By Redwing77
I haven't posted in a while and I thought I'd do this. The NCHC announced its award finalists today. I'm going to go through and give my opinion on as many of the nominees as I feel comfortable opining upon and finish each section up with my predicted winner.
Herb Brooks Coach of the Year Award
Finalist #1: Dean Blais (UNO). You can't really argue with his body of work over most of the regular season. UNO was pretty dominant despite not having a real star studded lineup. Ryan Massa returned from personal problems to be every other teams' personnel problem. He was very hard to beat for most of the year. Freshmen Tyler Vesel, Jake Randolph, and defenseman Luke Snuggerud were very nice surprises coming directly from the USHL (coincidentally all from the Omaha Lancers) and Austin Ortega was everything advertised. Blais is no stranger to these types of awards. Most UND fans who were around during Blais' tenure will attest to how good of a coach he is. Oh yeah, going 12-8-4-3 with one of the youngest teams in the nation tends to garner attention too.
Finalist #2: Dave Hakstol (UND). Not bad for all the "he should be fired" crowd, eh? He led UND to the Penrose Cup and won it by 6 points. His team is among the NCAA leaders in a variety of statistical categories. That being said, most coaches who win the conference regular season title will be on this list.
Finalist #3: Scott Sandelin (UMD). Despite finishing 5th in the NCHC, UMD is top 6 in the nation in ranking. His team plays well and is a very solid opponent.
My Prediction: I'd LOVE for it to be Dave Hakstol, but my feeling is that it will be Dean Blais. For most of the season, it was neck and neck with UND and Miami for the Penrose and he did it with a younger team that was picked to finish 6th in preseason NCHC polls.
NCHC Rookie of the Year Award
Finalist #1: Louie Belpedio (D - Miami): I do not know much about this player. However, according to his stats, he's done quite well. 10 points, +7, 21 blocked shots. Not at all bad.
Finalist #2: Patrick Russell (F - SCSU): 10g-10a-20pts. He won 3 Rookie of the Week honors. He was very noticable on the ice.
Finalist #3: Danton Heinen (F- DU): Heinen was the only of the three players listed I looked up as to where he came from (Surrey of the BCHL). What a diamond find for the Pios. Rookie of the Month and 4x Rookie of the Week winner, he led all rookie skaters in points. His 26 points not only led all rookies but was good for 3rd overall in the conference.
My Prediction: Hard for it NOT to be Heinen, so I will play it safe and say Danton Heinen.
NCHC Goaltender of the Year Award
Finalist #1: Ryan Massa (UNO): 2nd team All Conference, great stats, miserable to play against. League-best .933 Save% and 2nd best 2.12 GAA. Nominee for the Mike Richter Award. He is the only senior up for this award.
Finalist #2: Zane McIntyre (UND): Junior goaltender led the NCHC in win percentage (.708), wins (16), and saves (704). First Team All Conference. Mike Richter nominee. 2nd only to Massa in Save Percentage (.931).
Finalist #3: Kasimir Kaskisuo (UMD): A freshman. How about out of the gate good? 24 starts (only other to do that is McIntyre), .918 Save%, and 2.27 GAA. Again, as a freshman. (As an aside: How can he be a finalist for this award and NOT be a finalist for the NCHC Rookie of the Year award?)
My Prediction: Zane McIntyre (UND). Best goaltender in the NCHC and a big reason (perhaps THE reason) why UND is where it is.
NCHC Forward of the Year Award
Finalist #1: Jonny Brodzinski (SCSU): Rocket shot, 13 goals (tied for first), 2 game winners, NCHC leading Power Play scorer. Patrick Russell may be "tomorrow" but Brodzinski is definitely TODAY. 13g-10a for just under 1 point per game in 24 games. First Team All Conference
Finalist #2: Austin Czarnik (Miami): A measely 4 goals on the year (3 in one game ... 2 short handed.. against UND ARGH!!!!) but is among the NCAA leaders in assists (he led the NCHC in assists with 22). Second Team All Conference. 46 points in 24 games means over 1 PPG.
Finalist #3: Trevor Moore (DU): Sophomore. First Team All Conference. 13g-17a-30pts. Tied for league lead in goals but won the scoring title outright. NCHC best +15 as well.
My Prediction: This one is hard. I want to say Trevor Moore and it wouldn't be far fetched, but I'm going to go with Brodzinski.
NCHC Defenseman of the Year Award and Offensive Defensemen Awards
Look at the stats folks. It's going to be Laleggia and it's not even close (13 point difference to be exact).
Defensive Forward of the Year
Czarnik reappears to join DU's Doremus and UND's Mark MacMillan. Defensive statistics for Czarnik and MacMillan are virtually identical (2 shorties, 17 blocked shots with +/- being a bit different).
My Prediction: Ok, I'm going full homer on this one because I honestly don't know who will win this one so I'll go with Mark MacMillan (UND). All 3 are deserving in my opinion.
NCHC Player of the Year
Jonny Brodzinski (SCSU), Joey LaLeggia (DU), and Zane McIntyre (UND) are the finalists. I'm going to go right to my prediction on this one and say it is Joey LaLeggia (DU). YES, I know that McIntyre has been THE man all year but how often does a player who DOESN'T SCORE win the big award? LaLeggia has the vote. Look: Best offensive defenseman by a LONG SHOT, great on defense. He's the total package this year. An opportunity to give the big award to a defensive player who can score. Zane gets snubbed.
DU could be the biggest winner in the amount of awards won this year.
Just my two cents.
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