WALTHAM, Mass. – Goaltender Nicholas Grabko (Channahon, Ill.) and defenseman Drew Bavaro (Bradenton, Fla.) from the Bentley University hockey team were both voted to the Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie team, the conference announced on Thursday.
Atlantic Hockey is recognizing All-Conference teams and major award winners from its Eastern and Western pods this season to be in sync with how the league's games were scheduled. The Eastern pod consisted of Bentley, AIC, Army West Point, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross. The Western pod consisted of Robert Morris, RIT, Canisius, Niagara, Mercyhurst and Air Force.
Voting was conducted by the league's head coaches within their pod and is based on the regular season.
Grabko started 11 of Bentley's 15 games in the regular season. He earned Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors on Dec. 8 after he started all three of Bentley's opening games to the 2020-21 season and put in a stellar performance in each of them.
In that stretch he made 26 saves against Holy Cross in his first career start, and followed that up with 32 saves against Army West Point to pick up his first career win.
Grabko was named to the Richter Award Watch List in early February, an award which is given to the top goalie in NCAA Division I men's hockey at the end of the season.
Bavaro made a big impact as a two-way defenseman in his first season at Bentley. He finished the regular season with 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games, which ranked in the top 10 of Atlantic Hockey for points among both defensemen and rookies.
He was named the AHA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 2 after he had five points in a three game stretch and helped Bentley to wins over Holy Cross and Air Force.
Overall Bavaro finished the season 4th on the team in points with 12 and posted the second best +/- rating on the team.
