McKinley Hoff
Seven Alaskans – four women and three men – are headed to the NCAA Division III Championships this week.
More than half of those players – four – play for the Nazareth University women’s team, which seized the United Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament title, and an automatic bid to the 11-team national tournament, with Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Utica.
Senior goaltender McKinley Hoff of Anchorage propelled the Golden Flyers (22-5-1) into their third straight national tournament with her 32-save gem Saturday, which backstopped her team to its 15th straight victory. Hoff was named MVP of the tournament after being named the conference’s Goaltender of the Year and a First-Team selection.
The numbers make Hoff’s case: She’s 19-3-1, with a 0.96 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and seven shutouts.
Hoff is one of four Golden Flyers from Anchorage. The others are senior defenseman Sydney Swanson (0-6—6 and plus-20 in 28 games), sophomore forward Corsica Skibinski (7-6—13 and plus-18 in 28 games) and freshman forward Alexis Kindred (7-9—16 and plus-20 in 28 games.
Nazareth opens the tournament with a first-round game Wednesday at Hamilton College (15-6-6) in Clinton, N.Y. For what it’s worth, Hamilton beat visiting Nazareth 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 5 in the only meeting between the teams this season.
Cameron Knowlton
On the men’s side, senior forward Cameron Knowlton of Kenai helped SUNY-Cortland capture an automatic berth into the D-III tournament by furnishing the primary assist on the overtime dagger in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Plattsburgh State in the SUNYAC championship game.
Cortland (18-8-2) plays a first-round NCAA game Saturday at Plymouth State (23-2-2) in New Hampshire.
Knowlton owns 2-6—8 totals and a plus-4 rating in 17 games.
Meanwhile, twins Cameron and Cooper Morris of Anchorage are headed to the NCAAs with St. Norbert (22-6-0) of Wisconsin.
The Green Knights won the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association championship, and an automatic bid to nationals, with Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Adrian.
Cameron Morris, a freshman forward, owns 2-5—7 totals in 19 games. Cooper Morris, a freshman defenseman, has one assist in 28 games.
St. Norbert opens the 13-team national tournament Saturday by entertaining St. Olaf (14-11-3) in De Pere, Wis. St. Norbert beat St. Olaf 4-3 in its season opener on Oct. 27, with Cooper Morris assisting on the game-winning goal.
The Morris crew: Cam, Carter and Cooper. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report