Photo credits: Kelly Shea (Christensen), Russ Hons (Scheel)
Three BCHL alums were recognized with weekly honours in their respective NCAA conferences and several more freshmen scored their first goals.
Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week
Blake Christensen – Senior – American International College (Wenatchee Wild)
Christensen had a strong week for AIC as the Yellow Jackets split with the Lakers. He scored once and set up two other goals in Friday’s win and then dished out another assist on Saturday. In the process, he broke AIC’s career record for assists with 58.
The Rochester Hills, Mich. native played the 2015-16 season in Wenatchee where he had 36 points in 52 regular-season games and another eight in 10 playoff contests.
Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week
Trevin Kozlowski – Junior – Army (Salmon Arm Silverbacks)
Kozlowski backstopped Army to their first conference sweep of the season. He posted the best save percentage and goals-against average of any goalie who started two games in the league last weekend with .963 and 1.00 marks respectively. Kozlowski allowed one goal in each game and has been a key factor in Army’s penalty kill success, which leads the nation at 97.5 per cent.
The 22-year-old from Santa Clarita, Calif. spent the 2016-17 season with the Silverbacks, winning nine games and earning one shutout.
NCHC Goalie of the Week
Scheel backstopped North Dakota to a tie and a win at Denver by allowing only two goals all weekend, marking UND’s first series win at DU since 2003. On Friday, he made a season-high 30 saves in a 1-1 tie and was named second star of the game. The next night, Scheel stopped 27 shots in a 4-1 win, again allowing only a single goal. Scheel was named first star and was credited with his second career assist on the game-winning goal. Scheel finished the series with a .966 save percentage, totaling 57 saves on 59 shots, and a 0.96 goals-against average, both of which led the NCHC last weekend. Going 1-0-1 at DU, he stretched his unbeaten streak to seven games (8-1-2 on the season) and has allowed one or fewer goals in eight of 11 starts this season. Scheel dropped his season GAA to 1.53 and upped his save percentage on the year to .924, both of which lead the NCHC in 2019-20.
Scheel 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.
On top of his conference award, Scheel was also named the NCAA’s Second Star of the Week.
NCAA Milestones
A handful more freshmen hit the first NCAA goal milestone last week.
- Jeremie Bucheler – Northeastern (Victoria Grizzlies) – Nov. 16 vs. Providence
- Niko Esposito-Selivanov – Lake Superior State (Cowichan Valley Capitals) – Nov. 15 vs. Michigan Tech
- Jesse Lansdell – Notre Dame (Vernon Vipers) – Nov. 16 vs. Wisconsin
- Kevin Wall – Penn State (Chilliwack Chiefs) – Nov. 15 vs. Minnesota
- Carver Watson – Mercyhurst (Vernon Vipers) – Nov. 16 vs. AIC
