Brock Boeser missed the last month-plus of the season with a back injury.
He did enough before the injury, though, to be one of three finalists for the NHL's Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie.
Boeser, the former UND star and Vancouver Canucks forward, was named a finalist Sunday along with Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller, who played at Boston University, and New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal.
The winner will be announced June 20th at the NHL Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Boeser is bidding to become UND's second-ever winner of the award. Ed Belfour won the Calder Trophy in 1991.
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Jonathan Toews was a top-three finalist in 2008.
Boeser, of Burnsville, Minn., had 29 goals and 55 points, despite playing in just 62 games because of an injury sustained on March 5. The Canucks described the injury as a "non-structural, non-displaced fracture of the transverse process in his lower back."
Earlier this season, Boeser was the MVP of the NHL's All-Star Game in Tampa's Amalie Arena, the same place he registered four points in the 2016 NCAA national championship game, giving UND its eighth national title.
He also won the accuracy competition during the Skills Challenge at the All-Star Game.
Barzal, the favorite to win the Calder Trophy, had 22 goals and 85 points for the Islanders.
Keller had 23 goals and 65 points in 82 games.
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