By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
Freshman forward Ludwig Karlsson was unanimously named selection to the 2012 Pro Ambitions Hockey East All-Rookie Team, the league announced March 14.
Karlsson, a 21-year-old native of Stockholm, Sweden, earned the honors after leading the men’s hockey team in scoring with 10 goals and 16 assists in his first season with the Huskies.
“For me, it’s just a lot of fun,” Karlsson said. “It’s always fun to get an award like that. It just gets you confident and builds your confidence for next year, so I’m really happy with that.”
The All-Rookie honorees were selected by the head coaches of each of the 10 Hockey East teams. Karlsson was one of three unanimous selections, along with Boston College forward and Northeastern de-commit Johnny Gaudreau and UMass-Lowell forward Scott Wilson.
Wilson (15-20-35) and Gaudreau (16-16-32) were the only Hockey East freshmen with more points than Karlsson, who finished tied for 33rd in scoring in Hockey East and 14th in points per game (.81) among rookies nationally.
“I got a lot of confidence from [head] coach [Jim Madigan],” Karlsson said. “I played a lot, I played with good teammates, I played with [junior forward Vinny] Saponari a lot the whole year and he helped me a lot. I got a lot of help.”
Karlsson’s award-winning freshman year garnered significant interest from teams in the professional ranks, but Karlsson said that, despite receiving contract offers, he will look to build on his rookie year and return to Northeastern for his sophomore season.
“It was a few weeks there right after the season was over which was pretty new for me, a lot of questions about whether I was going to leave,” Karlsson said. “[But] I’m coming back for another year and hopefully I’ll have another good year [in 2012-13].”
Karlsson opened his career on a tear, scoring five points in his first four games as a Husky between Oct. 14 and Oct. 29. He tallied his first career goal in a 4-1 loss to Merrimack College Oct. 21 and earned two assists in a 4-3 overtime loss to BC the following night.
Karlsson set another career mark for points in a single game when he tallied four assists in a 9-2 win over then-No. 2 University of Notre Dame Dec. 2, giving him 14 points through his first 12 games.
By Jan. 27, Karlsson had scored nine goals and 13 assists, accumulating 22 points in just 21 games and putting him on pace to surpass the totals of former Northeastern forwards Brodie Reid (11-17-28) and Wade Macleod (11-16-27) in their rookie seasons in 2010-11 and 2007-08, respectively.
But Karlsson added just one goal and three assists in his final 11 games as the Huskies imploded and finished ninth in Hockey East, missing the postseason for the second time in three seasons.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” Karlsson said. “It’s always fun to get [an] award, and I accepted it and I’m really happy and I’m proud of myself, but it would be a lot more fun if we were still in the playoffs.”
Northeastern has had at least one player honored on the All-Rookie Team in four consecutive years. Three players on this past season’s Northeastern roster have been awarded past Hockey East rookie honors, including redshirt-junior forward Steve Quailer (2009), junior goaltender Chris Rawlings (2010) and sophomore defenseman Anthony Bitetto (2011).
Also named to the 2012 All-Rookie Team were forwards Ross Mauermann from Providence College, Kyle Reynolds of University of Vermont, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk representing the University of New Hampshire, Boston University Terrier Alexx Privitera, Zack Kamrass from University of Massahcusettes-Lowell and UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith.
