HADLEY, MA. – The Wesleyan men's hockey team saw four players named to the All-NESCAC teams as announced by the conference office and voted on by the NESCAC's head coaches. The highlights from the announcement are
Jake Lachance '23 winning Player of the Year and Head Coach
Chris Potter claiming Coach of the Year. The senior defenseman was crowned NESCAC Player of the Year, becoming the first Cardinal to win the honor since Tim Sestak '20 won it back during the 2018-19 campaign. Coach Potter earns conference coach of the year for the 4
th time in his career.
Wesleyan had both the most All-NESCAC players and most total NESCAC awards of any team in the conference. The Cardinals had four players earn all-conference selections and totaled two of the three major conference awards with Lachance and Potter taking Player and Coach of the Year. Colby had the second-most selections with three, followed by Trinity and Hamilton with two, then Amherst claimed the last selection. Hamilton obtained the other major award, with forward Ben Zimmerman taking home NESCAC Rookie of the Year.
The other two Cardinals joining Lachance on First Team All-NESCAC are forward
Wiggle Kerbrat '23 and goalie
Erik Voloshin '24. Defenseman
Emmet Powell '23 is the fourth Cardinal to join the list of All-NESCAC performers in 2022-23, earning a spot on the second team. This is the first time in school history that Wesleyan has put four players on All-NESCAC teams since the conference became a "playing conference" back in 1999.
Jake Lachance '23 | Defenseman | NESCAC Player of the Year | First Team
Lachance capped off his senior season in style, claiming his first-ever All-NESCAC selection to go along with earning NESCAC Player of the Year. The senior becomes the first defenseman in Wesleyan's school history to earn All-NESCAC first team, as well as becoming the first defenseman to win NESCAC Player of the Year since 2015-16 (Zander Masucci, Williams). Lachance continues to add to his award collection, having already earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors in January along with being named a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award.
As of the end of the NESCAC Quarterfinal matchups on February 25th, Lachance leads the conference in assists per game with 0.83. He is also second in the NESCAC in a trio of statistics that include: assists (19), points (26), and points per game (1.13), only trailing his teammates Kerbrat and
Colin Cobb '23 in those categories. The senior defenseman has also been one of the better players on the defensive end this year, blocking 29 shots in 23 games. The Cardinals' captain could also score when he needed to, netting seven goals on the year, with three of them coming on power play opportunities.
Chris Potter | Head Coach | NESCAC Coach of the Year
Coach Potter entered his 20
th season at the helm of the Cardinals in 2022-23 and put together one of the more successful regular seasons in program history. He finished the regular season with a 15-6-3 record, his 3
rd 15-win campaign in the past four seasons. Potter's 11-4-3 conference record was enough for Wesleyan to clinch their first-ever #1 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. It came down to the final week of the regular season, where the Cardinals had to defeat inter-state rival and nationally ranked Trinity twice in two days and they did just that. First on the road to end Trinity's 13-game unbeaten streak, then again at Spurrier-Snyder Rink in front of their home crowd to earn the regular season title for the first time in school history.
Potter takes home his 4
th NESCAC Coach of the Year Honor, his first since 2019 (others were in 2004 and 2007). He made his 6
th straight NESCAC Tournament in 2022-23, his 14
th overall in 19 competitive seasons at Wesleyan. With Lachance winning conference player of the year this season, Potter has now coached three NESCAC Player of the Year Award winners, along with nine First Team All-NESCAC selections including three in 2022-23 alone.
Erik Voloshin '24 captures his first-ever All-NESCAC selection, earning a spot on the All-NESCAC First Team. Voloshin started 14 games for the Cardinals this season, posting a record of 8-5-1 in those contests. The junior goalie was third in the NESCAC in total saves with 400 despite only starting in just over half of Wesleyan's games. He finished the season with a goals allowed per game average of 2.05 to go along with a save percentage of .932.
This will be Voloshin's second major NESCAC honor of the season, as the junior claimed his first ever NESCAC Player of the Week Award in the final week of the regular season after back-to-back stellar performances against nationally ranked Trinity to help Wesleyan earn their first-ever #1 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. The Wesleyan goalie first went on the road and ended No. 14 Trinity's 13-game unbeaten streak by shutting out the Bantams and making 34 saves. He then returned home the next day and made 30 more saves against the #14 Bantams to help Wesleyan clinch their first-ever #1 seed in the conference tournament.
Wiggle Kerbrat '23 might have been
Jake Lachance's biggest competitor when it comes to winning the NESCAC Player of the Year Award. The senior forward was a force the entire season, leading the conference in a handful of statistics including goals with 17 in 25 games. Wesleyan's leading scorer also led the NESCAC in goals per game (0.68), points (29), and points per game (1.16). The goal scorer was electric, especially in big moments, scoring both of Wesleyan's goals against No. 7 Endicott in their regular season matchup as well as having a two-goal performance in the NESCAC Quarterfinal against 8
th seeded Williams.
Kerbrat does a lot more than just score for the Cardinals though, claiming top 10 spots in a variety of other categories. He was Wesleyan's main face-off taker, totaling 255 wins in 472 total faceoffs which ranks 4
th among players in the conference. He also had a knack for timely-scores, netting three game-winning goals (t-3
rd NESCAC). The senior was precise, leading the NESCAC in shot percentage at 0.28 among players with at least 10 shots on goal. The most important statistic that Kerbrat might have however would be that he ranks t-2
nd in the NESCAC in plus/minus at +14.
Emmet Powell '23 | Defenseman | Second Team
Emmet Powell '23 is the fourth Cardinal to make All-NESCAC, landing on the All-NESCAC Second Team. The senior defenseman was one of the conference's most consistent players, helping the Cardinals to one of their most impressive regular season's in school history. Powell missed part of the Cards season to compete with Team USA in the Winter World University Games , but his return the Spurrier-Snyder ice helped propel Wesleyan to their late-season surge which landed them with the #1 seed in the NESCAC Tournament.
Despite missing a number of games, Powell still ranked in the top 15 of the NESCAC in a trio of stats. The senior was elite at setting his teammates up from the backline, finishing tied for 9
th in the conference in total assist with 12. His assists per game were even more impressive as Powell only played in 19 games, leading to an assist per game average of 0.63 which slotted him 5
th in the NESCAC. He was also able to put together three goals on the season, upping his point total for 2022-23 to 15 which made him ranked t-14
th in the conference in points per game with 0.79.
