ST. PAUL, MInn. -- University of North Dakota junior center Rhett Gardner was named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's (NCHC) Defensive Forward of the Year tonight at the league's annual awards celebration at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
Gardner, a native of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, has seven goals and 13 points in 31 games this season and has won a career-best 57.9 percent of his faceoffs to rank sixth in the NCHC. He also ranks third in faceoff wins (421) despite having missed six games due to injury. He is also a mainstay on a North Dakota penalty-killing unit that enters the NCHC Frozen Faceoff ranked third in the conference.
Gardner became the second North Dakota player to win the award, joining 2014-15 recipient Mark MacMillan. A fourth-round draft pick of the Dallas Stars in 2016, Gardner had five goals and 13 assist in 18 conference games and finished third in faceoff wins (253) and fifth in faceoff percentage (.578) despite the six games missed.
Gardner's teammates, defensemen Christian Wolanin (Jr., Detroit, Mich.) and forward Grant Mismash (Fr., Edina, Minn.), were also recognized on Thursday night after earning conference honors earlier this month. Wolanin was named to the All-NCC Second Team and was also a finalist for NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year, while Mismash was named to the All-NCHC Rookie Team.
The Fighting Hawks face top-seeded St. Cloud State on Friday afternoon in the first of two NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals. The game begins at 4:08 p.m. Central at Xcel Energy Center and will be telecast live on CBS Sports Network.
