BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Bloomington Thunder defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk has been named to the All-USHL Third Team, the league announced on Thursday morning.

In his second season with the Thunder and third in the USHL, Kalynuk posted a career-high 31 points on six goals and 25 assists to earn his first end-of-season plaudit.

The University of Wisconsin commit finished tied for sixth among league defenseman in points and led all rear guards with his 159 shots on goal during the 2016-17 campaign. His shots on goal total was 18 more than the next closest league defenseman, Jake Ryczek of Waterloo.

After posting 24 points in his first season with the Thunder last year, Kalynuk was one of the Thunder’s top returning scorers for this season and served as one of the team’s alternate captains. He finished fifth on the team in scoring this season and was third in scoring among players who spent the entire season in Bloomington. He doubled his previous career-high in goals after he posted three last season.

A native of Virden, Manitoba, Kalynuk proved to be effective in all aspects of the game, and led the Thunder with his two shorthanded goals this season. In fact, he was one of only two defensemen in the league to post multiple shorthanded tallies this year. Kalynuk also had two game-winning goals, a shootout goal and a power-play goal. He is the only defenseman in the Thunder’s three-year history to have at least one shorthanded goal, one power-play goal, one game-winning goal and one shootout goal in a season and the only defenseman in the USHL to accomplish the feat this year.

In compiling 159 shots on goal during the season, Kalynuk increased his previous high in that category by 114 percent. Last season, Kalynuk posted 74 shots on goal in 59 games, which was a career-high at the time.

Kalynuk earned a USHL Defenseman of the Week honor earlier this season, which was his first league honor at the time.

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