Alex Whelan named ECAC Rookie of the Week

Alex Whelan, in game against BC in December (photo by Jenn Hoffman/Pucks & Rec)

For the third consecutive week, a Quinnipiac freshman has been named the ECAC Rookie of the Week. The last two weeks was goaltender Andrew Shortridge winning the award and now freshman Alex Whelan has been selected as winning the award this week. The Ramsey, New Jersey native had a strong weekend against St. Lawrence in Quinnipiac's best-of-three series win. In three games Whelan had two goals and an assist along with blocking shots and playing strong two way hockey.

In Saturday's game, with Quinnipiac facing possible elimination, it was Whelan's goal 16 seconds into the game that gave the Bobcats momentum to turn the series around in their favor. He also assisted on Craig Martin's eventual game winning goal in the second period. In the winner take all Game 3, it was Whelan who stole a puck in the neutral zone and raced in the to St. Lawrence zone ripping a high shot past Kyle Hayton which would eventually go down as the game winning goal for Quinnipiac. 

Whelan has points in four of his last six games including two multi-point games in playoff wins over Brown on March 3rd and St. Lawrence on March 11th. On the season Whelan has 10 points (6 goals and 4 assists) and has been a staple on the top line with Craig Martin and Tim Clifton as his line-mates.

Quinnipiac now heads to Lake Placid for the ECAC Semifinals where they will take on Harvard University in the semifinals on Friday. This is the third consecutive season that Quinnipiac has faced Harvard in Lake Placid losing in the semifinals in 2015 and winning in the championship game in 2016.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow him on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.