[media-credit name=”Justin Cait” align=”alignright” width=”256″][/media-credit]

Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey held its annual end-of-the-season banquet on Saturday night as head coach Rand Pecknold announced award winners and captains for the 2017-18 season.

Sophomore Chase Priskie was named the lone captain for next season, while junior Kevin McKernan earned the lone ‘A’ as assistant captain. Another assistant captain will most likely be named in the future, particularly during the summer, once training for the season is in full swing.

While Pecknold is usually keen on having two-captains, Priskie joins a select group to be the only captain on Quinnipiac. Soren Jonzzon last held that honor in 2015-16.

Priskie is also just the eighth rising-junior to be named captain in program history and first since Scott Zurevinski who wore the ‘C’ in 2010-11.

On top of announcing the captaincy, five awards were given at the banquet for the 2016-17 season including Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Coaches Award, 7th Player Award and Academic Award.

Senior Tim Clifton was voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates and coaching staff. Clifton, who was unable to attend since he is with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, scored a team-leading 13 goals this season as he picked up 25 points.

Freshman Alex Whelan won the program’s Rookie of the Year award after a solid freshman campaign. While Whelan tallied 10 points in 36 games, four goals and two assists came in six all-important, ECAC playoff games.

The Coaches Award, which is given to the player that exemplifies everything Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey embodies, was awarded to senior captain Connor Clifton and senior assistant captain Tommy Schutt. This is the second consecutive season two players have shared the award (Devon Toews and Tom Hilbrich won in 2016.)

Sophomore Craig Martin landed the 7th Player Award, which is given to the player that has shown the most improvement over the course of the season. Martin recorded 11 goals and 16 assists in 40 games, good enough for a 25-point improvement from his freshman season.

Finally, senior captain Derek Smith earned his second consecutive Academic Award for the highest GPA on the team. Smith, who was the first Bobcat to win an ECAC Hockey Scholar Athlete of the Year earlier this season in Lake Placid, New York, finished his senior season with 12 assists and 54 blocked shots.