NCHC announces major award finalists
· Yahoo Sports
Mar. 4—GRAND FORKS — UND won the Penrose Cup as National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular-season champions on Friday night.
This week, some of the players who led the Fighting Hawks to the league title received recognition.
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Head coach Dane Jackson, defenseman Jake Livanavage, forward Dylan James, forward Cole Reschny, defenseman Bennett Zmolek and goaltender Jan Špunar are all up for major NCHC awards.
Livanavage, James and Špunar are finalists for multiple awards.
Winners will be announced March 11-19.
Jackson is a finalist for the Herb Brooks Coach of the Year Award in his first season at the helm. The other finalists are Denver's David Carle and Miami's Anthony Noreen.
Dave Hakstol earned the honor once. Jackson's predecessor, Brad Berry, won it four times during his 10 seasons at the helm.
Livanavage is a finalist for both the NCHC's Offensive Defenseman of the Year and Defensive Defenseman of the Year, a feat that has only been done a few times. Denver's Shai Buium was the last to be a finalist for both.
The other finalists for Offensive Defenseman of the Year are Denver's Eric Pohlkamp and Minnesota Duluth's Ty Hanson.
The finalists for Defensive Defenseman of the Year are Livanavage, UND senior captain Bennett Zmolek and Minnesota Duluth's Adam Kleber.
While UND has never had an Offensive Defenseman of the Year winner, it has had four Defensive Defenseman of the Years — Ethan Frisch (2022), Jacob Bernard-Docker (2021), Colton Poolman (2020) and Tucker Poolman (2017).
James is a finalist for Defensive Forward of the Year and the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award.
The other finalists for Defensive Forward of the Year are St. Cloud State's Tyson Gross and Western Michigan's Owen Michaels.
UND's previous Defensive Forward of the Year winners are Connor Ford (2022), Shane Pinto (2021) and Mark MacMillan (2015).
The other finalists for the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award are Minnesota Duluth's Riley Bodnarchuk and Denver's Kent Anderson.
Reschny and Špunar are two of the three finalists for NCHC Rookie of the Year. The other is Miami's David Deputy.
UND has had four NCHC Rookie of the Year winners — Sacha Boisvert (2025), Jackson Blake (2023), Pinto (2020) and Brock Boeser (2016).
Špunar also is a finalist for NCHC Goaltender of the Year alongside Western Michigan's Hampton Slukynsky of Warroad, Minn., and Miami's Matteo Drobac.
UND's Goaltender of the Year winners are Adam Scheel (2021) and Zane McIntyre (2015).
Western Michigan forward Grant Slukynsky of Warroad is a finalists for the Sportsmanship Award.