University of Minnesota Athletics
Schroeder Tabbed National Rookie of the Year
3/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
After a stellar freshman season with the Gophers, forward Jordan Schroeder has been named the National Rookie of the Year by College Hockey News.
Schroeder, a Prior Lake, Minn. native, finished second on the team with 13 goals and 32 assists in 35 games and was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Rookie of the Year and a second-team all-league performer. He currently ranks fourth in the nation in scoring with 1.29 points per game and is the only freshman player among the nation’s top 50 scorers. Schroeder’s 0.91 assists per game ranks third in the country.
Expected to be one of the top picks in the upcoming National Hockey League draft, Schroeder turned 18 just two weeks before the start of the Gophers’ season. He played the past two seasons with the U.S. under-18 national team and accelerated his studies to graduate from high school in three years.
Schroeder made a big impact at this year’s under-20 world championships in Ottawa where he led the U.S. team in scoring and ranked third in the tournament with three goals and eight assists for 11 points. Playing in the event for the second straight year, he scored points in each of the team’s six games and became Team USA’s all-time assists leader with 15 for his career, surpassing the previous record of 14 by current NHL star Doug Weight.
Schroeder was named the National Rookie of the Month for November with 13 points in nine games. He won back-to-back WCHA Rookie of the Week honors after series against Minnesota State and New Hampshire.
He centered the team’s top line all season, scoring points in 28 of 35 games, including 15 multiple point games. Schroeder finished the season with an eight-game scoring streak. He led the WCHA with 22 assists in league games and was second in the league with 35 points, ranking only behind linemate Ryan Stoa. He and Stoa also shared the team’s lead with a plus-17 rating for the season.
Schroeder’s 32 assists tied for sixth in a single season by a Gopher freshman, matching Erik Rasmussen’s total from 1995-96. His 45 total points ranked 10th by a freshman in Minnesota history.
