BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – On Thursday, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association announced that senior defenseman Zach Frye was named to the All-WCHA First Team, while freshman forward Steven Jandric was named to the All-WCHA Rookie Team. Furthermore, 16 of Alaska's 22 retuning players were selected to the WCHA's All-Academic Team for 2017-18, including four repeat honorees.

Frye becomes the first Alaska hockey player to be named to the All-WCHA First Team since Tyler Morley ('16) following the 2015-16 season, while Jandric becomes the first Nanook freshman to make an appearance on the WCHA's All-Rookie Team since Marcus Basara ('17) after the 2013-14 campaign. The all-conference teams are nominated and voted on by each of the 10 head coaches in the WCHA. Points are awarded on a five-point (First Team vote), three-point (Second Team vote), and one-point (Third Team vote) basis, while the WCHA's All-Rookie Team is determined by total votes received. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players and the league only takes into account statistics during conference play.

Frye is one of two defensemen named to the All-WCHA First team, sharing the title with Bowling Green's sophomore blueliner Alec Rauhauser. Frye topped the leaderboard in almost every offensive category during league play, leading all conference defensemen in goals (eight), assists (20), points (28), goals per game (0.29), assists per game (0.71), points per game (1.00), game-winning goals (2), shots on goal (102) and shots on goal per games played (3.64). Frye also tied for fifth in blocked shots (41) while appearing in each of Alaska's 28 league games.

In February alone, Frye was the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions and was named the league's Defensive Player of the Month.

The three All-WCHA First Team forwards are now finalists for the 2017-18 WCHA Offensive Player of the Year, while Frye and Rauhauser are candidates for the Defensive Player of the Year.

All-WCHA First Team
Player (Year/Hometown)                                    Position               School
*C.J. Suess (Sr. /Forest Lake, Minn.)                    Forward               Minnesota State University
*Marc Michaelis (Fr. /Manheim, Germany)            Forward               Minnesota State University
Troy Loggins (Jr. /Huntington Beach, Germany)   Forward                Northern Michigan University
Zach Frye (Sr./Spokane, Wash.)                           Defenseman         University of Alaska Fairbanks
*Alec Rauhauser (So. /Bismarck, N.D.)                 Defenseman        Bowling Green University
*Atte Tolvenan (Jr./Vihti, Finland)                           Goaltender          Northern Michigan University

*denotes previously named to an All-WCHA Team

This season, the WCHA had five skaters in the NCAA's top-20 scoring freshman, eventually resulting in two forwards and a three-way tie for the third forward position in the league's All-Rookie Team this season. Jandric, along with Bowling Green's Max Johnson and Minnesota State's Reggie Lutz all tied for the final forward position.

In his first year with the Nanooks, Jandric posted 14 assists (fourth among WCHA rookies), along with three goals for 17 points and a plus-five rating. Jandric was named the WCHA's Rookie of the Week after a four-point weekend (one goal, three assists) against in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 11. The Prince George, British Columbia native also tallied four game-winning assists and four multi-point efforts.

Jandric, along with the other seven players named to the WCHA's All-Rookie Team, are now eligible for the league's Rookie of the Year honor. The conference's Players of the Year will be announced next Tuesday (Mar. 13).

WCHA All-Rookie Team
Player (Year/Hometown)                                      Position               School
Jake Jaremko (Fr. /Nowthen, Mich.)                      Forward              Minnesota State University
Brandon Kruse (Fr. /Saline, Mich.)                         Forward              Bowling Green University
^Steven Jandric (Fr. /Prince George, B.C.)            Forward              University of Alaska Fairbanks
^Max Johnson (Fr. /Lakeville, Minn.)                      Forward              Bowling Green University
^Reggie Lutz (Fr. /Elk River, Minn.)                        Forward              Minnesota State University
Connor Mackey (Fr. /Tower Lakes, Ill.)                   Defenseman       Minnesota State University
Eric Sinclair (Fr. /Kenora, Ont.)                               Defenseman      University of Alaska Anchorage
Eric Dop (Fr. /Lewis Center, Ohio)                         Goaltender         Bowling Green University

WCHA All-Academic Team
A total of 151 student-athletes, representing all 10 WCHA men's league member institutions, have earned the honor of being named to the 2017-18 WCHA All-Academic Team. To earn the distinction of being named to the All-Academic Team, student-athletes must have completed one year of eligibility at their present school prior to the current academic year, have a grade-point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) for the previous two semesters, or may qualify if the overall GPA is at least a 3.0 for all terms at their present institution.

Four of Alaska's 16 selectees were also named WCHA Scholar-Athletes by the conference earlier this month.

Alaska Nanooks Named to the 2017-18 WCHA All-Academic Team:
(*Two-time honoree, **Three-time honoree, % 2017-18 Scholar-Athlete)

Seniors
**Zach Frye (Spokane, Wash./Business Administration)
**%Nick Hinz (Oakdale, Minn./Accounting)
Justin Woods (Fairbanks, Alaska/Homeland Security)

Juniors
*%Nikolas Koberstein (Barrhead, Alta./Business Administration)
*Ryker Leer (Red Deer, Alta./Business Administration)
*Chad Staley (Kennewick, Wash./Psychology)
*Jack Weiss (Bloomington, Minn./Business Administration)

Sophomores
Tyler Cline (Blaine, Minn./Business Administration)
Ross Heidt (Red Deer, Alta./English)
Kylar Hope (Lashburn, Sask./Business Administration)
Danny Kiraly (Glendale, Ariz./Business Administration)
James LaDouce (Saginaw, Mich./Business Administration)
%Kyle Marino (Niagara Falls, Ont./Business Administration)
%Anton Martinsson (Klippan, Sweden/Business Administration)
Tristan Thompson (Canmore, Alta./Petroleum Engineering)
Troy Van Tetering (Canmore, Alta./Business Administration)

After falling 6-2 last Saturday (Mar. 3) to No. 3 Minnesota State in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 WCHA Playoffs, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team saw the 2017-18 season come to an end.

The Face-Off Club will be hosting the team's annual End of the Year Banquet on Friday, Mar. 30 at the Westmark Hotel and Conference Center.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.