Adam Smyth takes home All-MIAC honors for the first time this season. Photo courtesy of Bridget Larson - Sport PiX.
St. Peter, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus junior forward Adam Smyth (Burnsville, Minn.) was honored as a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Hockey All-Conference team as a part of the 2012-13 MIAC Men’s Hockey Awards released on Tuesday.
St. Olaf junior forward Jeff Harris and Saint John’s freshman goaltender Saxton Soley shared the league’s top individual honor as the Co-Players-of-the-Year. The Johnnies were honored further for their MIAC regular season co-championship as fifth-year Head Coach Doug Schueller was voted MIAC Men’s Hockey Coach-of-the-Year by his peers.
The two MIAC co-champs, St. Thomas and Saint John’s, placed the most players on the 20-member All-Conference team. St. Thomas led the way with five and the Johnnies had four honorees. Concordia, Bethel and Augsburg each had two while Gustavus, Hamline and Saint Mary’s had one player honored each. The All-MIAC team featured just two seniors with seven juniors, eight sophomores and three freshman earning the distinction.
Adam Smyth is making his first appearance on the All-Conference team this season. With quick hands, a heavy shot, and pinpoint accuracy, Smyth once again proved himself as one of the top goal-scorers in the league. Through Gustavus’s 28 games, the junior led the team in scoring with 21 points off of 12 goals and nine assists. While his point total ranked ninth in the league, Smyth’s 12 goals ranked fourth. He also tallied the fifth most power play goals with four on the year.
Although Smyth scored just four points (1G, 3A) through the opening 12 games of the season, it was against Lawrence on Dec. 7 that his season began to turn around. Just like he did last year against Lawrence, Smyth scored a hat trick, leading the Gusties to a 4-3 win.
Smyth managed his second hat trick of the season after the holiday break, helping the Gusties to a 7-4 victory on the road at Concordia. His three-goal performance against the Cobbers earned him Athlete-of-the-Week distinction from the MIAC for the third time in his career. The sniper became the 22nd player in Gustavus men’s hockey history to record three or more at hat tricks in a career. The last player to score two hat tricks in a single season was 2010 graduate and current assistant coach David Martinson, who posted back-to-back four goal games during his senior year.
The Burnsville, Minn. product followed the Concordia series with a six point weekend against Hamline. He scored a season-high four points (1G, 3A) on Friday night before scoring two points (1G, 1A) on Saturday. Smyth’s ability to put puck in the net was essential in Gustavus’s late season surge and run to the MIAC Playoff Championship. In the second half of the season, Adam recorded eight goals and six assists for 14 points. He finished the year with two game-winning goals and a team-high 136 shots.
Tim LaBombard
As part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC also announced the seventh annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for men’s hockey. Members of the All-MIAC Sportsmanship team are selected by their coaches and teammates as individuals who demonstrate ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition.
Representing Gustavus on this year’s All-Sportsmanship team was senior defenseman Tim LaBombard (Bloomington, Minn.). A staple of Brett Petersen’s defense, LaBombard finished his senior campaign with six points off of three goals and three assists. The blue liner skated in a total of 88 games in a Gustavus sweater, scoring five goals and tallying 23 assists for 28 points.