Previous Bauer NCHC Players of the Week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Combining for nine goals, 15 points and two shutouts, the four Bauer National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Players of the Week for the week of Nov. 8-14, 2021 put on quite a show. Garnering Bauer NCHC honors for week 7 are Denver sophomore Carter Savoie for Forward of the Week, North Dakota sophomore Jake Sanderson for Defenseman of the Week, Minnesota Duluth junior Ryan Fanti for Goaltender of the Week and DU forward Carter Mazur for Rookie of the Week.

Savoie and Sanderson are both repeat winners from this season, while Fanti and Mazur landed their first NCHC weekly honor of the season.

Forward of the Week

Carter Savoie, Denver
Sophomore Forward
St. Albert, Alta.

Savoie had a huge, five-point weekend to help Denver sweep Western Michigan for its first conference wins of the season. The Edmonton Oilers draft pick tallied multiple goals both nights, giving him four multi-goal games on the season and five multi-point outings. Savoie compiled three points in DU’s series-opening, 5-3 win Friday, then added two more goals in Saturday’s 5-2 victory.

On Friday, Savoie scored DU’s second goal to tie the game early in the second stanza, then sealed the victory with a power play tally in the third period. He also set up DU’s fourth goal, which was the game-winner. A night later, Savoie scored both of his goals in a span of 20 seconds in the second period, the third-fastest consecutive goals by a DU player in the last 20 years and the fastest this season. His first goal broke a 2-2 tie and ended up as the game-winner.

Savoie finished the weekend with four goals, an assist and eight shots on goal, firing four each night. He also posted a +2 plus/minus, going +1 each night. On the season, he leads the Pioneers with 10 goals and 17 points, both of which rank second in the NCHC so far this year.

This is Savoie’s second career NCHC Forward of the Week honor, also earning it the week of Oct. 11-17, while it’s his third career NCHC weekly award, also earning Rookie of the Week once.

Defenseman of the Week

Jake Sanderson, North Dakota
Sophomore Defenseman
Whitefish, Mont.

Sanderson was nearly unstoppable at both ends of the ice, powering North Dakota to a road sweep of Miami last weekend. He led all NCHC skaters on the weekend with six points in the series, tallying a career-high three each night. The Ottawa Senators first round draft pick notched his first collegiate multi-goal game in Friday’s 4-1 victory over Miami, while also assisting on UND’s opening goal on the power play.  He scored UND’s second goal Friday and sealed the win with an empty-net goal from behind his own goal line. The next night, Sanderson had a hand in UND’s final three goals in a 5-4 victory, scoring a goal in the first period, then handing out the primary assist on the fourth goal and dishing out another primary helper on the game-winner in the third period.

Sanderson ended the series with three goals, three assists, seven shots on goal and a +5 plus/minus. He also blocked one shot each night for two in the series, while playing on a penalty kill that went 4-for-7 against Miami. On the season, he leads UND with 15 points, which are tops among NCHC blue liners, as are his six goals.

This is Sanderson’s second career NCHC Defenseman of the Week nod, also earning it for week 2 of this season.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Ryan Fanti, Minnesota Duluth
Junior Goaltender
Thunder Bay, Ont.

Fanti was perfect on the weekend, not allowing a single goal while backstopping Minnesota Duluth to a five-point series against Colorado College. He recorded shutouts both nights against CC, giving him three straight whitewashes after entering with no shutouts in his career. Fanti made 23 saves in Friday’s 5-0 victory, before making 26 more stops in Saturday’s 0-0 overtime tie, including three saves in the extra session. He also turned aside all three Tiger shootout attempts Saturday to secure the extra point in the NCHC standings for the Bulldogs.

Fanti totaled 49 saves while going 1-0-1 in the series, posting a perfect 1.000 save percentage and a 0.00 goals-against average. He’s the first UMD netminder to record back-to-back shutouts since Hunter Shepard blanked Miami twice on Jan. 18-19, 2019. The last time an NCHC goalie blanked an opponent back-to-back was Miami’s Ryan Larkin, who shut out Omaha twice in a row on Feb. 28-29, 2020.

On the season, Fanti is 6-1-1 with a .946 save percentage that ties for second nationally, while his 1.36 GAA is third in NCAA men’s hockey. His three whitewashes this season also tie for second in the country.

This is Fanti’s third career NCHC Goaltender of the Week nod, but first this season, after earning it twice last year.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Carter Mazur, Denver
Freshman Forward
Jackson, Mich.

Mazur had the best weekend of his young career, tallying four points in the series and a goal each night to help lead Denver to a sweep of Western Michigan. On Friday, he recorded a career-high three points in a 5-3 win over WMU for his second career multi-point game. The Detroit Red Wings prospect handed out primary assists on DU’s first and third goals, then scored the game-winning goal Friday for his first career game-winner. The next night, Mazur scored Denver’s first goal to tie the game at 1-1 in an eventual 5-2 victory.

Mazur finished the series with two goals, two assists and seven shots on goal, including five on Friday. He also posted a +4 plus/minus in the sweep, going +2 each night. On the season, he now has four goals and seven assists in 10 games.

This is Mazur’s first career NCHC weekly award.

OTHER NOMINEES:

Forward of the Week
Ashton Calder, Jr., UND
Noah Cates, Sr., UMD
Veeti Miettinen, So., SCSU

Defenseman of the Week
Sean Behrens, Fr., Denver
Ondrej Trejbal, Jr., SCSU

Goaltender of the Week
Magnus Chrona, Jr., Denver
Austin Roden, Jr., Omaha
Matt Vernon, Jr., CC

Rookie of the Week
Matteo Costantini, F, UND
Josh Luedtke, D, SCSU

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