Check out these lists… I have to say, “what a friggen joke.” Maybe next time they should just call it the homer awards or the Big Schools that everyone likes… There are other schools in college hockey besides Miami, B.C., DU, Michigan, Notre Dame… Or so we have been told in the past by the college hockey pundits.
Ken Morrow Award, best defenseman
The finalists:
Justin Schultz, Wisconsin
David Warsofsky, Boston University
Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin
Taylor Fedun, Princeton
Matt Donovan, Denver
Denny Urban, Robert Morris
That list is lazy and an example of blatant homerism, the writer must not have done an home work on this list. What about Chay Genoway? II guess Dave Starman thinks the only good defensemen in the WCHA are from the Big Ten school of Wisconsin…
Ron Mason Award, top coach
The finalists:
Wayne Wilson, Rochester Institute of Technology
Jeff Blashill, Western Michigan
Nate Leaman, Union
Mark Dennehy, Merrimack
Jerry York, Boston College
Red Berenson, Michigan
Jeff Jackson, Notre Dame
WTF? Really? Seriously? How can you not include one of the following coaches on this list? You would have to think that Dean Blais should at least be a finalist …. One could also make the argument that Dave Hakstol, Scott Sandelin, Dean Blais, and George Gwozdecky should all be worthy of consideration as well.
Dave Poulin Award, best freshman
The finalists:
TJ Tynan, Notre Dame
Anders Lee, Notre Dame
Jason Zucker, Denver
Mike Pereira, Massachusetts
Charlie Coyle, Boston University
Jon Merrill, Michigan
I guess Jaden Schwartz doesn’t deserve a spot on this team either; he missed what 15 games with an injury that he received while playing in the WJC for team Canada and probably would have been the hands on favorite to win the ROY in the WCHA had he not been injuried.
Ken Dryden Award, top goalie
The finalists:
John Muse, Boston College
Keith Kinkaid, Union
Sam Brittain, Denver
Cal Heeter, Ohio State
Pat Nagle, Ferris State
Shawn Hunwick, Michigan
Again this list is a joke as well Aaron Dell is the best goalie in Division 1 hockey statistically with a Record of 26--6-2 with a goals against average of 1.87, and a save percentage of .921 and during that time he picked up 5 shutouts playing against one of the toughest strength of schedules in all of college hockey.
Rick Meagher Award, top defensive forward
The finalists:
Brian Gibbons, Boston College
Ryan Guentzel, Notre Dame
Matt Mangene, Maine
Reilly Smith, Miami
Riley Sheahan, Notre Dame
Matt Rust, Michigan
Looks like Starman is having trouble seeing past the CCHA in this list of finalist again as he has four CCHA players one ECAC and one player from the Hockey East and no players from the WCHA, I do think that there are many good “defensive forwards” in the WCHA. I think that Kyle Ostrow would be a good choice aloong with Jason Gregoire and Matt Frattin as well.
Bavis Brothers Hustle Award
The finalists:
Joe Pereira, Boston University
Carl Hagelin, Michigan
Torey Krug, Michigan State
Pat Cannone, Miami
Jason Zucker, Denver
Reilly Smith, Miami
Antoine Laganiere, Yale
So I guess Dave Starman hasn’t seen Mike or Jack Connolly play from the University of Minnesota Duluth, both players are high energy guys that go 100 miles an hour on the ice on every shift. If your defenders lose sight of these jitter bugs they’ll skate right past you and score before you can blink an eye. I also think Jason Gregoire fits that profile as well as he is one of the better two way forwards in the WCHA that missed seven games this season due to injury and still amassed a respetable 1.28 points per game.
Brian Gionta Award, top forward
The finalists:
Andy Miele, Miami
Carter Camper, Miami
Paul Zanette, Niagara
Paul Thompson, New Hampshire
Matt Frattin, North Dakota
Seriously, I think that Starman has just over looked the forwards in the WCHA; for the record there are quite a few excellent forwards like Mike Connolly UMD (25g-23a-58tps), Jack Connolly UMD (13g-34a-59pts) Matt Frattin UND (33g-21a-54pts), Justine Fontaine UMD (20g-31a-51pts) and Jason Gregoire UND ( 24g-17a-41pts) while missing seven game with an injury. Niagara's Paul Zanette racked up those points playing a less than impressive schedule, lets just call them cupcakes that ranked 51/58. I can only imagine what the aforementioned players would do with that schedule they might be in the 60s or 70s for points.
Dee Rizzo Award, unsung hero
The finalists:
Matt Tomassoni, Miami
Patrick Wey, Boston College
Scooter Vaughn, Michigan
Pat Cannone, Miami
Shawn Hunwick, Michigan
Travis Oleksuk, Minnesota-Duluth
James Mello, Dartmouth
Pat Nagle, Ferris State
One could make the argument that Bemidji State University junior goalie Dan Bakala could have been on this list as well as Bakala had 13-12-4 record with a save percentage of .922 and a GAA of 2.41 playing on a team that record and backed stopped his team to a 5-0-1 record against the UNO Mavericks.
CCHA - 22 finalists
Hockey East - 9 finalists
WCHA - 8 finalists
ECAC - 4 finalists
Atlantic - 1
