COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Following a three-series weekend in conference play, three teams are represented among the KJ Branding National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Players of the Week for the week of Nov. 14-20, 2022. Garnering NCHC Week 8 honors presented by KJ Branding are Western Michigan junior Luke Grainger for Forward of the Week, St. Cloud State grad student Brendan Bushy for Defenseman of the Week, SCSU junior Dominic Basse for Goaltender of the Week and North Dakota forward Jackson Blake for Rookie of the Week.
 
This is Basse’s third career NCHC Goaltender of the Week nod, but first this season. He also has one Rookie of the Week honor from two seasons ago and was the NCHC Goalie of the Month this past October. These are the first career NCHC weekly awards for Grainger, Bushy and Blake.
 
FORWARD OF THE WEEK
Luke Grainger, Western Michigan
Junior Forward
Montreal, Quebec

Grainger helped Western Michigan to a split against Minnesota Duluth with a four-point weekend. On Friday, he scored his first career short-handed goal in the first period, which broke a 2-2 tie in an eventual 5-4 defeat. The next night, Grainger tied a season high with three points, including his first multi-goal game of the year. With WMU trailing 3-1, he set up a late second-period goal to start a comeback. He then scored the game-tying goal in the third period and sealed the 5-3 victory with an empty-net goal.

Grainger finished the weekend with three goals, an assist and five shots on goal, including three shots on Saturday. He was also +3 in the series. On the season, Grainger now has six goals and 15 points, which is fourth on the team.

DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK
Brendan Bushy, St. Cloud State
Grad Student Defenseman
Thief River Falls, Minn.

Bushy played a key role in leading St. Cloud State to a road sweep at Colorado College. He chipped in his first two points of the season on the offensive end, while helping limit the Tigers to only one goal all weekend. On Friday, Bushy scored his first goal of the season, which came short-handed from his own defensive end on a clearance that skipped past the netminder and into the goal. It was his first career short-handed goal and opened the scoring in a 3-1 win. The next night, Bushy again helped open the scoring, firing a shot from the point that was deflected in for a goal early in the first period.  His assist came on the game-winner, as he and the Huskies shut out CC, 5-0, in the series finale.

Bushy ended the series with a goal, an assist and four blocked shots, blocking two each night. He played a key role in helping SCSU go a perfect, 6-for-6 on the penalty kill against the Tigers, as well. Bushy also fired two shots on goal and was +3 on the weekend. The goal and assist were his first points of the 2022-23 campaign and only his third career goal.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Dominic Basse, St. Cloud State
Junior Goaltender
Alexandria, Va.
 
Basse was dominant in his only start of the weekend, shutting out his former team in Colorado College on Saturday, while backstopping St. Cloud State to a 5-0 win. He stopped all 36 shots he faced on Saturday, with the 36 saves a season high. Five of his saves came short-handed as he helped kill all four CC power plays in the win. Half of his 36 saves (18) came in the third period to close out the victory.
 
Basse improved to 6-1-0 on the season and now has two shutouts on the year and three for his career. With the whitewash, he lowered his season goals-against average to 1.29, which is second nationally. The Chicago Blackhawks draft pick also upped his season save percentage to .948, which leads the country, after a perfect 1.000 save percentage at CC on Saturday.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Jackson Blake, North Dakota
Freshman Forward
Eden Prairie, Minn.
 
Blake continued his strong start to his college career, racking up four points in a split with Miami. In Friday’s 7-1 victory, the Carolina Hurricanes draft pick notched his first collegiate multi-goal game. Blake struck on the power play to push UND’s lead to 3-0 and sealed the victory with the game’s final tally. A night later, he recorded another multi-point game to help UND erase a 3-0 deficit. He assisted on UND’s first goal of the game, before tallying the game-tying goal in the third period in an eventual, 4-3 defeat.
 
Blake finished the weekend with three goals, an assist and five shots on goal. He now has six multi-point games this season, while he’s tied for third on the team with 15 points, which ranks fifth nationally among all rookies. Blake is tied for second on UND with seven goals.
 
OTHER NOMINEES:
 
Forward of the Week
Matthew Barbolini, Jr., Miami
Jackson Blake, Fr., North Dakota
Zach Okabe, Sr., St. Cloud State
 
Defenseman of the Week
Jack Clement, Sr., Miami
Derek Daschke, Gr., Minnesota Duluth
Ryan Sidorski, Gr., North Dakota
 
Goaltender of the Week
Jakob Hellsten, So., North Dakota
 
Rookie of the Week
Ryan McAllister, F, Western Michigan
Blake Mesenburg, F, Miami
Ben Steeves, F, Minnesota Duluth
Ben Strinden, F, North Dakota