COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Sophomore forward Jackson Blake was named the NCHC Player of the Month for March on Wednesday afternoon, as announced by the league office. It marks the second straight monthly award for Blake and fourth honor of his career, earning the league’s rookie of the month distinction twice in 2022-23.
Blake closed out his sophomore season strong, leading the NCHC with 13 points and 1.63 points per game in March. The Carolina Hurricanes draft pick recorded points in all eight North Dakota games last month, including three multi-point games, stretching his point streak to 11 games to end the season. Blake’s nine assists tied for first in the NCHC in March, while his 1.13 assists per game were solely first. He also added four goals, all even strength, and finished +3 during the month.
The Eden Prairie, Minn., native opened March with a three-point weekend in a sweep of then-No. 12 Western Michigan to clinch the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions. He had two assists in the opener on March 1 and scored a goal in the series finale, a 3-0 shutout. The NCHC Player and Forward of the Year doled out an assist in each game at Omaha in the regular-season finale March 8-9 to set the NCHC record with 37 points in conference play (24 games). In the NCHC Quarterfinals against Miami, Blake scored a goal each night and totaled five points in the sweep. He then closed out the month with two assists in the Frozen Faceoff semifinals on March 22 against No. 11 Omaha and tallied his team’s second goal in UND’s, 4-3, NCAA Tournament loss to No. 10 Michigan on March 29.
Blake finished the season with 60 points (22g/38a) in 40 games, tying the NCHC single-season scoring record first set by former UND standout Brock Boeser in 2015-16. The 22 goals are fifth in the NCHC, while the 38 assists tie for first with Denver’s Zeev Buium. Blake was selected a Hobey Baker Award Top-10 Finalist on March 20, along with his First-Team All-NCHC, NCHC Player and Forward of the Year nods.
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