Kretzman Named NESCAC Men's Hockey Player of the Week

February 11, 2002

First-year phenom Beau Kretzman leads Amherst in nearly every offensive statistical category

AMHERST, MA - Amherst College first-year forward Beau Kretzman (Edina, MN/Edina) was named the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Hockey Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Jeffs to a pair of crucial conference wins over visiting Connecticut College and Tufts University on Friday and Saturday. Kretzman scored four goals and added a trio of assists in the pair of victories and leads the NESCAC with 23 goals and 42 points on the season.

The rookie sharpshooter has made huge impact in just his first season of collegiate hockey. Aside from leading the conference (and team) in scoring, Kretzman paces the Jeffs in power-play goals (7) and assists (19), and was fourth in the nation in goals per game (0.95) and 15th in points per game (1.70) as of the NCAA's most recent reporting date, February 3rd.

"We knew he'd be a good player for us," said Amherst head coach Jack Arena, "but we didn't expect him to have this much of an impact. Beau is a natural scorer with an excellent and accurate shot. If he has just a little bit of time to get it off, he's deadly."

Kretzman's offensive output is rapidly approaching - or has already eclipsed - several Amherst scoring records. He's believed to have shattered the College's all-time benchmarks for goals and points by a freshman and is closing in on the overall single-season goal-scoring record of 28, set by Doug Smink in 1992-93.

Ironically, Kretzman is the second graduate of Edina (MN) High School in as many weeks to earn Player of the Week honors for Amherst. Women's hockey junior goaltender Heidi Alexander (Edina, MN/Edina) earned US College Hockey Online Defensive Player of the Week honors on February 4th after recording 32 saves in a 2-1 victory over Trinity College and turning away 47 shots in a 1-1 tie against Wesleyan University.

Amherst (6-11-5/6-7-4) concludes its regular season slate this Friday and Saturday with a pair of conference matchups at Bowdoin and Colby Colleges. The top seven teams in the NESCAC advance to the conference's postseason championship tournament, which begins Saturday, February 23. Middlebury College has clinched the top seed and will host the semifinals and finals on March 2-3. The Jeffs can lock up the seventh and final playoff spot by winning one of its two games this weekend.