University of Minnesota men’s hockey player Danny Irmen (Fargo, N.D.) has been named the CSTV/HCA National Division I Player of the Month. In eight games played during January, he led the second-ranked Golden Gophers (18-6-4, 13-5-2 WCHA) to a 7-1-0 record while topping the team in scoring with seven goals, seven assists and 14 points and power-play goals with two. He also scored a game-winning goal, a shorthanded marker and posted a +5 plus-minus rating.

A 6-0, 193-pound junior forward, Irmen opened the month with two goals and an assist in a series sweep of Niagara of the CHA on Jan. 6-7, before matching his career high for points in a game with a goal and three assists in a 6-1 victory over North Dakota on Jan.13. Irmen, a third-round selection by the Minnesota Wild in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, produced a goal and an assist on a game-winning goal in a pair of conference wins over visiting Colorado College on Jan. 20-21. The Minnesota captain finished the month with a hat trick in a 5-4 victory at Wisconsin on Jan. 27, before setting up two more goals, including the game-winner, in a 3-1 victory the following night earn a share of WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Irmen, who played junior hockey for Lincoln of the USHL, was an All-WCHA Third Team selection last season and co-winner of his team’s John Mariucci MVP award when he produced 24 goals and 19 assists in 44 games. He carries a four-game point streak into February during which he’s produced 4-3--7. Irmen’s 12-14-26 this season ranks him third on his team in scoring despite missing nine games earlier in the season because of a broken finger.