Men's Ice Hockey 1/22/2019 2:00:00 AM By NCHC

Bauer NCHC Players of the Week: January 14-20, 2019

UMD’s Swaney and Shepard, UND’s Bast and Denver’s Stapley honored for week 14

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Helping each of their teams move up in the standings, the four Bauer National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Players of the Week for week 14 hail from three schools, including a trio of underclassmen. Earning Bauer NCHC Player of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 14-20, 2019 are Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Nick Swaney for Offensive Player of the Week, North Dakota sophomore blue liner Gabe Bast for Defenseman of the Week, Denver freshman forward Brett Stapley for Rookie of the Week and UMD junior netminder Hunter Shepard for Goaltender of the Week.

This is Swaney’s first career NCHC Offensive Player of the Week award, but third career NCHC weekly honor, earning Rookie of the Week twice last season. This is the first career NCHC honor for Bast, while Stapley picked up his second NCHC Rookie of the Week nod. Shepard is now a nine-time NCHC Goaltender of the Week for his career, including three times this season.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Nick Swaney, Minnesota Duluth
Sophomore Forward
Lakeville, Minn.

Swaney powered Minnesota Duluth’s offense in a sweep at Miami, having a hand in four of UMD’s seven goals on the weekend. The Minnesota Wild prospect tallied a goal and dished out an assist in both games. In Friday’s 4-0 shutout, he scored the game’s first goal on a breakaway short-handed, which served as the game-winner, while also assisting on a power play goal that made it 3-0 in the second period. Swaney fired four shots on goal, was +1 and earned First Star of the Game Friday, as well. The next night in a 3-0 victory, he handed out the primary assist on the game’s first goal, which came on the power play and again served as the game-winner. He then capped the scoring with the final goal of the game early in the final frame, finishing +1 and garnering Second Star of the Game Saturday. Swaney ended the series with two goals, including a game-winner, two assists, six shots on goal and a +2 plus/minus.

Defenseman of the Week

Gabe Bast, North Dakota
Sophomore Defenseman
Red Deer, Alberta

Bast was productive at both ends of the ice in helping North Dakota split at Omaha. On Friday, he was held scoreless, but blocked a shot and posted a +1 plus/minus in a 4-3 victory, including being on the ice for the game-winning goal late in the game. The next night, Bast recorded his first career two-goal game and doubled his season total in a 4-3 defeat. He scored UND’s first goal to tie the game in the first period, then added a power play goal early in the second stanza to make it 3-1 UND. Bast fired four shots on goal Saturday, again was +1 and helped UND go 4-for-4 on the penalty kill to earn Second Star of the Game. He led all NCHC defensemen with two goals on the weekend, while totaling four shots on goal, two blocked shots and a +2 plus/minus in the series.

Rookie of the Week

Brett Stapley, Denver
Freshman Forward
Campbell River, B.C.

After Denver had its Gold Pan series opener with rival Colorado College postponed on Friday, Stapley exploded with three points on Saturday to lead Denver to a 4-4 overtime tie and shootout win against the Tigers. He opened the game’s scoring in the first frame with his first goal of the night and capped the game’s scoring with the final goal, tying the game at 4-4 with less than seven minutes left in regulation to complete a two-goal comeback. In between, he dished out an assist on DU’s second goal that knotted the game at 2-2 only 33 ticks into the second period. Following scoreless 5-on-5 and 3-on-3 overtime periods, Stapley then earned the extra standings point for DU by scoring in the first round of the shootout. The Montreal Canadiens prospect was named First Star of the Game on Saturday. He finished the game with two goals, an assist, six shots on goal and a +2 plus/minus. He also won 12-of-19 faceoffs (.632) in the contest and blocked a shot.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Hunter Shepard, Minnesota Duluth
Junior Goaltender
Cohasset, Minn.

Shepard was perfect on the weekend, as he blanked Miami both nights to backstop Minnesota Duluth to a road sweep. His two shutouts give him four on the season, which ties for second nationally, and 12 for his career, which is already a school record. In Friday’s 4-0 whitewash, he totaled 23 saves, including 11 in the first period, while 11 saves also came short-handed as he helped kill all five Miami power plays. Shepard earned Third Star of the Game for his efforts Friday. The next night in a 3-0 blanking, he compiled 17 saves, including five short-handed to kill all four MU man advantages, while garnering First Star of the Game honors. Shepard totaled 40 saves in the two wins and killed off all nine Miami power plays, while his 1.000 save percentage on the weekend upped his season save percentage to .923. He also lowered his goals-against average from 1.83 to 1.74 on the season, which ranks fourth nationally and tops in the NCHC.

OTHER NOMINEES:

Offensive Player
Trey Bradley, Sr., F, CC – Scored two goals in CC’s 4-4 overtime tie at Denver on Saturday.

Liam Finlay, Jr., F, DU – Dished out three assists and finished +4 in Saturday’s 4-4 overtime tie with CC.

Zach Jordan, Jr., F, Omaha – Tallied a goal and an assist in Friday’s 4-3 loss to UND, while handing out another assist in Saturday’s 4-3 victory.

Jack Poehling, Jr., F, SCSU – Led all NCHC scorers with five points in a sweep of WMU, scoring an empty-net goal both nights, while assisting on the game-winner Friday and adding two more helpers Saturday.

Defenseman
None

Rookie
Jackson Keane, Fr., F, UND – Led all NCHC rookies with four points in a split at Omaha, scoring the game-winning goal and adding two assists Friday for a career-high three points, while dishing out another helper Saturday.

Micah Miller, Fr., F, SCSU – Scored the first two goals of his career in a sweep of WMU, tallying a goal each night.

Taylor Ward, Fr., F, Omaha – Scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in Saturday’s 4-3 win over UND.

Goaltender
Dávid Hrenák, So., G, SCSU – Backstopped SCSU to a sweep of WMU, posting a .927 save percentage and a 1.50 GAA in the two wins, including a 23-save shutout on Friday.

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