Four from NESCAC Earn AHCA Men's All-America Accolades
Courtesy AHCA
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The American Hockey Coaches Association announced the 2010 men's ice hockey All-America teams on Thursday afternoon with four skaters representing four different NESCAC teams being honored. Williams senior forward Alex Smigelski and Bowdoin junior defender Kyle Shearer-Hardy earned a spot on the First Team, while sophomores Scott Barchard of Tufts and Martin Drolet of Middlebury were selected on the Second Team.
Smigelski was chosen by the NESCAC coaches as the 2010 Player of the Year, the first Ephs player to earn the conference's top honor. Smigelski garnered a spot on the All-Conference First Team, as he was one of three individuals on the squad that received Second Team recognition last winter.
Smigelski’s final season in an Ephs’ sweater proved to be his best during his tenure, as the two-year captain tallied a league-leading 17 goals and added 11 assists for a team- and career-high 28 points through 24 games. He netted his first collegiate hat trick in a 6-2 win at St. Anselm on Jan. 22 and finished the contest with a personal-best four points. Two weeks later against St. Michael’s, Smigelski had another four-point performance when he had a hand in all four scores with two goals and two assists in the 4-1 Eph victory. Of his 17 markers, five came on the power play and two served as the game-winner. Smigelski is also a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon award, presented annually by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston to the best American-born college hockey player in Divisions II and III in New England.
Shearer-Hardy earned All-NESCAC First Team honors for the first time in his career in 2010. A member of the 2009 Second Team, Shearer-Hardy not only led the Polar Bears in offensive production while patrolling the blue line this season but also was the top scoring defenseman and ranked fourth among all conference skaters with a career-high 30 points (8-22-30). The dynamic defender excelled at special teams as well this season, notching 12 assists on the power play. Shearer-Hardy recorded at least one point in 11 of his last 12 appearances, scoring four goals and dishing out 13 assists.
Drolet was the only individual on the All-NESCAC First Team to repeat from last year. The 2009 NESCAC Rookie of the Year surpassed his freshman scoring totals with a conference-high 36 points on 15 goals and 21 assists. Twelve of his 36 points came on the power play (2-10-12), as he finished in a three-way tie for second among all league players in man-advantage point production. A threat to score every time he hit the ice, Drolet tied a personal record when he tallied two goals and three assists for five points in a 7-3 win over Wis.-Stout on Nov. 28. His longest scoring streak of the season lasted for eight games (8-12-20).
It was a record-setting year in the crease for Barchard, who eclipsed the Jumbos' program mark which he set last year for saves in a season with 986 stops and established a new single-game record for Tufts with an eye-popping 63 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory at St. Anselm on Dec. 5. Barchard, a member of the All-NESCAC First Team, saw a lot of rubber this winter, as he was called upon to make 40 or more saves in 16 out of Tufts’ 25 games and went 12-9-3 with a 2.74 goals against average and a .939 save percentage, a figure that currently puts him atop the nation’s netminders heading into the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Barchard is also up for consideration for the Concannon award.
