TC's White, Thompson honored by NAHL

The Traverse City North Stars are busy chasing the ultimate team prize – the NAHL’s Robertson Cup – but have picked up some individual accolades along the way.

Defenseman Travis White was Traverse City’s lone representative on the All-North Division squad, while winger Garrett Thompson was among eight league finalists for USA Hockey’s annual Junior Player of the Year award.

White, who has spent the past two seasons with Traverse City after winning the Robertson Cup with St. Louis in 2008, scored a goal and assisted on 15 others in 45 games this season. His +23 plus-minus rating was ninth among defensemen and 14th among all NAHL skaters. White has a pair of assists and is +7 through six postseason contests.

The Stars’ captain has amassed six goals and 36 assists in 149 career regular season NAHL outings and was an All-North pick in 2008-09 as well. He was joined on the All-North team by former TC blue-liner Mike Schenfeld and a trio of Marquette forwards – Tanner Kero, Andrew Kolb and Garrett Ladd. Rangers goalie Kevin Kissaw was the all-division backstop.

Thompson, who recently committed to Ferris State, led the North Stars with 24 goals and helped stage 26 others. He was fourth in the league at +30 during the regular season and has eight points with a team-best five goals so far in the playoffs.

Thompson and seven other NAHL players – two from each division, including Ladd – will be pared to a group of four finalists before the league’s top player is selected. The league’s final nominee will then be submitted to USA Hockey’s blue-ribbon coaches and administrators for consideration, along with candidates from every other USA Hockey-sanctioned junior league.

White, Thompson, and the rest of the North Stars will be heading to Wenatchee, Wash., for the Robertson Cup next week after first- and second-round playoff sweeps of Janesville and Motor City. The five-team event’s schedule has not yet been finalized as one divisional final series has yet to yield a fifth finalist: St. Louis-Topeka. The decisive fifth game in that series is slated for tonight.