The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey program had another solid showing this season when it came to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's All-Conference teams. A quartet of Bulldogs were honored as All-NCHC athletes in the 2020-21 season.
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Senior forward
Nick Swaney was named to the All-NCHC first team, junior forward
Noah Cates was a second team honoree and junior forward
Cole Koepke and
Wyatt Kaiser were named as honorable mentions.
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Swaney had a fantastic year in the 2020-21 shortend season. He led the team in goals (13), assists (14), points (27), power play assists (8) and powerplay points (11) while tying for the lead in both hat tricks (1) and short-handed goals (1). He also scored three power play goals, had a game winner, finished with a +9 rating, took 102 shots and blocked eight shots on the season. He finished second in the NCHC in goals (T-10th in the NCAA), T-6th in the NCHC in assists, T-2nd in the NCHC in points (T-14th in the NCAA), T-5th in the NCHC in power play assists (T-16th in the NCAA), T-2nd in the NCHC for power play points (T-11th in the NCAA), was one of just 29 players in the NCAA to record at least one hat trick and was one of two players in the NCHC to finish with triple digit shots on goal and one of six to do it in the NCAA. Swaney was tabbed as the NCHC's Forward of the Week on Mar. 1, when he recorded his 100th career point in UMD's 5-1 win over St. Cloud State. He is currently T-10th among active players in career points. He also served at an assistant captain in senior year with UMD.
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N. Cates captained the ship this season for the Bulldogs. While doing so, Cates record 17 points on the season (5g, 12a). He finished fourth in that regard. While playing on the top line this season, Cates was able to score three tallies on the man advantage, dish out four assists on the power play, score two game winners, finish with a +8 rating, take 42 shots on goal, finish with an 11.9 shooting percentage, had a 48.0% in the faceoff circle and had 18 blocks on the season. His 18 blocks were first among forwards at UMD and 7th in the NCHC among forwards. He also won 212 faceoffs on the season, sitting 6th in the NCHC.
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Koepke served as an assistant captain as well this season and had a very productive junior go around. In his third year, Koepke lead the team in shots (115), finished second on the team in goals (12), third on the team in points (19), T-2nd in hat tricks (1), T-2nd in game winners (2), finished with a 10.4 shooting percentage, a +3 rating and five blocks on the year. In the NCHC, Koepke led in shots (4th in the NCAA), finished T-3rd in goals (T-14th in the NCAA), T-11th in points, was one of just 29 players in the NCAA to record at least one hat trick and was one of two players in the NCHC to finish with triple digit shots on goal and one of six to do it in the NCAA.
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In his first season, Kaiser showed that he was ready to play in one of the top leagues that the NCAA has to offer. In his first year with the Bulldogs, Kaiser played in every game (24). He was able to muster up nine assists on the season (six coming on the man advantage), take 44 shots, finish the year with a +2 +/- rating and block 30 shots (second among freshman in the NCHC). He was named NCHC Rookie of the Week on Feb. 1 of this season as well.