COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With the final full month of the 2023-24 season in the books, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) announced its March Players of the Month on Wednesday, which are the last monthly honors of the season. Frozen Four-bound Denver collected two March awards, while North Dakota and St. Cloud State are home to one honoree each:

• Player of the Month - Jackson Blake, So., F, North Dakota
• Goaltender of the Month - Matt Davis, Jr., Denver
• Co-Rookie of the Month - Zeev Buium, D, Denver  
• Co-Rookie of the Month - Tyson Gross, F, St. Cloud State

Blake repeats as NCHC Player of the Month after also winning it for February. He was a two-time Rookie of the Month last season. Buium bags his second Rookie of the Month honor this year (December) and was also NCHC and co-National Player of the Month in November. Davis and Gross each garnered their first career NCHC monthly award.
 
All four NCHC monthly honorees – Blake, Davis, Buium and Gross – are now eligible for Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) March National Player, Goaltender and Rookie of the Month, respectively. HCA March national monthly honors are scheduled to be announced tomorrow, Thursday, April 4.
 
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Jackson Blake, North Dakota
Sophomore Forward
Eden Prairie, Minn.
 
Blake closed out his sophomore season strong, leading the NCHC with 13 points and 1.63 points per game in March. The Carolina Hurricanes draft pick recorded points in all eight North Dakota games last month, including three multi-point games, stretching his point streak to 11 games to end the season. Blake’s nine assists tied for first in the NCHC in March, while his 1.13 assists per game were solely first. He also added four goals, all even strength, and finished +3 during the month.
 
Blake opened March with a three-point weekend in a sweep of then-No. 12 Western Michigan to clinch the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions. He had two assists in the opener on March 1 and scored a goal in the series finale, a 3-0 shutout. The NCHC Player and Forward of the Year doled out an assist in each game at Omaha in the regular-season finale March 8-9 to set the NCHC record with 37 points in conference play (24 games). In the NCHC Quarterfinals against Miami, Blake scored a goal each night and totaled five points in the sweep. He then closed out the month with two assists in the Frozen Faceoff semifinals on March 22 against No. 11 Omaha and tallied his team’s second goal in UND’s, 4-3, NCAA Tournament loss to No. 10 Michigan on March 29.
 
Blake finished the season with 60 points (22g/38a) in 40 games, tying the NCHC single-season scoring record first set by former UND standout Brock Boeser in 2015-16. The 22 goals are fifth in the NCHC, while the 38 assists tie for first with Denver’s Zeev Buium. Blake was selected a Hobey Baker Award Top-10 Finalist on March 20, along with his First-Team All-NCHC, NCHC Player and Forward of the Year nods.
 
GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
Matt Davis, Denver
Junior Goaltender
Calgary, Alta.
 
Davis elevated his game in March, backstopping the Pioneers to a 9-1-0 record while winning the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and the NCAA Springfield, Mass. Regional during the month. He finished March on a career-best seven-game winning streak and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Northeast Regional, allowing only two goals and making 70 saves in the two games to push DU through to the Frozen Four. Davis led the NCHC with a 1.89 goals-against average in March and tied for first with a .931 save percentage. His 268 saves (26.80 saves/game) were second in the conference during the month.
 
In Springfield, Davis made a career-high 46 saves in a 2-1 double-overtime win over No. 13 Massachusetts, host of the regional, to open the NCAA Tournament. He then followed it up two days later on March 30 with 24 saves in a 2-1 win over No. 12 Cornell in the regional final to earn All-Regional Team honors. Davis opened the postseason on March 15 recording his first official shutout of the season in the NCHC Quarterfinals with a 17-save whitewash against Minnesota Duluth. He made 28 more saves on 30 shots the next night, and dished out an assist, to advance DU to the Frozen Faceoff with a sweep. In Saint Paul, Davis compiled 36 saves to backstop Denver to the NCHC Tournament title, including 15 saves in the 4-1 championship game win over No. 11 Omaha on March 23.
 
