A local goaltender had a standout week in college hockey.
St. Cloud State University junior Jeff Smith, a resident of Maple Ridge and graduate of Westview Secondary School, has been selected as the Bauer National Collegiate Hockey Conference Goaltender of the Week.
Smith opened the 2017-18 season with the best game of his collegiate career for the Minnesota school, pitching a shutout to start the regular season in a 4-0 win at Minnesota State.
He stopped all 42 shots he faced, which marked a career high in saves, topping his previous high of 41 on Jan. 13, 2017 at Minnesota Duluth.
It was also his first career shutout.
Smith turned aside 11 shots in the first frame, 15 in the second and made 16 saves in the final period to thwart any chance of a comeback in SCSU’s only game of the weekend. After starting the year with a 1.000 save percentage, he was tabbed first star of the game.
Smith played junior hockey with Powell River of the BCHL. He is a transfer student from UMASS-Lowell.
An NCAA Division I affiliate, St. Cloud State is a member of the always rugged National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which is widely recognized as one of the nation’s top college hockey conferences.
St. Cloud State is located approximately one hour northwest of Minneapolis in the city of St. Cloud.