Nolan Walker
I’ve never claimed to be as sharp as a skate blade, and Friday night I came across more evidence.
Newfoundland Growlers center Nolan Walker of Anchorage was playing in his 50th ECHL game of the season when I checked the ECHL app on my phone and saw he had scored his 12th goal of the season on the first shift of a road game against the Worcester Railers. But that wasn’t what captured my attention. In clicking on his season stats, I finally noticed the rookie had yet to be penalized all season. Seriously, underneath the column PIM (Penalties In Minutes) was a zero.
Naturally, when I checked back on the app a couple hours later, Walker had been tagged with a minor penalty for tripping in the third period. So, update that to two penalty minutes in 50 games. Little doubt Walker felt shame Friday.
Walker’s infraction wasn’t gonna stop me from dropping down the ‘ol ECHL rabbit hole, where I discovered Walker had played more games, 49, without getting whistled than any player on the 28-team circuit two notches below the NHL. As best as I could tell, the only player close to Walker’s gentlemanly status was forward Josh McKechney, currently of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, who in 47 games for three teams this season has also received just one minor penalty.
Another close case was Wichita Thunder defenseman Dominic Dockery with just seven penalty minutes in 54 games. Dockery didn’t get penalized in his first 28 games of the season, then clearly lost his mind as 2023 approached. He got tagged with a tripping penalty on Dec. 30, then picked up a fighting major on Dec. 31. (He fought former Alaska Aces forward Zach Pochiro of the Allen Americans – there’s always an Alaska connection, kids.) Since puttin’ on the foil, Dockery has gone 24 consecutive games without a penalty.
Walker’s clean play is not exactly an outlier campaign for him. In 135 college games at St. Cloud State, he accumulated just 50 penalty minutes.
Shoutout to Nolan Walker for notching his 3⃣0⃣th point in his 5⃣0⃣th pro game last night 👏#STANDonGUARD pic.twitter.com/Z3o4xc1Ixq
— Newfoundland Growlers (@NLGrowlers) March 4, 2023
With 12-18—30 totals in 50 games, Walker might get some consideration for the league’s Sportsmanship Award. But it usually takes stouter offensive numbers than Walker’s to take home the trophy. For instance, his teammate Zach O’Brien, whose primary assist on Walker’s goal was his 49th (Alaska!) helper of the season, won the Sportsmanship Award last season with 28-50—78 totals and just four penalty minutes in 53 games. O’Brien this season owns 20-49—69 totals in 43 games this season, with just eight penalty minutes.
A couple of Alaska Aces won the Sportsmanship Award with big scoring totals and low PIMs. Brian Swanson of Eagle River (he now lives in Anchorage) earned it with 24-46—70 totals and 12 penalty minutes in 2010-11 and Peter Sivak won it with 31-52—83 totals and 10 penalty minutes in 2013-14. Side note: The Aces won the Kelly Cup in both seasons.
So, Walker might have his work cut out. One thing is certain: ECHL penalty minute leader Nico Blachman and his 211 PIMs are out of Walker’s reach no matter how much Walker goons it up over the Growlers’ last 18 games of the regular season.
In other ECHL games Friday, former UAA forward Alec Butcher of Anchorage assisted on the game-tying goal and the insurance goal in the Reading Royals’ 7-5 win over Trois-Rivieres. That pushed his point streak to four games (2-3—5 in that span) and his season totals to 12-17—29 in 51 games.
Meanwhile, note that winger Kenny Hausinger of Anchorage, who played for ECHL Norfolk and Wichita this season and pocketed 3-13—16 totals in 37 combined games, has moved across the pond. He owns 1-1—2 totals in four games for Freiborg in the DEL2, Germany’s second division. Kenny’s brother Cam, a winger, is up on his second promotion to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League from ECHL Wheeling. Their brother Christian, a defenseman, plays for the Fife Flyers in the EIHL, Great Britain’s pro circuit.
In NCAA Division I men’s hockey Friday, No. 18-ranked UAF beat visiting Lindenwood, 4-1. The Nanooks (21-10-2) sit 13th in the Pairwise Rankings, which puts them in position to get an at-large berth to the 16-team NCAA tournament. They’ve won five straight games and are 10-1-0 in their last 11.
Lindenwood goaltender Trent Burnham of Eagle River snuffed a career-high 47 shots, the most saves against the Nanooks in more than six years. Burnham is 5-9-0 with a 4.01 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.
UAA (6-19-0) lost 5-0 to visiting Arizona State. That bagel cost Seawolves forward Max Helgeson his four-game point streak, which he had extended Tuesday with two goals in a 5-3 win at Long Island University – and, damn, that’s a helluva cross-country trip back home to entertain ASU three days later. Helgeson, with 6-11—17 totals in 25 NCAA games, is tied for first among Seawolves in goals and points, and he ranks second in assists.
Atlantic Hockey regular-season champ RIT (23-11-1) beat Mercyhurst 5-3 in the opener of a best-of-3 playoff series. Senior forward Caleb Moretz of Fairbanks assisted on the game-winning goal with 95 seconds left. He also won 11 of 17 face-offs. Moretz owns 5-10—15 totals in 27 games. Senior defenseman Calvon Boots of Fairbanks was plus-1 for RIT.
No. 19 Notre Dame won its Big Ten playoff opener 1-0 over No. 20 Michigan State. Sophomore center Hunter Strand of Anchorage won 14 of 21 draws and fired three shots for the Irish and junior defenseman Zach Plucinski of Eagle River had one shot.
In the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, sophomore forward Zach Krajnik of Eagle River furnished No. 13 Minnesota State Mankato (22-12-1) a goal in a 6-1 Game 1 win over Lake Superior State. He owns 3-6—9 totals in 30 games.
In women’s NCAA Division III, No. 10 Colby lost 4-3 to No. 6 Hamilton in the NESCAC semis. Tate Senden of Palmer had an assist and three shots for Colby (17-7-0) to boost her season totals to 9-13—22 in 24 games – those are career highs in all four categories.
Sophomore center and D-III national scoring leader Darci Matson of Wasilla and No. 15 Aurora were scheduled to play a NCHA semi against No. 14 St. Norbert and freshman standout Bailey Brunnhoelzl of Palmer on Friday. But a power outage postponed the game until Saturday.