Every so often there is a season and individual statistics amidst the trappings of the ultimate team sport that are truly astounding at every level. Such is the case for USCHO Player of the Year Tom Aubrun who completed his senior season for the Cadets riding a nine-game shutout streak and posting 13 shutouts overall for the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. Aubrun’s 0.77 goals-against average and .967 save percentage far and away led the nation as he started in 27 of 28 games for Norwich.
“Tom has been a pleasure to coach,” noted former goaltender and head coach Cam Ellsworth. “He is just a humble kid that comes to the rink everyday working hard and wanting to be better each and every time on the ice. He has a terrific work ethic and discipline and is tremendously competitive. I thought he had a terrific season last year when we advanced to the national championship game but he was even better and more consistent this year.”
With an overall record of 23-2-2 and a conference record of 15-1-1, Aubrun showed the consistency his coach describes with a 0.76 GAA and .976 SP with nine shutouts in the highly competitive NEHC. His season long excellence earned him both the Goaltender and Player of the Year Awards as he closed out his career with 50 wins in 65 games played at Norwich.
“It’s really a wonderful thing to see a player like Tom and his humility recognized for such a great season,” said Ellsworth. “I have never been a part nor seen anything like this unprecedented shutout streak. You never go into a game saying let’s go get a shutout, you want the team and your goaltender to stay in the moment and just play the best they can. Tom, with all of his success never changed his work level, and truly stayed in the moment even as the streak and pressure with that continued to grow. He really is that humble kid who is a terrific teammate all while he has pretty much re-written the record book here at Norwich with his play this season and last. One of the regrettable things about the abrupt end to the season is we don’t know how much longer he could have pushed the streak.”
Aubrun is considering a number of options for continuing his hockey career at the professional level when hockey resumes in the post-corona
virus timeframe.
“Tom has always focused on being better and I think he has not found anywhere near his ceiling as a player,” noted Ellsworth. “Based on what I have seen from him, I expect he will have great success at the next level.”
