Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Hensick's Assault on the Record Book

One story that I really haven't seen much about, and probably should be getting more attention, is the extremely impressive numbers Michigan forward T.J. Hensick has put up. Hensick has put up 7 goals and 21 assists this season, including four straight two-point games, which puts him tied for third in the country in scoring. Those are very good numbers, but what's much more impressive is the numbers that Hensick has put up over his career.

Hensick came into this season as the only college player with over 150 career points, and his great year this year means he will finish in pretty rare territory. His four points last weekend moved him to 181 career points, passing penalty killing whiz John Madden for 17th on Michigan's all-time career scoring list. If Hensick continues to score at the same rate he has so far this season, he'll finish with approximately 230 career points, which would be good for 6th on Michigan's all-time scoring list.

It's probably not realistic that Hensick could reach the top 5 in all-time scoring(Dave Debol is 5th with 246 points), but his numbers are extremely remarkable given the era he has played in. In the post-Brendan Morrison era at Michigan, which has mostly been known for a series of early departures every summer, the next highest career scorer at Michigan is Mark Kosick with only 146 points.

The 200 point plateau is something that could become extremely rare in college hockey, especially at major colleges. With NHL teams willing to make big contract offers to any player that has a great year, it's unlikely that many college players will stick around long enough to reach that mark. And for the few that do, it's still an extremely difficult mark to reach. Omaha's Scott Parse is the closest, but he is on pace to come up about 10 points shy, unless he picks up his scoring pace a little bit.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think the 200 point mark will be reached occasionally by players in the two lower profile conferences, as they're less likely to leave early for the pros. For example, Les Reaney and Ted Cook from Niagra and Bear Trapp from Sacred Heart are all pacing to have over 100 points by the end of their sophmore years.

As for the "Big 4" conferences, it'll take a "too-small-for-even-the-new-NHL" type player to have even a remote shot. (Ryan Lasch, Brock Trotter, Ryan Duncan, etc.)