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Ethen Frank
Born (1998-02-05)February 5, 1998,
Papillion, Nebraska, USA
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
178 lb (81 kg; 12 st 10 lb)
Position Center
Shoots Right
AHL team
F. teams
Hershey Bears
Western Michigan
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2022–present

Ethen Frank is an American professional ice hockey center for the Hershey Bears. He was an All-American for Western Michigan in 2022.[1]

Playing career[]

Frank spent several years playing junior hockey near his home town in the Omaha Lancers system. In his final year of 16-and-under play, he averaged more than two points per game in three separate leagues and made a brief appearance in the USHL. During his senior year in high school, Frank became a full-time member of the Lincoln Stars, playing against men who were 2- or 3-years older. He put up decent numbers that season but came into his own after graduating. He finished second on the team in both goals and points and ended his junior career by accepting a scholarship at Western Michigan.

Similar to what had occurred in the USHL, Frank took a while to get up to the speed of the NCAA game. He produced modest numbers as a freshman but rounded into form as a sophomore. Frank saw a bit of a regression during his junior season but both he and the Broncos suffered a terrible fate when the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] In what was supposed to be his fourth and final season with the program, Frank had to wait nearly two months to play his first game. When he did, however, he began scoring at an increased pace and ended up leading the team with 13 goals in just 24 games. Unfortunately, the team did not fare well during the strange year and finished 6th in the conference standings.

Because the NCAA had already announced that it would not count the 2021 season towards the 4-year limit for player eligibility, Frank was able to return for a 5th season with Western Michigan.[3] From the start of the season, everything seemed to align for WMU including the torrent of goals provided by Frank. He helped the Broncos put together an enviable record and ensure the team a spot in the NCAA tournament. He distinguished himself by leading the nation with 26 goals and was named an AHCA West Second Team All-American. Though the Broncos fell in the NCHC Championship game, reaching the conference final enabled Western Michigan to receive a #1 seed and a favorable draw in the regional semifinals. Frank's final collegiate point came on the game's opening goal which turned out to be vital for the Broncos as the game eventually went into overtime. Less than two minutes into the extra session, Frank was on the ice with the rest of the Broncos, celebrating the first NCAA tournament victory in program history.[4] Though the team's season ended one game later, that did not diminish what Frank had accomplished with the Broncos. He was able to parlay his collegiate success into a professional contract and signed with the Hershey Bears.[5]

Career statistics[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2014–15 Lincoln Stars USHL 3 0 2 2 2
2015–16 Lincoln Stars USHL 48 10 9 19 4 1 0 0 0 0
2016–17 Lincoln Stars USHL 55 18 23 41 77
2017–18 Western Michigan NCHC 30 7 5 12 23
2018–19 Western Michigan NCHC 34 15 11 26 29
2019–20 Western Michigan NCHC 32 9 11 20 6
2020–21 Western Michigan NCHC 24 13 8 21 4
2021–22 Western Michigan NCHC 38 26 13 39 34
2021–22 Hershey Bears AHL 5 1 0 1 0
NCAA totals 158 70 48 118 96

Awards and honours[]

Award Year
College
All-NCHC First Team 2021–22 [6]
AHCA West Second Team All-American 2021–22 [1]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Four players return to 2021-22 Division I men’s All-American teams, led by three-time pick Dryden McKay", April 8, 2022. 
  2. NCHC Tournament Cancelled Effective Immediately (March 12, 2020). Retrieved on March 12, 2020.
  3. NCAA approves blanket waiver for 2020 fall sports athletes to retain year of eligibility. CBS Sports (August 21, 2020). Retrieved on January 25, 2021.
  4. "2015-16 WMU HOCKEY RECORD BOOK", Western Michigan Broncos. 
  5. Ethen Frank Signs With the AHL's Hershey Bears. Wester Michigan Broncos (April 11, 2022). Retrieved on August 3, 2022.
  6. Five Different Teams Represented on All-NCHC First Team. NCHC (March 9, 2022). Retrieved on March 16, 2022.

External links[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ethen Frank. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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