10. Evan Weninger (Nebraska-Omaha/Saskatoon, Sask.)
Having now logged less than half of the Mavericks’ total crease time, Weninger does not have the most reliable sample size. With that said, the freshman goaltender hit the ice sprinting, and the performances he has given through 12 appearances leave little room for fault.
From a 40-save shutout at Minnesota State in his collegiate debut onward, Weninger has been the stingiest of UNO’s three netminders. In the 10 games he has finished, he has allowed more than two goals only once. His two unfinished outings are his only two losing decisions, and he left one of those due to an injury that has kept him out of action since Jan. 8.
9. Colt Conrad (Western Michigan/St. Alphonse, Man.)
Conrad did not officially enlist with the Broncos until the first week of September, but it was worth the painstaking pursuit. At the time of the young forward’s signing, head coach Andy Murray said on the program’s website, “He has good quickness, great vision and the ability to make things happen on the ice. He’s young but his work ethic and determination are high.”
Over the ensuing three months, Conrad channeled those qualities while flexing a great measure of versatility. He would see substantial action on both wings for his first 13 games, then graduated to third-line center, a rare feat for an 18-year-old rookie.
8. Bryn Chyzyk (North Dakota/Brandon, Man.)
Between the World Junior Championship and injuries, UND has missed two-thirds of its top line for the better part of its January slate. But the seasoned Chyzyk has seamlessly stepped in from his depth role to keep percolating the offensive droves.
Playing on the top line’s left wing for the post-New Year’s Alabama-Huntsville series, he bagged a goal each night. On his temporary return to the third unit, he chipped in two third-period assists to cement a split with Omaha. When summoned to stand in on the depleted top six once more, his turned in a three-point effort to repress Colorado College, 5-1.
7. Carson Soucy (Minnesota-Duluth/Irma, Alta.)
As his Hockey’s Future scouting report (fresh as of last year) opined, “Soucy is a good athlete with a tall and lanky frame. He has decent mobility and some ability to make plays with an offensive set of skills that have begun to emerge in his second season at Minnesota-Duluth.”
Not much has changed on the 6-foot-4 Minnesota Wild prospect’s outlook in his first year as an upperclassman. That is, of course, aside from the fact that he has bulked up from 191 to 210 pounds. A steady second-tier presence with Willie Raskob on the right side, Soucy and two other juniors will continue to lead a relatively young blue-line brigade through any remaining growing pains.
6. Danton Heinen (Denver/Langley, B.C.)
One series does not a season make, but this past weekend’s sweep of Minnesota-Duluth may mark a revival in Heinen’s stock. The pint-sized Boston Bruins draftee was brooking the dreaded sophomore slide before he turned in back-to-back two-point efforts.
Those four points game him a hand in four of Denver’s five goals over a pair of one-strike decisions against the feisty Bulldogs. The magnitude of each tally explains itself. Heinen polished off the two plays that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory on Friday. He opened Saturday’s scoring with a power-play assist, then pumped in a follow-up that would eventually stand as the 2-1 clincher.
Keeping that clutch aptitude with drier hands will only help to ensure the Pioneers’ ongoing second-half resurgence.
5. Adam Plant (Denver/Penticton, B.C.)
A top-four staple who regularly partners with Will Butcher, Plant is ninth on the NCHC’s shot-blocking leaderboard with 42. He logs action on both sides of the special-teams spectrum. And this season, he has been one of the more efficient Pioneers against the Cyclopean strike forces of Boston College, Boston University, Notre Dame and various league rivals.
In each installment of an early January sweep of Nebraska-Omaha, Plant picked up a plus-minus point. On both plays, he was on patrol against UNO’s lethal troika of Jake Guentzel, Austin Ortega and Fredrik Olofsson.
4. Joel Messner (Nebraska-Omaha/Lorette, Man.)
The sophomore defenseman has stuck on the first unit with senior Brian Cooper, functioning as the tandem’s stay-at-home brawn. Perhaps most remarkably, Messner has kept his slot and head coach Dean Blais’ trust while keeping himself out of the box. He has taken all of three minor penalties through 19 appearances this season.
For a player of Messner’s ilk, a quiet night all over the box score is an ideal night. He had just that kind of outing in last Saturday’s 7-3 debacle versus Miami. While three of the RedHawks lines ravaged the Mavs, freshman phenom Jack Roslovic and the rest of the second troika went pointless.
Messner’s partner was on the ice for the lone first-period goal. But neither of the two starting blueliners would be in action for any of the six second-period setbacks.
3. Troy Stecher (North Dakota/Richmond, B.C.)
Few rearguards can flip around an offensive threat as effectively as Stecher. To that point, he has assisted on three of North Dakota’s six shorthanded goals this season.
A multi-sport goaltender in his formative years (as he noted on the UND athletics YouTube channel), Stecher is intrepid in every scenario. His puckhandling proficiency adds sauce to that sundae, beginning with routine breakouts behind his own cage and continuing with setups en route to the opposing cage.
The fact that he has been held pointless in four full series this season is easy to let slide given his day job at the backend. But with his 5-14-19 production log on the year, who is really going to nitpick either way?
2. David Morley (St. Cloud State/Richmond Hills, Ont.)
A feature segment by Taylor Budge of Husky Productionsrevealed that Morley is officially the oldest active NCAA player. His habits and the rewards they reap speak to his maturity and impact on the Huskies.
St. Cloud’s second-line center never thinks twice about cutting full-steam down his natural lane on the attack. That plucky propensity is all the more impressive given his 5-foot-7, 165-pound structure and his history of multiple concussions that pushed off his freshman campaign.
Morley will bag the majority of his goals by entering a fray between the hash marks and within the dirty-nose vicinity. But besides connecting on an exact quarter of his 40 shots this season, he has selflessly flaunted his precision passing to the tune of 19 assists.
1. Drake Caggiula (North Dakota/Whitby, Ont.)
The query “Drake Caggiula highlight” delivers a dense variety of goals and hits (given and received) alike. The senior winger does not top the ultracompetitive Fighting Hawks scoring chart two years running by accident.
Caggiula concocted his latest visual gem with a shorthanded tally that broke a 1-1 tie, then held up as the clincher in a Jan. 2 tilt with Alabama-Huntsville. Opportunism, cerebral prowess, crafty stickhandling and maneuverability all coalesced to help him spark UND, both intangibly and on the board.
Unfortunately for the Ralph Engelstad Arena masses, Caggiula has since cost himself service time through his spirited style. He has been out of action after he, as the Grand Forks Herald’sBrad Elliott Schlossman phrased it, “sustained a shoulder injury throwing a body check against Nebraska Omaha” on Jan. 16.
But assuming he heals on schedule, he will resume delivering a durability and determination that few, if any, of his peers can match.
Source: klippershockey.com
