COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– Sophomore Shane Pinto is the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s Forward of the Month and junior Adam Scheel is the NCHC Goalie of the Month, announced Tuesday by league officials. The pair helped guide third-ranked North Dakota to a 6-2-0 January record with four of those wins on the road.
Pinto tied for the conference lead in goals (6) and points (10) in the month of January. He ended the month with four consecutive multi-point games to give him an NCAA-leading nine on the season. Pinto was a +7 over this most-recent multi-point-game stretch. The Franklin Square, N.Y., product currently paces the conference in goals (11) and points (23), ranking fourth nationally in both categories.
Scheel was just announced to the 2021 Mike Richter Award Watch List, an award given to the nation’s top goaltender. Scheel tied for the national lead in wins for the month of January with six, helping boost North Dakota to the front of the pack in the NCHC standings. Scheel posted a 6-2-0 record with league-leading totals of 1.84 GAA, .929 save percentage and a pair of shutouts.
On the season, Scheel has five wins over nationally-ranked opponents and his 12 wins for the year rank second in the NCAA. He sports a 1.99 goals against average and a .927 save percentage for the year with a sparkling 12-3-1 record in net. He’s added three shutouts to his resume this season and has allowed one goal or fewer in seven of his 16 starts, including five in the month of January alone.
North Dakota is in first place in the NCHC (38 points) with six games remaining in the regular season.
