St. Norbert’s Pung and Marian’s Vorva Pick Up
Final NCHA Men’s Hockey Weekly Honors
St. Norbert College senior Brad Pung (F - Grand Ledge, Mich.) is the NCHA Men’s Offensive Player of the Week and Marian University junior Hunter Vorva (G - Kalamazoo, Mich.) is the NCHA Men’s Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
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Pung earns NCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors after being a huge part in how St. Norbert claimed its 16th NCHA regular-season title in the last 23 years. The senior captain had a big weekend, posting six points (1G/5A) as the Green Knights swept past Finlandia to claim the Peters Cup championship. Pung started the series by assisting the game-winning goal in Friday’s 3-1 win. He topped that by going 1-4-5 in Saturday’s 8-1 victory, assisting the goals that made it 1-1, 2-1 and 3-1. He then scored to make it 5-1 and added another helper in the third period.
Vorva is the NCHA Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and the sixth time in his career after posting a 2-0 record, 1.47 goals-against average and .953 save percentage as the Sabres wrapped up second place in the division standings. He recorded 61 saves on the weekend, with 30 coming against St. Scholastica in Friday’s 3-1 win, including a dozen in the third period. Saturday, he made 31 more stops in the overtime win against Northland College, allowing just one goal on 10 power-play chances in the two contests. Vorva closed out the regular season as the NCHA leader for goals-against average (1.55) and save percentage (.945) in conference games.
2018-19 NCHA WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS
Dino Balsamo, Adrian
Balsamo tied Adrian with two goals as the Bulldogs wrapped up the No. 2 overall Harris Cup seed after defeating Concordia-Wisconsin, 5-3, and MSOE, 1-0, on the road. He broke a scoreless tie late in the game to edge the Raiders on the final day of the regular season. He led AC with nine shots on goal and has a personal-best 11 goals this season.
Rock Boynton, MSOE
Boynton gave up just two goals in 1-1 weekend in which the Raiders clinched a spot in the playoffs, highlighted by 39 saves against #9 Adrian.
Luke Davison, St. Norbert
Davison scored the game-winning goal in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie as St. Norbert topped Finlandia 3-1 on Friday. He also had an assist in the Green Knights’ 8-1 victory over the Lions on Saturday, which clinched St. Norbert’s 16th NCHA regular-season title in the last 23 years.
Kevin Entmaa, Adrian
Entmaa backstopped Adrian to a 2-0 record on the week and secure the No. 2 overall seed in the Harris Cup Playoffs, defeating Concordia-Wisconsin, 5-3, and MSOE, 1-0, both on the road. After trailing 2-0 in the first period, Adrian was kept in the game by Entmaa who made 12 saves--including one on a breakaway--and allowed one goal for the final 40 minutes. He followed up with a 24-save performance for his career-high fourth shutout this season and eighth in his career.
Sam Fuss, St. Scholastica
Fuss ended his rookie season with the Saints recording an assist in each of the final six games. He also scored against Lawrence on Saturday in a 5-4 CSS victory.
Garrett Gintoli, MSOE
Gintoli scored two goals, one on the power play and one shorthanded, Friday against Trine, which included registering the game-winner in 4-1 game that clinched playoff spot for MSOE.
Lawson MacDonald, Marian
MacDonald posted his first career multi-point game to lead Marian past Northland and earn home ice for the opening round of the Harris Cup.
Joe Sardina, Lake Forest
Sardina scored three times over the weekend as Lake Forest took three points in a home-and-home series with Aurora. He accounted for a pair of scores in Friday’s 5-5 tie on the road, including the final goal of the contest with just 49.5 seconds remaining in regulation. He added another tally in Saturday night’s 3-0 triumph for his 10th score of the season.