NCHC Players of the Month Archive

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With the calendar flipped to March, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) revealed its Players of the Month for February with three different teams taking home honors. Denver junior forward Bobby Brink earned Player of the Month for February, while North Dakota senior Zach Driscoll gloved Goaltender of the Month and Omaha forward Ty Mueller garnered Rookie of the Month.

This is Brink’s first NCHC Player of the Month nod, but third career NCHC monthly award, twice earning Rookie of the Month as a freshman. These are the first NCHC monthly honors for both Driscoll and Mueller, with Driscoll the fifth different netminder to earn the honor in five months this season. Brink is the second Pioneer to pick up Player of the Month this year, joining senior forward Brett Stapley for December.

Player of the Month

Bobby Brink, Denver
Junior Forward
Minnetonka, Minn.

Brink was on fire during the month of February, racking up an NCHC-best 15 points in only eight games to lead the Pioneers to a 5-3-0 record in the month. The Philadelphia Flyers draft pick scored five goals in February, tying for second in the NCHC during the month, and led the conference with 10 assists. His 1.88 points-per-game were also tops in the NCHC, as were his 1.25 assists per game. He had at least a point in seven of eight games, as part of a career-long 14-game point streak, including four multi-point games in the month. Of Brink’s five goals, two came on the power play, one was short-handed and one was a game-winner.

Brink started the month strong with a career-high five points, including a career-best four assists, in an 8-5 win over St. Cloud State on Feb. 4. The four assists were the most by a DU player since March 2, 2018 (Troy Terry). The assistant captain then tacked on an assist in the finale to seal a 2-0 win. After a three-point weekend in a split with Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 11-12, Brink racked up three goals and five points in a split at Western Michigan to earn NCHC Forward of the Week honors. On Feb. 18, he tallied three points in a 4-1 win, including scoring the game-winning goal. The next night, Brink potted a pair of goals, including his first career short-handed goal, for his first multi-goal game of the season.

After being held pointless on Feb. 25 at Omaha, Brink saw his 14-game point streak (7g/21a), which started on Dec. 31, snapped. It was the longest point streak by a Pioneer since Danton Heinen in 2016. However, Brink began a new streak with an assist on the game-winning goal in the 5-2 finale with the Mavericks on Feb. 26 to close out the month.

On the season, Brink leads NCAA men’s hockey with both 50 points and 37 assists, while chipping in 13 goals. He is the first Pioneer to record 50 points in a campaign since Henrik Borgstrom had 52 in 2017-18, and his 37 assists are the most by a DU skater since Matt Carle had 42 in his Hobey Baker-winning campaign of 2005-06.

Brink is now eligible for Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) National Player of the Month, which will be announced on Thursday.

Goaltender of the Month

Zach Driscoll, North Dakota
Senior Goaltender
Apple Valley, Minn.

Driscoll continued his second-half turnaround, posting a 7-1-0 record in February, while playing every minute in net for the Fighting Hawks last month. His only loss came in overtime. He led the NCHC with both a .941 save percentage and a 1.74 goals-against average in February, allowing only six even-strength goals over the month and only 14 goals total in eight games. Driscoll ended the month on a six-game winning streak, with five of his seven wins in the month coming against top-20 opponents.

Driscoll opened February with 25 saves in a 4-1 win over then-No. 18 Omaha, before suffering his lone loss of the month in overtime the following night. He compiled 48 saves in a sweep of Colorado College on Feb. 11-12, including recording his second shutout of the season with 23 saves in a 4-0 win on Feb. 12. Driscoll stepped up his game even more on Feb. 18-19, backstopping UND to a sweep at then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, making a season-high 36 saves in a 4-3 win in the opener, before turning aside 33 more shots in a 3-2 win a night later. Driscoll earned NCHC Goaltender of the Week each of the first three weekends in February, becoming only the third NCHC netminder ever to win three straight such honors. He then wrapped up his month with 34 saves on Feb. 25 and 21 more stops on Feb. 26, giving up only three goals total in a sweep of then-No. 6 Western Michigan.

Driscoll compiled 224 saves in February, third-most in the NCHC during the month, topping 30 saves three times. His 28.00 saves per game during the month were second in the NCHC, while he allowed more than two goals in a game only twice. On the season, Driscoll improved his save percentage to .907 and lowered his GAA to 2.37, which is tied for third in the NCHC. He now sits 19-9-1 on the season.

Driscoll is now eligible for Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) National Goaltender of the Month, which will be announced on Thursday.

ROOKIE OF THE MONTH

Ty Mueller, Omaha
Freshman Forward
Cochrane, Alta.

Mueller doubled his season goal total in February and nearly doubled his point total, tallying four goals and five points in the month, with the four goals tops among all NCHC rookies. He tallied a goal and a point in half of his six games during the month, helping Omaha go 3-3-0 in those games. Mueller averaged 0.83 points per game in February and fired 11 shots on goal in the month. He also recorded the first two multi-point games of his career.

After seeing action in only one game each of the first two series in February, Mueller broke out against then-No. 8 St. Cloud State, recording two goals and three points in a sweep of SCSU. He scored a goal in the 5-2 win on Feb. 18, then added a goal and a primary assist the next night in a 5-1 win for his first collegiate multi-point game. Mueller pushed his point streak to three games with his first career multi-goal game in a 5-1 win over Denver on Feb. 25. He scored the game’s opening goal and third goal (on the power play), both in the first period, to lead Omaha to the upset win.

Mueller ended the month +1 with four blocked shots. On the season, he now has eight goals, after four in February, and 12 points in 20 games this year.

Mueller is now eligible for Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) National Rookie of the Month, which will be announced on Thursday.

The final NCHC Players of the Month this season will be a combined award for March and April and will be announced after the NCAA Men's Frozen Four.

OTHER NOMINEES:

Player of the Month
Ethan Frisch, Jr., D, UND
Chase Gresock, Sr., F, Miami
Jami Krannila, Jr., F, SCSU
Hunter McKown, So., F, CC
Jason Polin, Jr., F, WMU
Brandon Scanlin, Jr., D, Omaha

Goaltender of the Month
Ryan Fanti, Jr., UMD
Ludvig Persson, So., Miami

Rookie of the Month
Luke Bast, D, UND
Shai Buium, D, Denver
Max Sasson, F, WMU

--#NCHCHockey--