In this week’s NCAA Roundup, presented by Johnston Meier Insurance, we have both weekly and monthly award winners to recognize with six different BCHL alumni taking home honours.
Atlantic Hockey Forward of the Month & Forward of the Week
Carter Wilkie – Sophomore – Rochester Institute of Technology (Chilliwack Chiefs/West Kelowna Warriors)
Wilkie totaled a team-high nine points on four goals and five assists, while winning 84 faceoffs during the month of January. The Calgary, Alta. native logged three goals in RIT’s series at Holy Cross over the weekend, including back-to-back third-period tallies less than three minutes apart to clinch a 4-3 victory. Wilkie leads Atlantic Hockey and is tied for 12th in the NCAA with 31 points and also leads the conference and is tied for 13th nationally with 1.19 points per game. His 13 goals are the second-highest total in the conference and his 18 assists are fourth.
The 22-year-old forward played three seasons in the BCHL, split between the Chilliwack Chiefs and West Kelowna Warriors. Over his career, he notched 87 points in 127 regular-season games.
Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Month
Tommy Scarfone – Sophomore – Rochester Institute of Technology (Surrey Eagles)
Scarfone went 5-1-1 in seven January starts, including a pair of shutouts, while compiling a .930 save percentage and a 1.83 goal-against average. In the Montreal, Que. product’s six conference starts, he was 4-1-1 with a .926 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-against average with two shutouts. He was named the conference Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 9 after only allowing one goal in a two-game sweep at Bentley, stopping 58 of 59 shots in 3-0 and 3-1 wins. Scarfone also shutout visiting Mercyhurst 1-0 on Jan. 14, stopping all 18 shots he faced.
The 22-year-old played for the Surrey Eagles for two seasons from 2019 to 2021. He finished his BCHL stint with a career save percentage of .922 and a goals-against average of 2.50. He backstopped the 2020-21 Eagles team to first place in the Coquitlam Pod.
Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week
Hunter Sansbury – Sophomore- Sacred Heart University (Salmon Arm Silverbacks)
Sansbury tallied two points on a goal and an assist and blocked seven shots as Sacred Heart split a pair on the way to a third-place finish at the Connecticut Ice tournament over the weekend. In Saturday’s 4-3 win over Yale, the Lomita, Calif. native handed out a second-period assist and scored the eventual game-winner early in the third. He finished the weekend four shots on goal.
The 22-year-old spent two seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, totaling 37 points in 74 career games.
CCHA Defenceman of the Month
Akito Hirose – Junior – Minnesota State University (Salmon Arm Silverbacks)
Hirose helped Minnesota State to a perfect 8-0-0 January, leading the team in points (10), assists (seven), game-winning goals (two) and plus/minus (plus-9). Finishing the month on a six-game point streak, he scored all three of his goals on the season in consecutive games, leading the Mavericks to a win at Arizona State and a sweep of Lake Superior State.
Hirose played four seasons in the BCHL, all with the Silverbacks, suiting up for a total of 208 regular-season games for the team. During his final year in 2019-20, he led all blueliners in scoring with 51 points in 57 games and was named the league’s Top Defenceman.
CCHA Forward of the Week
David Silye – Junior – Minnesota State University (Nanaimo Clippers/Penticton Vees)
Silye led the Mavericks to a road sweep of Ferris State last weekend, recording four points on three goals and one assist. He scored two goals in a 4-1 victory on Friday night in Big Rapids, Mich., before collecting a goal and an assist in a 5-1 triumph on Saturday. He was plus-1 for the weekend with four shots, while winning 69.0 per cent (20-of-29) of faceoffs.
The Arnprior, Ont. native played in the BCHL for four seasons from 2016 to 2020. He spent the first two years with Nanaimo before joining Penticton prior to the 2018-19 campaign. In his two years with the Vees, he collected 122 points in 112 games and was named team captain in his final year.
ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week
Yaniv Perets – Junior – Quinnipiac University (Penticton Vees)
Perets went 2-0 last week, making 42 saves against Connecticut and Sacred Heart to bring home a second-straight CT Ice championship. On Friday, he made 17 saves against the Pioneers to earn his fifth clean sheet of the season, then followed it up with a 25-save performance against the Huskies to earn the 4-3 win and the tournament title. Perets finished the weekend with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.
The 22-year-old played the 2019-20 season with the Penticton Vees, posting the third-best goals-against average in the league at 2.19, the second most shutouts with five and a .918 save percentage.
