Checkers forward Zach Boychuk has earned a spot on the AHL’s Second All-Star Team.
With four games yet to play, Boychuk, a fifth-year pro, currently ranks second in the league with 70 points in 65 games. That total is a new career high and a new team record, with this being his best statistical season since he set both of those marks with 65 points during the 2010-11 campaign.
Boychuk, the AHL’s Player of the Month in March, receives the award as he finished second in voting among left wingers to Binghamton’s Mike Hoffman, who scored 67 points in 51 games before earning a promotion to Ottawa on March 5. Checkers forward Chris Terry, another left winger with 67 points, could very well have been third on the list.
The Carolina Hurricanes’ first-round pick in 2008, Boychuk remains in contention for additional league honors as his team-record 35 goals, 12 more than his previous career high, put him in the driver’s seat to take home the Willie Marshall award as the league’s top goal scorer. He currently has three more goals than Texas’ Colton Scevoiur, a first-team All Star who is currently in the NHL with Dallas.
In addition to setting new team records for goals and points, Boychuk’s 17 power-play goals lead the league and are a new club record. He is also the only Checkers skater to record multiple hat tricks in a single season with three, all of which have come since Jan. 24, and set a new team record with five points (2g, 3a) in a game against Iowa last month.
Boychuk becomes the first Checkers player to receive an end-of-season award since Zac Dalpe earned All-Rookie honors in the club’s inaugural 2010-11 campaign. Starting with the announcement of this season’s All-Rookie team this past Wednesday, the AHL is releasing its individual award winners, which are chosen by the players, coaches and media, through the end of next week.
