Veronica Asquith (Photo by Noah Clooten)
Both the Lake Region State College men’s and women’s hockey teams finished with one of the top point scorers in all of the ACHA Division II — especially on the women’s side with Veronica Asquith.
The sophomore defender recently finished as one of the finalists for ACHA W2 Player of the Year. She had 69 points this season, second in the league with only one point fewer than the eventual award winner, Eastern Michigan University’s Sam Sitterly, who had 70.
Asquith scored the most goals of any W2 player in the country with 48; second was Lawrence Technological University’s Sophia Buckberger with 40. Sitterly was only fifth in goals with 31, but she had the most assists with 39.
Even more impressive was that Asquith played in seven fewer games than Buckberger did.
Asquith has been a part of the first two years of Royals hockey in the ACHA. Last year, she tallied 20 points and 12 goals. LRSC went 7-12 in its inaugural season under head coach Logan Kraft, then 8-14 this year under Sawyer Diseth.
Asquith has gathered some interest from bigger schools but recently committed to return to LRSC for one more year. The return will be massive for the Royals’ growing program.
On the men’s side, Brady Wicklund finished fifth in points in the ACHA men’s Division II this season. He had 61 points on 29 goals and 32 assists.
Wicklund has also been part of LRSC hockey for the first two years of its inception. He put up 33 points last year, with 18 goals and 15 assists. That gives him 94 points over two years — an even 47 goals and 47 assists overall.
The Royals went 20-16 this year after a 12-15 inaugural season.
Tied for second place in Division II points was Mason Romfo, a former Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich athlete who plays for the University of Minnesota Crookston. He had 66 points, the same as North Dakota State University’s Jacob Pierson. Romfo had 30 goals and 36 assists, while Pierson had 34 goals and 32 assists. The only player with more points than them was Virginia Tech’s Gavin Peduzzi.
Wicklund, with his 61 points, was narrowly behind the 62 that Bethel University’s Adam Bricker had.
