The University of Washington hockey team wrapped up a strong season in early February, as they headed into the Pac 8 Championship as the #1 seed. Heading into the championship game, they had behind them 23 wins and just 8 losses and 1 tie. With an unfortunate 5-4 loss in the championship game in overtime against UCLA, the Huskies completed their season as the #2 team in the PAC-8. Although the Huskies didn’t claim the #1 spot, the 2016-17 season was full of incredible accomplishments.

The Huskies started off the season against a tough opponent, the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos handed the Huskies their first two losses of the season 5-3 and 6-1 respectively. These two tough games lit a fire under the Dawgs, as they won the next 8 games straight. 7 of those 8 games were away from Olympic View Arena, proving that last year’s troubles on the road were a thing of the past. The next tough patch in the season would have the Huskies travel down to College Station, Texas to take part in a tournament that Texas A&M was hosting. The first game of the weekend for the Huskies was against the Texas A&M Aggies. Heading into the third period down 4-2, senior JD White scored to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead with only 33 seconds left in the game. The Huskies would go on to the win the next two games of the tournament against Texas and Texas State, ending the tournament with the only perfect 3-0 record of the teams competing that weekend. Just a week later, the Huskies defeated the Oregon Ducks at home by a score of 5-2, clinching the I-5 Cup for back to back seasons, something that had not been accomplished since the Huskies did it back in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The Huskies capped off their season by heading over to Winthrop, WA to compete in the inaugural Apple Puck against Washington State University. The game was held at the beautiful outdoor rink over in Winthrop, and the Huskies came away with a commanding 8-0 win against WSU.

This season, the Huskies had many players step their game up to lead the team to such a successful season. Many players improved their point totals from last season, most notably, Senior Keenan Smith who improved from 13 points last season to 22 points this past season, Sophomore Christian Cinderella who improved from 31 points last season to 48 points this past season, and graduating Senior JD White who improved from 31 points last season to 49 points this past season, which was a team high. Freshman forwards Thomas Krivak and Nolan Roth stepped right into the spotlight, helping propel the team forward with their speed and scoring abilities. Another huge contributor for the Huskies was Freshman goaltender Ben Jarvis. Ben ended the season with a 3.44 GAA and .900 SV% over 31 games. In just his freshman season, Ben set records for the University of Washington in wins in a season (23), and saves in a season, (958).

5 Huskies were selected to represent the University of Washington at this year’s 2017 ACHA D2 All-Star Tournament in West Chester, PA. Freshman’s Ben Jarvis and Thomas Krivak, Sophomore’s Christian Cinderella and Ryan Jaromin, and Senior Troy Gasser will be competing on the PAC-8 team that was filled with players from the 6 Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference teams.

Building off this season successes, the future looks bright for the Huskies. With Seniors JD White and Tyler Jennings graduating, the door has been thrust open for Sophomore’s Mason Friedman and Lucas Semkiw and Freshman’s Thomas Krivak and Nolan Roth to slide into the top 6 for the forwards. On defense, Freshman Cameron Trader looks to build off a solid rookie season, while Sophomore Arthur Edgren looks to build off an impressive rookie campaign having 10 points in 28 games, and improve his game even more next year. While the incoming Freshman class is still unknown, the Huskies are looked upon as a force to be reckon with for the upcoming 2017-2018 season.