CALGARY – The Canada West conference announced its annual men's hockey postseason awards Thursday, and once again the University of Calgary Dinos program was well represented.
Jake Poole was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year, while
Carl Tetachuk and
Carl Stankowski teamed up to earn the Adam Kryczka Memorial Trophy for the second straight season.
Poole becomes Calgary's eighth Canada West Rookie of the Year and first since Chris Collins won the award back in 2014. Poole had an outstanding first season on the ice with the Dinos, racking up 17 goals on the year – by far the most by a rookie in Canada West and good for third overall in the league. The 6-foot-2 forward stepped his game up as the season went along, netting eight of his goals in the first 18 games before the winter break, before getting hot down the stretch with nine goals in his final eight games of the regular season – including finishing the year on a three-game scoring run.
A model of consistency, the McAuley, Man., product was one of just three players to appear in all 28 regular season games on the year. In addition to his 17 goals, the rookie also added nine assists on the year for 26 points – also by far the most by a rookie in the conference this season.
The highlight of the season came in the penultimate game of the year for Poole. With the Dinos in an incredibly tight race in the conference standings and every point proving crucial, Poole turned in a four-point performance in a lopsided win over Regina – netting his first collegiate hat trick while adding one assist to help the high-powered Dinos earn the No. 2 seed and a bye in this year's postseason.
For Tetachuk and Stankowski, this marks the second consecutive season the duo have won the award for the lowest goals-against average, marking the sixth time in program history the Dinos goaltenders have claimed this honour.
One year after being named the top goaltender in the conference as a rookie, Tetachuk made 15 starts in net as a second year, going 11-2-2 along the way. He racked up 359 saves and allowed just 34 goals for a 2.25 goals-against average. His three shutouts ranked him second in the conference and his .913 save percentage slotted him tied for fourth.
Stankowski had yet another strong season in net for Calgary. Now in his third season, the 2022 Canada West All-Rookie selection saw a career-high 13 starts on the year, making 272 saves and allowing 27 goals for a 2.08 GAA. The Dinos went 10-3 with Stankowski between the pipes this season, with his .910 save percentage good for sixth best in the league.
Poole, Tetachuk, Stankowski and the rest of the Dinos just wrapped up a two-game sweep of city rival Mount Royal in the Canada West semifinals this past weekend, clinching them a second consecutive trip to the U CUP National Championships. They will now travel to Vancouver for the Canada West Final against UBC, with the best-of-three series starting Friday at 8 p.m. MT.
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