COLORADO SPRINGS -- The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) has added 67 freshman and first-year transfers to the Academic All-Conference Team, which was originally announced back in February. Freshman and first-year transfer student-athletes must complete one-year at their new institution to be eligible.
The Broncos had 14 players honored in February, and 11 more were added this afternoon. Among the names added were:
Barrett Brooks,
Cole Burtch,
Zak Galambos,
Will Hambley,
Kirk Laursen,
Lucas Matta,
Jack Perbix,
Cameron Rowe,
Samuel Sjolund,
Theo Thrun and
Ethan Wolthers. Of those 11, Brooks, Burtch, Hambley, Laursen, Matta, Sjolund, Thrun and Wolthers were NCHC Distinguished Scholar Athlete honorees.
In total, 174 NCHC student-athletes made the 2022-23 Academic All-Conference Team. Among the 174 Academic All-Conference honorees, 105 student-athletes also earned NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition this past season with at least a 3.5 GPA, including the 62 sophomores, juniors and seniors announced in February. The 105 total NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes are the second-most in NCHC history, trailing only the 109 in 2020-21.
Among freshmen and first-year transfers only, Western Michigan led the way with 11 newcomers on the Academic All-Conference Team, followed by 10 each from Minnesota Duluth and Omaha. Denver and Miami each placed eight newcomers on the Academic All-Conference Team, while all eight teams had at least six newcomers honored.
Overall in 2022-23, Colorado College was tops among NCHC Academic All-Conference honorees with 27, while North Dakota was right behind with 26 representatives on the team. Omaha and Western Michigan saw 25 student-athletes each land on the Academic All-NCHC squad, while Denver had 24 and Miami 22. All teams had at least 16 student-athletes earn Academic All-Conference distinction.
Looking at Distinguished Scholar-Athletes among freshmen and first-year transfers, Western Michigan also led the way in 2022-23 with eight Bronco newcomers garnering the honor. Miami and Minnesota Duluth each saw seven newcomers named Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, while Denver had six. Omaha and St. Cloud State each placed five newcomers on the Distinguished Scholar-Athletes list.
As a whole in 2022-23, Colorado College also paced NCHC teams with 17 Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, one more than Omaha's 16. North Dakota and Western Michigan each had 15 student-athletes named Distinguished Scholar-Athletes this past season, while all eight teams had at least nine Distinguished Scholar-Athletes on their roster in 2022-23.
