MASON CITY, Iowa – North Iowa forward Michael Mesic turned quite a few heads this season in his first campaign in junior hockey.
With 49 points, Mesic led the team in scoring, and was the highest-scoring 17-year-old in the North American Hockey League in five years.
This season, he put the Bulls on the NAHL awards list, as the team began its run in the league after a dominant decade-long stint in the North American 3 Hockey League. Mesic was named to the league’s All-Central Division team and earned the division’s Rookie of the Year award, and was named to the NAHL’s All-Rookie team as well.
Despite North Iowa’s league change during the past offseason, Mesic’s award continues a run in which the team has had a player on the All-Division team every year since the NA3HL implemented all-division honors in 2014. It’s also the third consecutive year that the Bulls have had a divisional Rookie of the Year on their roster, with goaltender Carsen Stokes earning the NA3HL West Division’s Rookie of the Year award last year and St. Thomas commit Lucas Wahlin earning the same award in 2019-20.
Mesic announced his commitment to Northern Michigan University this past September, marking the first NCAA Division I commitment in the Bulls’ NAHL era.