The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association released its 2017-18 end-of-season awards on Wednesday and Lake Forest College had six honorees, including Olivia Spellmire, the NCHA Player of the Year.
Spellmire, a senior forward, ranks fourth in the nation with 47 points, a dozen more than any other player in the league. Her 26 assists also lead the NCHA and rank fourth in the country and she is tied-for-first in the conference and eighth in NCAA Division III with 21 goals. Spellmire has recorded at least one goal or assist in 22 of 27 contests this season with 13 multi-point performances. She is just the second player in program history with at least 20 goals and 20 assists in a season and has had at least one of each in a game eight times. She has matched the second-highest single-season point total in team annals and trails the school record by just six. Spellmire became the program's career leader in assists on November 18 and ranks second in team history with 128 points and fourth with 51 goals.
Three teammates join Spellmire on the All-NCHA Team, including senior defenseman Kayla Griffith, who made the list for the fourth time. In addition to her contributions to the Foresters' stellar 1.59 goals allowed per game, Griffith is tied-for-first in the league among players at her position with eight goals and third with 24 points. She is now third in program history with 55 career assists and tied-for-eighth in team annals with 82 points.
Junior Amy Budde is an All-NCHA selection at forward for the second year in a row after earning a spot on the NCHA All-Freshman Team in 2015-16. She is tied for second in the conference with 35 points and joins Spellmire as one of just two players ranked among the top five in the conference in both goals (16) and assists (19). Budde is second in program history with 58 career assists and tied-for-eighth with 39 goals. She is just three away from becoming the fifth player in team annals with 100 career points.
Joining Spellmire and Budde as All-NCHA forwards is sophomore Lexi Morgan, who was a member of the NCHA All-Freshman Team a year ago. Morgan is tied for first in the league with 21 goals and fourth with 32 points. She is also tied for the team lead and ranks among the conference leaders with six power play goals and a pair of short-handed scores. On November 17 she became just the sixth player in program history to score four goals in a game.
In addition to the all-conference team, the league announced the 2017-18 NCHA All-Freshman Team on Wednesday and Lake Forest forward Megan Lyke and defenseman Jordan Trapp made the list. Lyke has scored 13 goals and assisted on 12 others in her rookie year for 25 points, including at least one in 16 of 24 appearances. Trapp has 15 points on eight goals and seven assists and is tied for the first on the team and second in the conference with six power play scores.
Lake Forest is 19-8-0 overall in 2017-18 and finished the regular season in second place in the NCHA with a league mark of 15-3-0. The Foresters swept their NCHA Slaats Cup quarterfinal series against visiting St. Norbert College last weekend and will face the College of St. Scholastica in a semifinal game Friday night at 7:00 at Adrian College. The winner will take on Adrian in Saturday's final at 7:00 p.m.
