NAHL Well Represented In NCAA Hockey Tournament

While the Lone Star Brahmas’ season may be over, several franchise alumni had something to play for this past weekend during the 2014 NCAA Hockey Tournament leading to the Frozen Four. In fact, of the 16 teams that entered tournament play, all but two had NAHL alumni on the roster this season. In total there were 71 NAHL alumni who played for the 16 teams this season. Five of those players were alumni of the Texas Tornado / Lone Star Brahmas franchise; Andrew Blazek and David Rigatti with Robert Morris, Jimmy Murray with St Cloud State, Taylor Herndon with MN State Mankato and Nick Neville with University of Denver.

In the tournament, the NAHL was represented by 29 Forwards, 17 Defensemen and 4 Goalies. The 36 skaters had a total of 71 games played with 6G – 17A for 23 points to go along with 26 PIMs. They had three game winning goals and two assists on game winning goals. Forward Nic Dowd of St Cloud State who had one goal in two games played is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award given to the best nation’s best college hockey player each season.

The NAHL has turned out some outstanding netminders over the past several years and the four alumni in the tournament continued to build on that tradition. They played in a total of seven games posting a combined 3 – 2 – 1 record with a 1.98 GAA and a .927 SV%. Ferris State’s C. J. Motte picked up an assist and a 1 – 0 shutout against Colgate in one of his two starts. Motte was one of ten nominees for the Hobey Baker Award. UMASS Lowell’s Connor Hellebuyck entered the tournament as one of five finalists for the inaugural Mike Richter Award presented to college hockey’s best goalie.

When the Frozen Four kicks off at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on April 10^th, there will still be four NAHL grads fighting for a chance to hoist the National Championship Trophy. Jake Parenteau and Michael Shibrowski for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the North Dakota Fighting Sioux’s Connor Gaarder and Paul LaDue.

In game one of the Semifinals Boston College as the two seed will take on three seed Union College at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. That game will be followed by number one seed Minnesota facing off against North Dakota at 8:30 PM Eastern. Both Semifinals games will be available on ESPN2. The Championship Game scheduled for 7:30 PM Eastern will be broadcast on ESPN.

NAHL Alumni who saw ice time during the tournament with their position, school, former NAHL teams and results from tournament games.

Skaters

School / Name

Pos

NAHL Team

Minesota

Jake Parenteau

Alaska

Robert Morris

Andrew Blazek

Texas / Topeka

Matt Cope