It’s the first week of the month, so that means we have both weekly and monthly NCAA conference awards to sift through. Two BCHL alums have grabbed monthly awards and another six took home weekly honours.
Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week
Luke Santerno – Senior – Bentley University (Trail Smoke Eaters/Cowichan Valley Capitals)
Santerno led Atlantic Hockey in scoring last week as his Bentley Falcons went 2-1-0 in three games. He had one goal and a league-leading seven assists last week, with multi-point efforts in all three games. Santerno had consecutive games with three assists, coming in wins over Holy Cross and Air Force.
The Smithers, B.C. native is a BCHL veteran, having played three seasons in the league, splitting time with Cowichan and Trail. His best year in the league came in 2016-17 when he led the Smokies in scoring with 64 points in 57 regular-season games.
ECAC Hockey Player of the Month
Odeen Tufto – Senior – Quinnipiac University (Vernon Vipers)
Tufto continues to pile up honours in his senior campaign, having most recently been nominated as a candidate for the Hobey Baker award. In January, he led the league with 11 points, averaging over a point per game in Quinnipiac’s nine contests. He has points in six straight games to start the month, closing out a 12-game point streak.
The Chaska, Minn. native played the 2015-16 season in Vernon where he led the team in goals (25), assists (40) and points (65).
This is the second time this year Tufto has been named conference Player of the Month, to go along with his two Player of the Week honours.
NCHC Goaltender of the Month
Adam Scheel – Junior – University of North Dakota (Penticton Vees)
Scheel started all eight games for North Dakota in January, backstopping UND to a 6-2-0 record with two shutouts. His six wins tied for the NCAA lead in January. Scheel led the conference with both a .929 save percentage and a 1.84 goals-against average during the month, while his 183 saves were the second-most in the NCHC in January.
The 21-year-old from Lakewood, Ohio had a 19-12-3 record in 2017-18 with Penticton and was named a Second-Team All-Star after finishing with the second-best goals-against average in the league with a mark of 2.08 and the fourth-highest save percentage at .927.
Scheel has also been named ECAC Goaltender of the Week twice this year. Earlier this week, it was announced that he was also on the Watch List for the Mike Richter Award for the NCAA’s top goaltender.
Hockey East Player of the Week
Jonny Evans – Junior – University of Connecticut (Powell River Kings)
Evans had a six-point weekend as the Huskies swept Merrimack. The Delta, B.C. native notched a four-goal game in Saturday’s 6-2 home win, becoming the first Husky in the Division I era with four or more goals in a game. His third-career three-goal game went down as a natural hat trick, as he scored a power-play goal as well as the first shorthanded goal of his career. On the season, he has 11 goals and nine assists for a career-high 20 points.
Evans played four full seasons with the Kings from 2014-2018, totaling 190 points in 194 regular-season games throughout his career. His best year came in 2016-17 when he put up 78 points to finish fifth in league scoring.
This is his second Player of the Week award this month.
Hockey East Rookie of the Week
Hudson Schandor – Freshman – University of Connecticut (Salmon Arm Silverbacks/Surrey Eagles)
Schandor had four points in a weekend sweep over Merrimack. Last Friday, the freshman forward scored his fourth goal of the season, the game-winning marker, in a 6-1 road win. On Saturday, he picked-up a career-high three assists in a 6-2 win
The North Vancouver, B.C. product played two seasons in Salmon Arm from 2017 to 2019 before being acquired by Surrey for 2019-20. Last season, Schandor was named the Eagles team captain and finished eighth in league scoring with 61 points in 56 games. He finished his three-year BCHL career with 114 points in 147 regular-season games.
Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week
Drew Bavaro – Freshman – Bentley University (Wenatchee Wild)
Bavaro had a breakout week for Bentley, notching points in all three games, including back-to-back two-point games against Air Force. He had one goal and four assists for five points on the week and added four blocked shots. Bavaro had an assist in Tuesday’s win over Holy Cross, a goal and an assist on the game-winner on Sunday and another two helpers on Monday to close out his week.
The 20-year-old freshman played one season with Wenatchee in 2019-20, leading the team in points by defencemen with 33 in 51 regular-season games.
NCHC Defenceman of the Week
Cooper Moore – Freshman – University of North Dakota (Chilliwack Chiefs)
Moore tied for the NCHC scoring lead among defencemen on the weekend with two points, while helping UND to a road split at Omaha. Both of his points came in North Dakota’s 6-2 victory over the Mavericks on Friday for his first-career multi-point game. The 2019 Detroit Red Wings draft pick scored his second goal of the season only 1:25 into the game to put UND ahead and added the primary assist on the Fighting Hawks’ fourth goal, which helped seal the win.
Moore played his lone season in the BCHL with Chilliwack last year and led the league in goals by a defenceman with 12 and tied for 13th in scoring from the blueline with 33 points in 55 games.
WCHA Goaltender of the Week
Zach Driscoll – Senior – Bemidji State University (Penticton Vees)
Driscoll backstopped a Beavers penalty-kill unit that held Minnesota State scoreless in five man-advantage attempts on Friday. The Apple Valley, Minn. native stopped 35 of 36 Maverick shots as the Beavers rolled to a 4-1 win. Driscoll’s .972 save percentage and 1.00 goals-against average led all WCHA netminders on the weekend.
The 23-year-old played the 2015-16 season in Penticton and led the BCHL in both save percentage (.933) and goals-against average (1.90), while recording five shutouts and finishing the year with a record of 21-4-0. His save percentage that year is tied for the fifth-best mark all-time for a single season, while his goals-against average is the seventh-lowest in BCHL history. Driscoll ended up winning the BCHL’s Top Goaltender award.
This is the second week in a row Driscoll has earned the award. Like Scheel, his name was also on the Mike Richter Award Watch List earlier this week.
