NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — The Merrimack College men's hockey team announced its annual end of season awards over the span of four days, which culminated Thursday afternoon with the final award revealed on social media.
Max Newton,
Mac Welsher,
Hugo Ollas and
Jordan Seyfert all earned awards for the Warriors from the previous season. Newton was tabbed the team's most valuable player, while Welsher was named the unsung hero of the year, Ollas was tabbed rookie of the year and Seyfert was honored with the Tim Burke award for perseverance, toughness and dedication to the program.
Newton compiled one of the most prolific offensive seasons for the school in the past 15 years. He had 38 points on the campaign thanks to 14 goals and 24 assists, which tied for the most points in a single season at Merrimack in the past 11 years. He was consistently one of the top face-off men in all of the NCAA and ended with a .601 success rate, which was the seventh-best in the nation among those eligible. He also netted four power play goals and blocked 23 shots.
Welsher turned into a steady presence in the Warrior lineup as a bottom-six forward. He ended the year with a .481 success rate at the face-off dot, had a +1 on-ice rating and tallied eight points on six goals and a pair of helpers. Three of those goals came in the same game, as he compiled a hat trick Feb. 4 against New Hampshire.
One of the top freshmen goalies in the whole country, Ollas established himself as a strong option between the pipes in 2021-22. He ended the season with a 10-6-0 mark with one shutout, a .920 save percentage and a 2.24 goals against average. His goals against average was the third-best in the NCAA among first year players and he won the starting job by the end of the year and was in goal for Merrimack's playoff win over Maine.
A story that had developed over the past two years, Seyfert worked to get back on the ice for the 2021-22 campaign and turned in a strong senior season. He overcame season-ending injuries during both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns and returned this past winter to score two goals and add six assists for eight points in 20 appearances. He was also given a national honor during the Frozen Four weekend, as he was awarded the 2022 Hockey Commissioners Association Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award.
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