Minnesota Hockey would like to congratulate Riley Tufte of Blaine and Nick Althaus of St. Cloud Apollo on their outstanding senior seasons and they prestigious honors the received this past weekend. On Sunday, March 6th, Tufte was named the state’s 32nd Mr. Hockey award winner and Althaus won the 2016 Frank Brimsek Award.

Tufte was previously named the Star Tribune’s Metro Player of the Year after scoring a Class AA leading 49 goals.  Tufte also added 36 assists to join Blaine teammate Luke Notermann as Class AA co-leaders for points with 78.

Projected as a potential first round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Tufte has received a number of accolades for his scoring prowess but has also been heralded for his character.

“He was the hardest worker in practice and he had a lot of joy for teammates who scored,” Blaine coach Chris Carroll told the Star Tribune.

Carroll also told the United States Hockey League (USHL), “He’s an unbelievable kid. When I found out he was coming back to high school I knew he’d be good on the ice, but the gift he brings off the ice is amazing. Everyone knows how special he is on the ice, but it meant more to our program about who he is off of it.”

Following Blaine’s loss in the playoffs, Tufte rejoined the Fargo Force and scored in his first game back in USHL action. The Star Tribune reported Tufte told youth players in neighboring Moorhead, “Live it up. There’s nothing like Minnesota hockey.”

As this year’s Frank Brimsek winner, Althaus became the first goaltender from St. Cloud to be recognized as the state’s top senior netminder.  Althaus led all goalies in Minnesota with eight shutouts and tied for first with 23 regular season wins.   He finished the season with a .930 save percentage and 1.47 goals against average.

The other 2016 Mr. Hockey finalists included Wyatt Aamodt (Hermantown), Chase Ellingson (Breck), Will Garin (Holy Family Catholic), Cade Gleekel (Benilde-St. Margaret’s), Michael Graham (Eden Prairie), Tyler Jette (Farmington), Mitchell Mattson (Grand Rapids), Luke Notermann (Blaine) and Casey Staum (Hill-Murray).  The other finalist for the Frank Brimsek Award was River Alander of Duluth Denfeld.