MASON CITY, Iowa – The North Iowa Bulls won 41 games during the 2016-17 season, and won the Central Division regular-season title by 24 points. Naturally, that means they won a lot of hardware when the NA3HL awards list was published on Friday.
Sean Mallonee (Kennewick, Wash./North Iowa Bulls) was the top player on the roster as selected by the league’s head coaches and general managers, earning a Second-Team All-NA3HL award after a regular season that included 21 goals and 39 assists. Mallonee saved perhaps his best work for the team’s fifth straight appearance in the Silver Cup tournament, posting five points over the team’s three games on the championship weekend. Mallonee also was named the Central Division’s Forward of the Year.
Connor Clemons (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake H.S.) was chosen to the All-Rookie 2nd Team. He scored a team-best four goals at the Silver Cup tournament, and had a team-best 11 points in the postseason. His 33 regular-season goals and +54 rating topped the team’s regular-season resume, and his 65 points was second on the roster. Clemons was also chosen as the Central Division’s Rookie of the Year.
The Bulls nearly swept the Central Division awards for the season – Marshall Barnes (Edina, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) landed the Central Division MVP honor after leading the North Iowa roster with 74 points. Shane Bernhardson (Apple Valley, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) was chosen as the division’s Defenseman of the Year – his +38 mark was the second-best of the year among North Iowa defensemen. Brady Meyers (Rochester, Minn./Austin Bruins) won a team-best 12 games this season to earn the Division’s Goaltender of the Year award. All three were also named to the All-Division team for 2016-17.
Ethan Sievek of the Rochester Ice Hawks and J.P. Eykyn of the La Crosse Freeze earned the only remaining spots on the All-Central Division team from the NA3HL.