UND teammates garner NCHC hardware for WMU sweep

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota junior goaltender Zane McIntyre and freshman forward Nick Schmaltz were recognized by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) today for their play in North Dakota’s sweep at Western Michigan last weekend.

McIntyre, who stopped 67 of 70 shots in the series, was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week, while Schmaltz, who had two assists in Friday’s 3-1 win, was named NCHC Rookie of the Week. It was the fourth such honor for McIntyre this season and the 10^th weekly conference honor of his career. Schmaltz was recognized for the first time in his collegiate career.

McIntyre was named the No. 1 star in Friday’s 3-1 win and the No. 2 star in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory as he led all NCHC goalies in goals against average (1.46) and save percentage (.957) on the weekend. The Thief River Falls, Minn., native stopped 33 of 34 shots on Friday and 34 of 36 shots on Saturday. He did not allow an even-strength goal all weekend as all three WMU goals in the series came with an extra attacker.

In 31 games this season, McIntyre is 22-6-3 with a 1.96 goals against average and .932 save percentage. He leads the NCHC in wins, minutes played (1837:32) and saves (822).

Schmaltz set up two key goals in UND’s 3-1 win on Friday that enabled UND to take over sole possession of first place in the NCHC. The Verona, Wis., native set up Drake Caggiula’s game-winning power-play goal that put UND up 2-0 at 12:49 of the second period, then assisted on Troy Stecher’s goal at 11:36 of the third period that made it 3-0.

Schmaltz ranks second in the NCHC rookie scoring race with 23 points (4 goals, 19 assists) in 27 games.

UND (22-6-3, 13-5-2-0 NCHC) hosts St. Cloud State (15-14-1, 10-9-1-0 NCHC) this weekend in its final series of the regular season.

UND’s 2014-15 NCHC Players of the Week
Oct. 20:     Mark MacMillan, Sr., D (Offensive), Paul LaDue, So., D (Defenseman)
Oct. 27:     Troy Stecher, So., D (Defenseman)
Nov. 17:     Drake Caggiula, Jr., F (Offensive)

Dec. 1:       Zane McIntyre, Jr., G (Goaltender)

Dec. 8         Jordan Schmaltz, Jr., D (Defenseman), Zane McIntyre, Jr., G (Goaltender), Tucker Poolman, Fr., D (Rookie)

Jan. 12:     Zane McIntyre, Jr., G (Goaltender)

Jan. 26:     Keaton Thompson, So., D (Defenseman)

Feb. 23:     Zane McIntyre, Jr., G (Goaltender), Nick Schmaltz, Fr., F (Rookie)