Hockey Awards

This is the time of year in college hockey when awards are handed out in bunches. Today, I'd like to weigh in a few of the awards recently given out.


I'm going to start with Inside College Hockey's annual awards. I highly respect this site and have to admit that I visit it several times a day. This year they selected DU's own Matt Carle as both the Player and Defensemen of the year. There's not enough anyone can say about the year that Matt Carle is having. Sure, DU didn't make it to the NCAA Regionals, hell they didn't even make it to the WCHA Final Five, but that is not Matt's fault. He put up stellar numbers all year long but it just wasn't enough. Matt also was named the WCHA Player of the Year and the WCHA Defensemen of the Year, a feat never which has never occurred before in the history of the WCHA. It was surprisingsuprising to anyone that after the NCAA Tournament Selection show, Matt announced that he had signed with the San Jose Sharks of the NHL. Thus far he has played three games, has two goals, and eight penalty minutes. Finally, Matt is one of the "Hobey Hat Trick," meaning he is one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Trophy. Good Luck Matt!

For Goalie of the Year, INCH chose Brian Elliott of Wisconsin, Cory Schnieder of BC as the runner up. This is a tough category, as sometimes truly great goaltenders play for teams that just can't seem to make it, like Bobby Goepfert of Saint Cloud State. I guess (though I hate to do it) I'm going to have to agree with INCH on this one, as Brian Elliott had a HUGE impact on Wisconsin this year, for example, when he was injured in January, the Badgers lost 5 in a row, AT HOME! If that isn't an impact, I don't know what is...

For Rookie of the Year, INCH chose Phil Kessel, that completely over-hyped Gopher from Wisconsin. Every time I saw him play, I was completely unwowed (now, I have to be straight and say that when I heard all this stuff coming into the season about him, I said to myself, "Catie, give this kid a chance, it's hard to be amazing during a freshman season with so many people watching. DON'T judge him!) So I didn't. Now looking back at the season, I just can't see what is so great about this kid, but maybe it was all the hype. I like the runner-up, TJ Oshie, much better. That kid can just flat out play! His stats may not have been as good as Kessel's, but he had an impact when it really mattered, he scored 2 goals in the NCAA regionals to help his team to go the Frozen Four. Whereas in the last three games of Minnesota's season, encompassing the WCHA Final Five semi and consolation games and the Semi game of the NCAA tournament, Kessel had two assists, and that was in the 7-8 overtime loss to Saint Cloud State.

Last but certainly not least, for coach of the year, INCH chose Bob Motzko of Saint Cloud State. I have to fully agree with INCH on this one. After the resignation of their previous coach, the team seemed to be standing on shaky ground. Motzko completely turned this team around, and they eventually became major contenders. They were so very close to attaining home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Then they managed to beat CC on their home ice to make it to the play-in game of the WCHA Final Five. They beat Minnesota-Duluth, and Minnesota in consecutive nights, then went on to play North Dakota for the chance to get an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament, their only chance of making it. They fell short but should be proud of their efforts. Motzko made a big impression in his first year and we should look for St. Cloud to be a true powerhouse next year.

I'm not going to go into the All-American teams because honestly, they don't mean a whole lot to me, not to mention, I'm not completely familiar with all of the players on the teams. If you're interested, go here: INCH Awards


Next, we'll move to USCHO.com's award winners.

Again, Matt Carle earned both Player and Defensemen of the Year honors. So all I have to say is if you don't know anything about him, go here: Carle for Hobey!

Enrico Blasi of Miami (Ohio) garnered Coach of the year honors, and I do believe he is quite deserving. Like Bob Motzko, he took a team that was predicted to do poorly (6th in the CCHA) and made it great. They were a REAL threat throughout the year. They completely dominated the CCHA, running away with the regular season title, but faltering during the playoffs.

Rookie of the Year Honors were split between Phil Kessel and Jeff Lerg of Michigan State. For info (ie my opinion) on Kessel, see above. I did get the chance to see Jeff Lerg play in net for Michigan State in the regional games against New Hampshire and Maine. He was able to shutout New Hampshire with 36 saves in 60 minutes. His team lost to Maine in the East final, in the final minute of the third period, Lerg was pulled as Michigan State was behind one point. Maine's Greg Moore scored an empty net goal for a score of 5-3 but with 5 seconds left in the game, Michigan State's Drew Miller scored for a final score of 5-4. A hard fought game.

Again, USCHO.com has All-American teams, as well as some other awards, go here: USCHO.com Awards


Now for the real live awards, the ones that when a player is in the NHL, showup on their past awards list. As I'm really only interested in the WCHA, that's all I'll be talking about.

WCHA Player of the Year
Matt Carle, Jr, D, University of Denver


WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year
Ted O'Leary, Sr, F, University of Denver


WCHA Defensive Player of the Year
Matt Carle, Jr, D, University of dDenver


WCHA Rookie of the Year
Phil Kessel, Fr, F, University of Minnesota


WCHA Coach of the Year
Don Lucia, University of Minnesota Bob Motzko, St. Cloud State University


WCHA Scoring Champion
Paul Stastny, So, F, University of Denver


WCHA Goaltending Champion
Brian Elliott, Jr, University of Wisconsin

Again, All-WCHA Teams, go here: WCHA Awards

All-Academic Team (must have completed at least a year [two semesters or three quarters] at present school and have a minimum 3.00 GPA on a 4.00 scale) has 92 members, for DU the following players received honors (those with * by their names are previous honorees):
University of Denver:
Zach Blom (Jr, D, Englewood, CO);
Matt Carle* (Jr, D, Anchorage, AK);
Steven Cook (Jr, F, Denver, CO);
J.D. Corbin* (Jr, F, Littleton, CO);
Glenn Fisher* (Jr, G, Edmonton, AB);
Ryan Helgason* (Jr, F, Woodbury, MN);
Jon James* (Jr, D, Arnold, MD);
Danny King* (Jr, G, Colorado Springs, CO);
Brock McMorris* (Jr, F, Cherry Hills, CO);
Ted O'Leary* (Sr, F, Arvada, CO);
Paul Stastny (So, F, St. Louis, MO);
Andrew Thomas (So, D, Bow, NH).

For complete coverage of the Awards Banquet, go here: WCHA Awards


~Catie