Adrian College’s Spodniak/Murphy and Trine University’s Kozma
Selected for Men’s Hockey Weekly Awards
Adrian College senior Matus Spodniak (F - Kosice, Slovakia) and sophomore teammate Riley Murphy (F - Rockford, Michigan) are the Co-NCHA Men’s Offensive Players of the Week and Trine University freshman Kyle Kozma (G - Vaughan, Ontario) is the NCHA Men’s Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
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Spodniak and Murphy share NCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors after playing the lead role in the highly-anticipated series between No. 3 Adrian and No. 7 Aurora over the weekend. The Bulldogs made quite a statement with wins of 8-4 and 8-2, leapfrogging the Spartans into first place. Spodniak had another outstanding weekend on the ice, finishing with seven points on three goals and four assists in the two-game sweep. He totaled 11 shots and finished +2 with a pair of power play goals - upping his league-leading point total to 44 (22G/22A). Murphy finished the weekend with five goals for the Bulldogs in the two games over Aurora. He finished Friday night with a pair of goals before recording a hat trick on Saturday. Two of his goals came on the power play while one game short-handed. On the weekend, Murphy only took eight shots but found the back of the net on five of them.
Kozma is the NCHA Defensive Player of the Week after backstopping Trine to a pair of victories over Lake Forest to help strengthen the Thunder’s effort to secure home ice in the first round of the postseason. Kozma earned the pair of starts and then held the Foresters to just one goal on the weekend, compiling a 0.50 GAA and .982 save percentage (55 of 56). On Friday, he recorded 22 saves and allowed just one goal in the 2-1 decision, before posting a shutout on Saturday behind 33 more saves.
2022-23 NCHA WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS
Liam Fraser, St. Norbert
Fraser had a big weekend for St. Norbert as the Green Knights gained a key sweep of MSOE. Fraser had four goals and two assists for six points in the series. Fraser scored one goal and one assist in Friday’s 5-2 win. He then figured in on all four St. Norbert goals in a 4-3 win Saturday, registering a natural hat trick and then assisting on the eventual game-winning goal.
Garrett Hallford, Trine
Hallford finished the weekend with six points in the team’s pair of wins over Lake Forest. On Friday, Hallford recorded the game-winning goal, securing a 2-1 come-from-behind victory. Then on Saturday Hallford was a huge part of the team’s 7-0 victory over the Foresters, he finished the game with a goal and four assists, a new single-game record for the program.
Jaymes Knee, Marian
Knee had a three-point weekend to lead Marian to a five-point weekend against Finlandia. He had an assist in the opener before posting his third multi-goal game of the season in the finale. His second goal was an overtime winner for his fifth game-winning goal of the season.
Zach Lodes, Lawrence
Lodes had a four-goal game and a five-goal weekend in Lawrence’s series with Concordia Wisconsin. Lodes scored four times, including the final three goals of the game, in Lawrence’s 5-3 win over the Falcons on Saturday. Lodes had scored his first goal of the game early in the third period to tie the game at 2-2. After Concordia scored to go up 3-2, Lodes scored the next two goals to give the Vikings the lead and added an empty-net goal to seal the victory. It was Lodes second game this season with at least four goals. He scored a school-record five goals earlier this season at Gustavus Adolphus. In the first game of the series, Lodes scored the first goal of the contest in a loss at Concordia.
Colby Muise, Marian
Muise earned his ninth win of the season leading Marian past Finlandia 5-1. Muise made 16 saves allowing just one goal for a .941 save percentage.
Grant Newcomer, Concordia Wisconsin
Newcomer led the Falcons with four points on the weekend. He scored the game-winning goal against Lawrence on Friday night.
Gabe Rosek, Concordia Wisconsin
Rosek posted a .929 save percentage on the weekend. He notched 65 saves and picked up a win on Friday against Lawrence.
Nic Tallarico, Adrian
Tallarico started game two of the two-game series with Aurora University where the Bulldogs came away with an 8-2 victory. On the afternoon, he totaled 23 saves for Adrian and added an assist on the day. He finished with a .920 save percentage and extended Adrian’s first place lead in the conference.
Twenty-five years of NCHA men’s hockey.
It captures so many emotions that it’s difficult to wrap your head around.
All the moments … the National Championships, the standout players, the dramatic finishes, the thrilling upsets, the league championships, the Harris Cup highlights, the leaders ...
During this historic 25th season, the NCHA will celebrate everything that has made the conference special. Players are now wearing commemorative jersey patches. In addition, the weekly release will include a section highlighting historical events from 1998 to the most recent action.
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*March 2021:
Marian University runs the table in the postseason to claim the Harris Cup Championship during the unique 2020-21 season that was altered due to COVID. The Sabres won their first title in 19 years, with it all coming together over the final month of the season, including a perfect 5-0 ledger over the final 10 days in the playoffs – all at home – that saw them outscore the opposition 21-9 in the postseason – including 7-2 against MSOE in the championship round (W, 3-1/W, 4-1 in finale).
*February 2002:
Marian becomes first-ever league school to go unbeaten against conference opponents over the course of one season, posting a record of 16-0 regular season and 2-0 in postseason, including a 7-3 victory over Minnesota-Crookston in the MCHA Championship game.
*March 2018:
St. Norbert College claimed its fifth NCAA Division III national championship with a hard-fought 3-2 double-overtime win over Salve Regina University at Herb Brooks Arena. Brad Pung scored at 9:42 of double overtime to lift the Green Knights to their fifth national title in 11 seasons.