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J.T. Compher's 4 point game Friday was too much to overlook.
The Michigan freshman and Buffalo Sabres draft pick was named the Big Ten's First Star - his second time being honored - for the week ending January 27. He is joined by a pair of goalies in Ohio State's Christian Frey and Minnesota's Adam Wilcox (Tampa Bay Lightning) in the weekly Three Stars honors.
The Big Ten began sponsoring men's hockey in 2013-14. In lieu of naming a player of the week, the conference is instead naming three stars.
Compher, who is second among Big Ten freshmen with 20 points (albeit the only one averaging a point per game), notched five points (3G-2A) in a sweep over Michigan State last weekend. That includes a career-high two goals and two assists in Friday's 5-2 win against the Spartans in East Lansing.
The Northbrook, Illinois native was also involved in the end of the game fracas between the two teams Friday; explaining to the Michigan Daily that it was "no big deal," and "part of the game."
Frey, this week's second star, made 36 saves in Saturday's 3-1 win over Wisconsin to help garner OSU a road split against the Badgers. He has a .923 save percentage in four appearances since joining the Buckeyes midseason from the USHL.
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Wilcox has the North Star College Cup tournament MVP to go along his 2nd third star honor in 3 weeks. The South St. Paul, MN native made a career-high 38 saves Friday in a 4-1 win over St. Cloud State. He matched that total the next against Minnesota-Duluth and stopped both shots faced in a shootout; his first shootout win (officially the game ended in a 4-4 tie).
"Anytime you get that many shots, especially in a game like this, you kind of get into a rhythm. Especially with penalties, getting that many shots keeps you alive throughout the game. UMD is a good team. They can score at any time," Wilcox said about facing so many shots. "They had those two goals real quick right there, but when you get that many shots it keeps you alive in the game."
All six Big Ten teams played at least one game this weekend.
This upcoming week sees all six teams in Big Ten conference play. Michigan hosts Wisconsin, Ohio State hosts Penn State, and Minnesota hosts Michigan State.
