Broncos take three of four NCHC weekly honors after winning Shillelagh Tournament

By @MichaelCaples –

Western Michigan captured the Shillelagh Tournament title this weekend in South Bend, Ind., and in doing so, three Broncos earned league honors.

Justin Kovacs (Grosse Pointe Woods) was named the NCHC offensive player of the week, while Kenney Morrison grabbed defensive player of the week honors, as well. Frederik Tiffels, a Muskegon Lumberjacks alum, rounded out the hat trick by taking home rookie of the week honors.

The Broncos beat defending NCAA champions Union 8-2 in the tournament championship on Saturday afternoon at Compton Family Ice Arena. With a 6-2 win over Ohio State the day before, WMU out-scored their opponents by a whopping 14-4 margin.

Kovacs was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, as he racked up seven assists in the two contests – five of them coming against Union.

Morrison recorded three points on the weekend, while also recording a +3 rating.

Tiffels, meanwhile, recorded three goals and one assist in the time frame.

North Dakota’s Zane McIntyre prevented the Broncos from having a clean sweep of the weekly league awards, but WMU netminder Lukas Hafner was close behind. Hafner allowed only one even-strength goal all weekend, and made a career-high 40 saves against Union. He finished the weekend with a 2.00 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.