Canisius senior forward Matt Hoover has been named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Month for January, league officials announced on Wednesday.
Hoover becomes the second Canisius player in as many months to earn the distinction as fellow senior and linemate Nick Hutchison was tabbed AHA Player of the Month in December.
A native of Brantford, Ontario, Hoover led Atlantic Hockey in scoring for the first month of the calendar year, racking up 13 points on a league-best seven goals and six assists in nine games, guiding Canisius to a 3-2-4 record that also featured a trio of 3-on-3/shootout victories.
Hoover began the month with two goals, including the game winner in the finale, and an assist in a home-and-home series versus longtime rival RIT (Jan. 3-4). He followed that effort with another three-point weekend (one goal, two assists) in a pair of comeback ties at Bentley (Jan. 10-11). The forward also made history in the opener against the Falcons, scoring the decisive goal in the shootout to give the Griffs their first victory in the new overtime format.
During Canisius’ second home-and-home series against the Tigers (Jan. 24-25), Hoover finished the weekend with three goals, highlighted by a two-goal performance in the series opener at LECOM Harborcenter on Jan. 24. He closed out the month by factoring into all three goals (one goal, two assists) in a 3-2 overtime victory at Army on the final day of the month.
For the season, Hoover leads Canisius in scoring with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists). The Hobey Baker Award candidate also sits tied for fourth in the Atlantic Hockey scoring race with 24 points while ranking in the top 10 in the league in both goals (11/T-6th) and assists (13/T-9th).
Since returning to action after the holiday break, Hoover is tied for the national lead in scoring along with Hutchison with 17 points in the Griffs’ last 12 contests.
