore Defenseman
Hibbing, Minn.
Creating offense from the blue line, Perunovich tied for the NCAA lead with six points last weekend in leading UMD to a sweep of Maine. In Friday’s 8-2 thrashing of the Black Bears, the St. Louis Blues draft pick tallied a career-high four points, including matching his career high with three assists. Perunovich had a hand in UMD’s first two goals Friday, setting up the first and scoring the second, both in the first period. He tacked on two more helpers on the Bulldogs’ final goals of the night and finished +2 to earn Second Star of the Night. The next night, the reigning NCHC Rookie of the Year handed out the primary assist on each of UMD’s first two goals, the first coming on a power play, to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 in an eventual 3-2 victory. Perunovich fired five shots on goal and was again +2 Saturday when he was First Star of the Game. The All-American totaled a goal, five assists, a +4 plus/minus and fired eight shots on goal in the series.
Defenseman of the Week
Nick Wolff, Minnesota Duluth
Junior Defenseman
Eagan, Minn.
Wolff contributed at both ends of the ice in Minnesota Duluth’s sweep of Maine last weekend, chipping in five points while helping limit the Black Bears to two goals in each game and 20 shots on goal or less both nights. On Friday, the assistant captain compiled a career-high four points, including a career-best three assists in an 8-2 victory. Wolff scored the game’s first goal, while setting up the next two, including the game-winner late in the first period to break a 2-2 tie. He added his final helper on UMD’s seventh goal, while posting a +4 plus/minus and earning First Star of the Game. Saturday, Wolff again assisted on the game-winner to make it 3-0 in the second period in an eventual 3-2 win and was +2. Along with his goal and four assists, Wolff blocked two shots, fired three on goal, finished an NCHC-best +6 and led a penalty kill that went 6-for-7 in the series sweep.
Rookie of the Week
Cole Guttman, Denver
Freshman Forward
Los Angeles, Calif.
Guttman compiled four points in DU’s win and tie against Alaska last weekend, notching the first two multi-point games of his collegiate career. In Friday’s 4-1 win, the Tampa Bay draft pick doled out the first two assists of his career, setting up DU’s first goal on the power play to tie the game, while also assisting on the game-winner two minutes later to break the deadlock. The next night, Guttman helped rally the Pioneers to a 3-3 overtime tie, handing out the primary assist on DU’s first goal in the second period to start a comeback from 3-0 down. He then scored Denver’s second goal, the second of his career, with an extra attacker late in the game to close the deficit to one as the Pioneers did pull out the tie with Guttman earning First Star of the Game. Guttman finished the series with a goal, three assists, six shots on goal and a +4 plus/minus, including +3 Saturday. He also went 23-11 in the faceoff circle (.676) on the weekend.
GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Alex Leclerc, Colorado College
Junior Goaltender
Longueuil, Quebec
Leclerc extended his unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) to start the season with a tie and a win against New Hampshire last weekend. In Friday’s 3-3 tie, he made a season-high 39 saves, including 16 in the third period and three in overtime, to earn Second Star of the Game. On Saturday, the junior made 27 more saves, including 10 in the third period, as the Tigers defeated the Wildcats, 4-3. Leclerc, who is tied for the national lead with four wins, totaled an NCHC-best 66 saves on the weekend for a .917 save percentage to go with a 2.88 goals-against average. He also helped CC’s penalty kill go 5-for-6 against UNH.
OTHER NOMINEES:
Offensive Player
Trey Bradley, Sr., F, CC – Compiled a goal and three assists against UNH, including three points in Saturday’s win, with eight shots on goal.
Ethen Frank, So., F, WMU – Tallied four points and was +4 in a split with Michigan with a goal and two assists in Friday’s loss, while adding another goal in Saturday’s win.
Ryan Poehling, Jr., F, SCSU – Chipped in three points in a sweep of NMU with a goal Friday and two assists Saturday to go with a +2 plus/minus.
Cole Smith, Jr., F, UND – Racked up four points and was +2 in a split with Minnesota State, including two goals and an assist in Saturday’s win, in which he scored the game-winner to break a 3-3 tie.
Defenseman
Matt Kiersted, So., D, UND – Totaled three points and a +3 in a split with Minnesota State with a goal and an assist Friday and another helper in Saturday’s win.
Ian Mitchell, So., D, DU – Dished out three assists in a win and tie against UAF, while posting a +3 plus/minus.
Jimmy Schuldt, Sr., D, SCSU – Scored a goal in Saturday’s shutout of NMU and finished the series +3.
Rookie
Bryan Yoon, Fr., D, CC – Scored his first career goal Saturday vs. UNH, which was the game-winner, while first adding an assist in Friday’s tie and finishing with six blocked shots in the series.
Goaltender
Ryan Larkin, Jr., G, Miami – In his only start of the weekend Saturday, made 25 saves on 26 shots for a .962 save percentage in a 2-1 win over UMass Lowell.
--#NCHCHockey--