St. Norbert College goaltender David Jacobson was named the 2014 Sid Watson Award winner, and the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association had 12 players on the men’s (five members) and women’s (seven members) sides honored as All-Americans on the Division II-III CCM American Hockey Coaches Association All-America Teams that were named Thursday night.
The NCHA dominated the two West Teams on the women’s side, with NCHA Player of the Year Michelle Greeneway of Lake Forest College, Laurel Hill of St. Norbert College and Alex Vallee of Adrian College making up half of the six-member top squad.
Vallee was a repeat honoree on the first team from last season, Greeneway was a second-team honoree a year ago and the accolades were the first of Hill’s career and also marked the first-ever time a Green Knight women’s player has been chosen.
The league had four of the six members of the Women’s CCM All-America Second Team, with Alex Blair (St. Scholastica), Alex Stensland (Lake Forest College), Kelsey Kusch (Adrian College) and Nina Waidacher (St. Scholastica) all named. Waidacher earns All-America status for the third straight season (first team in 2013, second team in 2012).
Jacobson is St. Norbert's fourth winner of the Sid Watson Award, given annually to the best player at the Division III level. Jacobson joins Rob Smillie (1999), Maris Ziedins (2003) and Kyle Jones (2008) as Sid Watson Award winners.
Jacobson, a Janesville, Wis., native, carries a 22-1-1 record into the NCAA Division III Frozen Four. Jacobson has seven shutouts this season and owns a 1.24 goals against average and .935 save percentage. Jacobson was a second-team All-American following his freshmen season in 2012.
He was joined Men’s CCM All-America First Team by teammate Joe Perry. St. Norbert ended up with an NCAA-high four players earning All-America accolades, with Marian Fiala and Mason Baptista members of the second team as well as Adrian College’s Duston Hebebrand.
The CCM Hockey All-American Ice Hockey Teams are sponsored by CCM Hockey and chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association.