WAKEFIELD, Mass. - Northeastern senior forward Zach Aston-Reese (Staten Island, N.Y.) was named the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Player of the Month for February 2017, becoming the second consecutive Husky to earn the distinction after junior forward Dylan Sikura (Aurora, Ont.) was so honored January. Aston-Reese helped his Huskies to a 5-3-0 record in February, good enough to secure home ice in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament.
The six-foot, 204-pound Aston-Reese led the nation with 17 points in just eight games played, racking up points at an NCAA-best 2.12 points per game. He scored seven goals and chipped in with 10 assists in his team's eight outings, including either scoring or assisting on four of his team's five game-winning goals. Aston-Reese also had multi-point nights on five occasions, including two three-point nights and two four-point nights, with a hat trick and an assist on senior night at Matthews Arena.
Over the course of February, Aston-Reese accomplished several career milestones. The senior forward is now tied for 14th on Northeastern's all-time scoring list, compiling 144 career points on 64 goals and 80 assists. Those totals also put him 14th in career goals and 20th in career assists on the Huskies' all-time lists. He is also tied for ninth in single-season points with 59 and 10th in single-season goals with 29 in Northeastern program history.
On February 24 at Maine, Aston-Reese scored a goal to lift his point total from the last two seasons alone to 100, racking up 42 goals and 58 assists over that span. He is just the eighth player in team history to accomplish that feat. Currently, Aston-Reese's 29 goals on the year are the most for any Husky since the 1980-81 season and is just one marker away from becoming Northeastern's first 30-goal, 30-assist player since 1985-86.
The HCA National Rookie of the Month for February is Trent Frederic (St. Louis, Mo.) from Wisconsin. Frederic led the nation's freshmen in points and tied for the lead in goals during the month of February as he registered eight goals and six assists for 14 points. He registered a point in all eight games in the month, tallying five multi-point contests. His eight goals on the month were also tied for second in the nation among all players.
Frederic opened the month with his first career multi-goal game, scoring twice and adding an assist at Michigan State. The following night, he added one goal and one assist to complete a five-point weekend as Wisconsin earned its first sweep at Michigan State since 1977.
Following a three-point weekend at home against nationally ranked Penn State, Frederic netted four goals in a weekend sweep of Michigan in Madison. After scoring the game-winning goal on Friday, Frederic tallied the fastest goal to start a game in Wisconsin history, finding the back of the net just eight seconds into the series finale. He also added a shorthanded goal in the contest. For his efforts, Frederic earned his second career conference honor, securing the Big Ten Second Star for the week.
Frederic finished the month with one goal and one assist in a series split at nationally ranked Minnesota. For the month, he scored the game's opening goal in three contests, while five of his goals gave the Badgers the lead and two more tied games.
For the season, Frederic is second among all Big Ten players with 1.33 points per game in all contests and tied for second with 11 goals in conference play. He also shares the national lead with five shorthanded points this season.