MIH: Flynn nominated for Sid Watson Player of the Year award after earning Co-UCHC Player of the Year honor
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Collegiate sports are done for the spring 2020 semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped the accolades from coming to Wilkes men’s ice hockey’s Donald Flynn.
Prior to the Colonels defeat in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference championship series, Flynn was named the Co-UCHC Player of the Year, along with Utica’s Connor Landrigan. Now, both players have been nominated for the Sid Watson Player of the Year Award by the American Hockey Coaches Association. The award is given to the best NCAA Division II-III player in the country.
“It’s just an honor to be in the conversation. There’s a lot of good hockey players at this level,” Flynn said. “I’m extremely proud and blessed to represent our team and school, especially as a second-year program.”
The award has gone to a goaltender five of the last six seasons and only one goaltender, Tom Aubrun, has been nominated this season.
Flynn is the only sophomore among the group of nominees, compiled of juniors and seniors the rest of the way.
The Colonels dominated on the ice this season thanks to Flynn. Wilkes had the sixth best offense in the country, scoring 4.34 goals per game and was tenth in power play percentage, converting on 25.7 percent of its opportunities.
“I just tried to focus on the little things, take it day by day and do whatever needed to be done to help the team win,” Flynn said. “I’m lucky I play with a lot of great hockey players, and those guys make it easy for me out there. I wouldn’t be up for this award if it wasn’t for them, so they deserve all the credit here.”
Individually, Flynn shined, leading the country in goals with 27 as well as goals per game and power play goals with 14. He also finished second in points with 52 and became just the second player in UCHC history to top 50 points.
“Honestly, I try not to think too far ahead. I’m extremely lucky and blessed to be able to play the game of hockey on such an amazing team,” Flynn said. “We’ve got some unfinished business after the way this year ended, and I’m just focused on working hard this off-season and doing everything I can to continue to help build this program, get over the hump and accomplish the goals we set out for ourselves.”
The winner of the award will be announced on Friday. If Flynn wins the award, Wilkes would have had a player receive national recognition in each of the program’s first two seasons after Tyler Barrow was named the USCHO Rookie of the Year last season.
Ben Mandell is currently the co-sports editor. Mandell began as a staff writer in Fall 2017, promoted to assistant editor in Spring 2018 and was promoted...
Kirsten Peters is a senior communication studies major with concentrations in multimedia journalism, broadcast production and strategic communication,...