SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Springfield Thunderbirds defenseman Scott Perunovich has been selected as the AHL Player of the Week for the period ending October 24, 2021.
Perunovich notched one goal and five assists in three weekend games for Springfield as the Thunderbirds moved to the top of the Atlantic Division.
On Friday evening, Perunovich netted his first pro goal to help the Thunderbirds to a 3-1 victory over Bridgeport. He then notched two assists on Saturday in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders in the back end of the teams’ home-and-home set. Perunovich completed the weekend by registering three more assists as Springfield (4-0-1-0) rallied for a 4-1 win at Providence on Sunday afternoon.
Perunovich, 23, missed the entire 2020-21 season due to injury but now leads all AHL skaters in assists (8) and points (9) in 2021-22, finding the scoresheet in each of his first five games as a professional. The native of Hibbing, Minn., was a second-round pick by St. Louis in the 2018 NHL Draft and signed with the Blues after three seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2017-18 and 2018-19 before earning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top collegiate player in 2019-20.
