THE month of March means plenty of playoff action in many leagues and the U.S. collegiate hockey ranks are no exception.
Two local athletes are already among those heading to their respective American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournaments.
Matt Hamilton of Thunder Bay is a junior forward at Utah State University who will be on the way to San Jose, Calif., March 15-19 for the ACHA nationals.
Hamilton had a goal and three assists in a victory over Northern Arizona in their west regional helping his school make their first appearance on the national stage in seven years.
The USU Aggies will be among the field of 16 teams that will compete over the course of the five-day event. Utah St. will open up against the University of Maryland in their first contest.
Meanwhile the ACHA women’s tourney will feature eight schools vying for the title, which goes March 10-13 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
One of those teams will be Robert Morris University who boasts Thunder Bay’s Hope Fullum on their roster.
The senior, who plays defence serves, as co-captain for RMU and has amassed over 100 points in her four-year career while earning multiple ACHA awards.
The Golden Eagles begin tournament play Thursday vs. the University of Massachusetts.
ALL-STAR: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association women’s conference doled out their awards for the 2010-11 season and Haley Irwin was among those who were recognized.
The standout junior forward at Minnesota-Duluth was named a second team WCHA all-star and also earned a berth on the conference all-academic team for her efforts in the classroom.
Irwin was also named a top 10 finalist for the best player in all of NCAA women’s hockey.
She was however not on the ice, due to injury, as UMD fell 4-2 to rival Minnesota in semi final play in the league tournament over the weekend.
The defending NCAA champions will still earn an at large berth in the women’s national tournament field, which will get underway this week.
The Olympic gold medalist is also expected to be named today to the Canadian National Women’s team selection camp roster who will vie for spots with the contingent that will represent Canada at the 2011 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship April 16-25 in Switzerland.
NCHA UPDATE: Two players from the city took to the ice during the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association championship games staged over the weekend.
On the women’s side, Lakehead product Lauren Turner was part of the Adrian College squad that shocked previously unbeaten Wisconsin-River Falls in the title contest Saturday rallying from a three-goal deficit to win 4-3 in overtime.
An alumna of the Thunder Bay Queens program, Turner is a freshman at Adrian.
The news wasn’t as fortunate in the NCHA men’s final as Wisconsin-Superior, led by freshman goaltender Drew Strandberg, was edged 2-1 by top ranked St. Norbert in the championship game Saturday.
Strandberg did however earn first team laurels on the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference all-conference squad.
This comes on the heels of him previously earning an NCHA all-conference selection.
Also off the ice, Melissa Calder of Fort Frances and Stephanie Desmeules of Red Lake were both named to the NCHA all-academic team for the second straight year.
Both are seniors majoring in psychology at Marian University in Wisconsin.