Atlantic Hockey student-athletes continue to showcase the “student” part of that term with their excellent performance in the classroom. 207 student-athletes have been named to the 2016-17 Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team, two shy of the record 209 set last season. This year, however, saw 12 players named Student-Athletes of the Year, far exceeding the six who recorded perfect 4.0 GPAs in the 2015-16 academic year. Making up the 11 recipients were six freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors, and three seniors.
Three players make a return as Student-Athletes of the Year, Bryant Christian of AIC, Geoff Fortman of Canisius, and Alex Dagnal of Robert Morris, with Christian and Fortman being awarded the league’s top academic honor for a third straight season. Christian and Dagnal are one of four Student-Athletes of the Year from their respective institutions.
AIC’s other three award winners were Patrik Demel, Martin Mellberg, and Marc Dubeau. The Colonials who joined Dagnal were all freshmen, Michael Coyne, Luke Lynch, and Francis Marotte. Sacred Heart had two honorees in seniors Evan Jasper and Jordan Minello, and RIT’s Adam Brubacher was their lone recipient.
Five of the 11 member institutions placed at least 20 student-athletes on the 2016-17 All-Academic Team, with both IAC and Mercyhurst both having 23 representatives. Sacred Heart had 22 names on the list, followed by 21 from Robert Morris, and 20 from Bentley.
To qualify for the Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team, an individual must post a 3.0 GPA or better in all academic semesters in which his team was actively competing.
2016-17 Atlantic Hockey Student-Athletes of the Year
Bryant Christian, AIC#
Patrik Demel, AIC
Martin Mellberg, AIC
Marc Dubeau, AIC
Geoff Fortman, Canisius#
Adam Brubacher, RIT
Luke Lynch, Robert Morris
Alex Dagnal, Robert Morris*
Francis Marotte, Robert Morris
Michael Coyne, Robert Morris
Evan Jasper, Sacred Heart
Jordan Minello, Sacred Heart
# Three-time recipient
* Two-time recipient
2016-17 Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team (Number of honorees)
Air Force (15): Johnny Hrabovsky, A.J. Reid, Dylan Abood, Erik Baskin, Phil Boje, Jordan Himley, Jonathan Kopacka, Ben Kucera, Tyler Ledford, Billy Christopoulos, Evan Feno, Kyle Haak, Matt Koch, Matt Serratore, Pierce Pluemer.
AIC (23): Bryant Christian, Patrick Demel, Martin Mellberg, Marc Dubeau, Dominik Florian, Ryan Polin, Jared Pike, Johnny Mueller, Shawn McBride, Carson Grolla, Nicolas Luka, Joel Kocur, Zackarias Skog, Johno May, Justin Ketola, Dominic Racobaldo, Hugo Reinhardt, Kyle Stephan, Alex Murray, Andrew DeBrincat, Jackson Dudley, Austin Orszulak, Blake Christensen.
Army West Point (15): Conor Andrle, Blake Box, Cole Bruns, Nick DeCenzo, Bryan Gerstenfeld, Tipper Higgins, Taylor Maruya, Brendan McGuire, Tyler Pham, Joe Shecter, Alex Wilkinson, Clint Carlisle, Parker Gahagen, Ryan Nick, C.J. Reuschlein.
Bentley (20): Jake Ahlfren, Jayson Argue, Mike Berry, Connor Brassard, Jake Bryniarski, Chris Buchanan, Drew Callin, Cody DePourcq, Max French, Ryner Gorowsky, Tanner Jago, Jake Kauppila, Danny Kucerovy, Andrew McDonald, Ryan McMurphy, Brett Orr, Aidan Pelino, Matt Riggleman, Matt Sieckhaus, Alexey Solovyev.
Canisius (19): David Bennett, Ian Edmondson, Geoff Fortman, Cameron Heath, Matthew Hoover, Alex Jaeckle, Casey Jerry, Josh Kielich, Jimmy Mazza, Matt McLeod, Jeff Murray, David Parrottino, Jesse Pereira, Ryan Schmelzer, Jack Stander, Matt Stief, Daniel Urbani, Blake Weyrick, Charles Williams.
Holy Cross (18): Charlie Barrow, Paul Berrafato, Will Brophy, Mitch Collett, Kevin Darrar, Ryan Ferrill, T.J. Moore, Brett Mulcahy, Rommy Muratore, Tommy Nixon, Patrick O’Leary, Jack Parsons, Scott Pooley, Owen Powers, Matt Scarth, Logan Smith, Jack Surowiec, Anthony Tirabassi.
Mercyhurst 23): James Anderson, Derek Barach, Tommaso Bucci, Jonathan Charbonneau, Colin DeAugustine, Philippe Drouin, Joseph Duszak, Kyle Dutra, Kane Elliot, Tyler Enns, Stephen Hrehoriak, Joshua Lammon, Chris Makowski, Jonathan O’Hara, Richard Palmer, Patrick Piacentini, Brendan Riley, Jack Riley, Bryan Sienerth, Zach Todd, Michael Verboom, Brandon Wildung, Jeremy Wu.
Niagara (14): Derek Brown, Christian Cakebread, Noah Delmas, Nicholas Farmer, Keegan Harper, Tyler Hayes, Sean King, Niko Kovachis, Joseph Molinaro, Kevin Patterson, Samuel Rennaker, Benjamin Sokay, Kristopher Spriggs, Guillaume Therien.
Robert Morris (21): Alex Bentje, Michael Coyne, Alex Dagnal, Spencer Dorowicz, Elias Ghantous, Sean Giles, Matthew Graham, Kyle Horsman, Eric Israel, Kevin Lavoie, Michael Louria, Lyke Lynch, Rob Mann, Daniel Mantenuto, Francis Marotte, Timmy Moore, Andrew Pikul, Robert Powers, Ben Robillard, Alex Tonge, Brandon Watt.
RIT (17): Darren Brady, Erik Brown, Adam Brubacher, Caleb Cameron, Shawn Cameron, Abbott Girduckis, Gavin Lewis, Mark Logan, Brady Norrish, Chase Norrish, Jordan Peacock, Alex Perron-Fontaine, Myles Powell, Mike Rotolo, Christian Short, Todd Skirving, Brody Valette.
Sacred Heart (22): Jackson Barliant, Vito Bavaro, Jeff Carroll, Liam Clare, Mike Crocock, Justin Danforth, Zach De Concilys, Erlich Doerksen, Hunter Fargey, Coltyn Hansen Stephen Hladin, Evan Jasper, Kory Kennedy, Christian Lloyd, Nicholas Lotito, Max Luukko, Austin McIlmurray, Jordan Minello, Mitch Nylen, Nathan Perry, Ruslan Rakhmatov, Zachary Tsekos.
