A sensation again?
Last year’s NMU freshman sensation Auyeung-Ashton on Preseason All-CCHA Team
Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton gets into position to make a save during a hockey game played against Colorado College at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Oct. 17. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, left, gets a glove on a Colorado College shot with Wildcats’ defenseman Joe Schiller, middle right, in on the play during their hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton gets into position to make a save during a hockey game played against Colorado College at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Oct. 17. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, left, gets a glove on a Colorado College shot with Wildcats’ defenseman Joe Schiller, middle right, in on the play during their hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
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MARQUETTE -- A sensation not just in Marquette or the Central Collegiate Hockey Association but around the world of college hockey, Northern Michigan University's Oliver Auyeung-Ashton has high expectations this season as a sophomore.
Somehow ready to take on an 8-on-6 power play, the eight players on the Preseason All-CCHA Team include Auyeung-Ashton as the only goalie of that unit.
He'll be relied upon heavily if the Wildcats want to escape the league basement they've been deeply buried in the past two seasons.
They're again predicted to finish there in both the preseason coaches and media polls, though these votes are notorious for picking teams where they finished the year before.
Auyeung-Ashton joins three forwards and four defensemen from five schools also making the preseason team. They include Bemidji State forward Oliver Peer, who was also chosen the CCHA Preseason Player of the Year.
The others on the honor team are Michigan Tech forward Max Koskipirtti, Minnesota State-Mankato forward Luigi Benincasa, Bowling Green State defenseman Breck McKinley, Augustana defenseman Hayden Hennen, Mankato defenseman Will Skahan and Augustana defenseman Owen Baumgartner.
Chosen as Preseason CCHA Rookie of the Year is Bowling Green defenseman Mazden Leslie.
As a true freshman himself in 2025-26, Auyeung-Ashton was named a finalist for CCHA Rookie of the Year and was named to the CCHA Rookie Team.
He also made the Mike Richter Award watch list, an award given to the best goalie in the NCAA, and was a Hobey Baker Award nominee, that honor for the best player in college hockey the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy in college football.
Other Hobey Baker nominees in the CCHA were Bowling Green defenseman Brayden Crampton and St. Thomas forward Lucas Van Vliet. St. Thomas has left the league and joined the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Auyeung-Ashton had the numbers to back up these honors, compiling a 2.67 goals-against average and .930 saves percentage in 18 games. He was second in CCHA saves percentage to Augustana's Josh Kotai, while the goals-against was fourth for netminders with at least the numbers of game Auyeung-Ashton played.
Nationally for freshmen with 18 or more games, his saves percentage was No. 1, including ahead of Michigan standout Jack Ivankovic's .922, and goals-against 10th.
His first appearance last season was in the season's second weekend at Ohio State on Oct. 10, when he came on in relief of William Gramme, who had transferred to NMU from the University of Wisconsin.
Auyeung-Ashton stopped all eight shots in nearly all of the third period he played in the series' first game, then made 45 saves while allowing two goals in Game 2 for a .957 saves percentage that night. He earned CCHA Rookie of the Week for a weekend with a .964 saves percentage and 1.53 goals-against in 78 minutes.
The 45 saves was the most by a freshman goalie in his collegiate debut in the "modern" NCAA era, defined as since 2004, and most by an NMU freshman since Atte Tolvanen made 46 in an October 2015 game. Later in his career at NMU, Tolvanen went on to post five straight shutouts, tying the NCAA record for most consecutive blankings.
Auyeung-Ashton also was the ninth freshman goalie in the NCAA with at least 45 saves in his first start in the past two decades, and only the second in seven years.
A native of Coquitlam, British Columbia, he posted four of the top 12 single-game saves totals in the CCHA all season, with 45 the most. He also had the first seven and nine of the top 12 among freshman goalies in the league.
Another great night for Auyeung-Ashton was making 38 saves in a 2-0 shutout victory over Bemidji State on Jan. 30. Those 38 saves in a shutout were third most among freshmen and sixth highest overall for the season in the NCAA.
Unfortunately hampered by an injury from November to early January, he recovered well enough to make back-to-back 28-save performances in a pair of 2-1 losses on the road at Lake Superior State not long after returning.
Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the honors. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.