Three NESCAC players make D-III All-USCHO Teams

With contributions from Benet Pols 

USCHO 1st Team selection Ollie Koo

All week long United States College Hockey Online (USCHO) has released their end of the year D-III men's hockey awards. First was Player of the Year, then Coach of the Year and finally Rookie of the Year. No NESCAC players/coaches were selected for any of these honors.

Today, the USCHO released their All-USCHO First, Second, Third and Rookie Teams. Three NESCAC skaters made the list: Bowdoin's Ollie Koo (D/F, Jr.) on the First Team as a defender, Wesleyan's Keith Buehler (F, Jr.) on the Third Team and Hamilton's Marko Brelih (D, Fr.) on the Rookie Team. 

Koo, a junior for Greenwich, Connecticut, listed on the Bowdoin roster as a forward/defender, started his season with a bang. In the first five games he notched five goals and matched them with five assists. An injury in the 6th game against arch-rival Colby sidelined him for two games, but he bounced back to play out the season. Koo led the Polar Bears in scoring with 34 points (16-18-34) in 27 games. His 16 tallies came on only 45 shots, with his last goal of the season coming on a first period top shelf job against Utica in the NCAA quarterfinals that had Utica College’s broadcaster, Ray Biggs, beside himself. It gave the Polar Bears an early 1-0 lead in a game they would later lose, 4-2, on an empty net goal to end their season.

Koo’s early season scoring earned him NESCAC player of the week honors for November 26, 2012. Later in the season he, along with teammate Daniel Weineiger, was named a semi-finalist for the Joe Concannon award given annually to the best American born Div II/III collegiate men’s ice hockey player in New England.

USCHO 3rd Team Selection Keith Buehler

Koo, a fixture at the point during power plays, was often matched with fellow juniors Colin Downey and Harry Matteson to form a potent line of forwards during the middle portion of the season; Koo finished the season on the blue line starting the last three games at defense before moving up front again during a mid-game adjustment in the NESCAC quarterfinal against Hamilton.

The Cardinals Buehler had a monster statistical season, finishing fifth in the country in points (20-20-40) and leading the NESCAC in both overall and conference (16-15-31) scoring. Buehler's standout game came in January, when he netted six points (3-3-6) in an OT victory at Bowdoin to hand the Polar Bears - the last remaining unbeaten team in D-III men's hockey at the time - their first loss of the season. 

Buehler comes out of the 2013 awards season as the most decorated NESCAC pucker.The Wesleyan junior became the first Cardinal to ever win NESCAC Player of the Year, in addition to being named to the AHCA 2nd Team All-American Squad. Though he didn't win the trophies, the  5'10" forward from upstate New York was also named a finalist for both the Joe Concannon and Sid Watson Awards.

Marko Brelih

Brelih, a 6'1" offensive minded defenseman from Toronto, led the eighth place Continentals in points (7-13-20). The rookie blueliner's first collegiate goal came in OT of a big road victory against Trinity in November. He also had four points (1-3-4) in the Conts season saving victory against Conn College on 2/11. After Brelih scored in the second period, the Conts were trailing 3-2 heading into the final period. Hamilton would explode for an uncharacteristic 5 goals - three of them on helpers from Brelih - to defeat the Camels,7-3,  in what would prove to be a playoff-berth clinching victory.

 In addition to making the USCHO Rookie Team, Brelih was the only freshman selected to the NESCAC All-Conference squads, making the 2nd Team as a defender. Middlebury's Matt Silcoff (F, Fr.) took home NESCAC Rookie of the Year despite not making the 1st or 2nd team.

First Team
G – David Jacobson, St. Norbert
D – Ollie Koo, Bowdoin
D – Scott Farrell, Neumann
F – Paul Rodrigues, Oswego State
F – Luke Moodie, Oswego State
F – Kyle Stroh, St. Norbert

Second Team
G – Brandon Stephenson, Wisconsin-Eau Claire
D – Shaun Jameson, Wentworth
D – Jack Callahan, Wisconsin-Eau Claire
F – Joe Caveney, Fitchburg State
F – Branden Parkhouse, Becker
F – Zach Graham, Adrian

Third Team
G – Nick Broadwater, Hobart
D – Rob Florentino, Massachusetts-Boston
D – Jesse McConney, Oswego State
F – Keith Buehler, Wesleyan
F – Jordan Singer, Wisconsin-Eau Claire
F – Louie Educate, Utica

All-Rookie Team
G – Saxton Soley, St. John’s
D – Donny Olivieri, Utica
D – Marko Brelih, Hamilton
F – Shaquille Merasty, Adrian
F – Peter MacIntyre, Massachusetts-Boston
F – Kevin Emmerling, Plattsburgh State

Read more: http://www.uscho.com/2013/03/22/d-iii-all-uscho-teams-announced/#ixzz2OHnV5fY1