Davis heads back to Saint Paul for the Frozen Four sporting a 21-5-3 record this year, having made 24 straight starts in net. He ranks third in the NCHC with both a .911 save percentage and 2.48 GAA on the season.
 
CO-ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Zeev Buium, Denver
Freshman Defenseman
San Diego, Calif.
 
Buium continued his stellar rookie season, helping lead the Pioneers to a Frozen Faceoff title and a fifth Frozen Four appearance in eight seasons last month. The projected NHL first round draft pick led all NCHC rookies with 11 points in 10 games in March, while his 1.10 points per game were second among rookies and tops among NCHC defensemen. Buium, who was named NCHC Rookie of the Year on March 21, scored two goals during the month and added nine assists to tie for the NCHC lead. His +15 plus/minus was tops among all NCHC skaters in March.
 
Buium recorded points in seven of 10 games, as DU went 9-1-0 in March, including three multi-point games. He was named to the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team after scoring two goals and tallying two assists at Xcel Energy Center. The 18-year-old recorded three points in the 5-4, semifinal win over then-No. 17 St. Cloud State on March 22, including his second goal being the overtime game-winner. He had an assist in the Frozen Faceoff championship game win over Omaha, as well. Buium dished out a pair of helpers on back-to-back nights in a sweep at St. Cloud State to start the month March 1-2, which earned him NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors.
 
In the NCAA Tournament, Buium blocked four shots in the Northeast Regional and added an assist on the game-winner against Cornell in the regional final on March 30. On the season, Buium’s 49 points are third in the NCHC and tops among both rookies and defensemen, while tying for first nationally among blueliners. He has 11 goals so far this year and 38 assists, which ties for third in the NCAA. Buium was a unanimous First-Team All-NCHC selection and tabbed NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year, along with Rookie of the Year this season.
 
CO-ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Tyson Gross, St. Cloud State
Freshman Forward
Calgary, Alta.
 
Gross had a breakout month to end his season, doubling his season point total with 10 points in March. Entering March with two goals all season, he scored five goals and added five assists in eight games, with his 10 points second among NCHC rookies. His 1.25 points per game were tops among NCHC freshmen and third among all skaters last month, while his five goals tied for third in the NCHC. Gross recorded points in six of eight games in March, including four multi-point games, with a goal in five different contests.
 
Gross had a hand in both SCSU goals to start the month March 1 in a loss to then-No. 5 Denver, scoring a goal and adding an assist. He then started a career-long four-game goal-scoring streak from March 8-16. Gross tallied a goal both nights and had three points to close the regular season at Minnesota Duluth on March 8-9 earning him NCHC Rookie of the Week honors. He then struck in each of the first two quarterfinal games against No. 14 Western Michigan and came up big again with two assists in the decisive, 5-1 Game 3 quarterfinal win over WMU on March 17 to help SCSU advance to the Frozen Faceoff. Gross totaled five points (2g/3a) in the playoff series win against the Broncos.
 
Along with his points, Gross produced a .549 (90-74) faceoff win percentage in the dot with 10-plus faceoff wins in six of eight games. His 90 faceoff wins and 11.25 faceoff wins per game both ranked fourth among NCHC skaters in March.
 
With his 10 points in March, Gross finished the season with seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points with a +2 plus/minus on the ice. He also posted a .512 mark (294-280) in the faceoff dot in his freshman campaign.
 
OTHER NOMINEES:
 
Player of the Month
Jack Devine, Jr., F, Denver
Noah Laba, So., F, Colorado College
Veeti Miettinen, Sr., F, St. Cloud State
Zach Urdahl, Jr., F, Omaha
 
Goaltender of the Month
Simon Latkoczy, So., Omaha
 
Rookie of the Month
Alex Bump, F, Western Michigan
Hobie Hedquist, G, North Dakota