COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Sixteen student-athletes from the Western Michigan hockey program have been named to the 2019-20 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Academic All-Conference team on Wednesday afternoon, with six also being named NCHC Distinguished Scholar Athletes.
 
Wade Allison (3.04), Kale Bennett (3.99), Ben Blacker (3.27), Austin Cain (3.55), Dawson DiPietro (3.30), Cole Gallant (3.32), Michael Joyaux (3.34), Jared Kucharek (3.86), Will Massey (3.45), Hugh McGing (3.22), Josh Passolt (3.49), Jamie Rome (3.15), Lukas Samuelsson (3.09), Mattias Samuelsson (3.20), Brett Van Os (3.88), Paul Washe (3.61) and Drew Worrad (3.78) all earned the honors. Bennett, Cain, Kucharek, Van Os, Washe and Worrad were all named NCHC Distinguished Scholar Athletes.
 
To be eligible for the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team, a student-athlete must compile a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or better while having completed at least one academic year at his current institution. Student-athletes that have accrued a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better are honored as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, in addition to Academic All-Conference. 
 
Allison, Bennett, Blacker, DiPietro, Massey and McGing all earned Academic All-Conference honors for the fourth time in their careers. Cain, Passolt, Lukas Samuelsson, Van Os, and Washe earned it for the third time, while Gallant, Joyaux, Kucharek, Rome, Mattias Samuelsson and Worrad are repeats from their freshman years. Bennett was one of just eight student-athletes in the NCHC to sport a GPA of 3.90 or higher.
 
Western Michigan's 16 honorees were the second-most in the league, while the Broncos also had the third-most distinguished scholars.
 
WMU's freshman class will be eligible for the honors after the end of the semester in April.
 
Western Michigan is in action this weekend hosting No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX or visiting www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.