University of Minnesota Duluth two-time All-Americanjunior defenseman Scott Perunovich, the reigning National Collegiate Hockey Conference Player of the Year, has signed a two-year entry level contract with the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues and thus will forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility. 

Perunovich, who was was originally drafted by the Blues in the second round (No. 45 overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft, paced the 2019-20 Bulldogs in scoring with 40 points -- the second highest total of any defenseman in the country. His 22 power play points and 34 assists also ranked first and second, respectively, among all NCAA skaters. A Top 10 Finalist for the 2019-20 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, Perunovich became the first, three-time All-NCHC first team honoree in league history this season and joined Jack Connolly (2010-12 with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association) as the only two Bulldogs to land all-conference first team honors three different seasons. He concluded his junior year as the NCHC's leading point getter in conference games (the first defenseman in league history to ever do so) enroute to securing three awards -- Player of the Year, Offensive Defenseman of the Year (for the third consecutive season) and Three Stars.  This past February, Perunovich also became the 58th member of the UMD Century Club -- the first Bulldog blueliner  to reach that milestone since three-time All-American Norm Maciver back in 1984-85. The Hibbing, Minn., product closed out 2019-20 the highest points per game average (0.91) of any active NCAA defenseman in the nation and the fifth-most points (105). Since UMD joined the NCAA I ranks in 1961-62, a defenseman has reigned as the team's scoring leader on just three occasions and Perunovich has now done it twice (2019-20 and 2017-18).

As a sophomore, Perunovich accomplished something only one other Bulldog had done previously -- attain All-American status in each of his first two collegiate season (goaltender Rick Kosti was the other, doing so in 1983-84 and 1984-85) as he was an All-American second team honoree. This all came one year after he delivered one of the most prolific seasons by a UMD freshmen ever. In addition to being the recipient of the Tim Taylor Award (Hockey Commissioner's Association National Rookie of the Year) Perunovich was also named a first team All-American -- just the second UMD newcomer to be so honored (joining center Murray Keogan, 1969-70). His other post-season citations included USCHO.com National Rookie of the Year, College Hockey News National Rookie of the Year, All-USCHO (first team) and College Hockey News All-Rookie Team. Perunovich also was voted the NCHC Rookie of the Year and NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year (both UMD program firsts) and became just the second first-year Bulldog to attain All-NCHC/WCHA first team acclaim (Keogan was the other -- with the WCHA in 1969-70). He topped the Bulldogs in scoring 36 points (a record for a first-year UMD blueliner and the most of any freshman pointman in the country) on 11 goals and a team-leading 25 assists in 42 games  while also going a +22 -- the best figure among all  2017-18 NCAA rookies.

Perunovich is the 20th Bulldog since 2007  to leave UMD early for the professional ranks, joining forwards Mason Raymond (with Vancouver in 2007), , Rob Bordson (Anaheim in 2010), Mike Connolly (San Jose in 2011), J.T. Brown (Tampa Bay in 2012), Caleb Herbert (Washington in 2014), Adam Johnson (Pittsburgh in 2017), Joey Anderson (New Jersey in 2018), Mikey Anderson (Los Angeles in 2019) and Riley Tufte (Dallas in 2019), defensemen Matt Niskanen (Dallas in 2007), Jason Garrison (Florida in 2008), Evan Oberg (Vancouver in 2009), Dylan Olsen (Chicago in 2010), Justin Faulk (Carolina in 2011), Chris Casto (Boston in 2013) and Neal Pionk (New York Rangers in 2017) and goaltenders Alex Stalock (San Jose in 2009), Kasimir Kaskisuo (Toronto in 2016) and Hunter Miska (Phoenix in 2017).