Midseason Awards
By Fetch
It’s that time of year again. It’s not exactly the midpoint of the college hockey season, but it’s close enough and I have just enough free time to dish out some midseason awards.
Coming into the year, Denver was the (almost) consensus #1 team in the country. 4 months later, and we’re right back where we started. But along the way, there have been surprise teams, disappointing teams, and some All-Americans. Let’s take a gander, shall we?
Surprise Team – Ferris State
The Bulldogs were unranked in our preseason power rankings, and quite frankly a CCHA afterthought. Fast forward to January, and they’re a top 10 team in the country. Ferris leads the CCHA, the most defensive conference in the country (I think, I haven’t ran the numbers yet) in scoring at 3.5 goals per game, and they are 2nd in the CCHA in defense at 1.91 goals allowed per game. Ferris gets it done via balance, as they have just one player, Senior Blair Riley, who is in the top 20 in the conference in scoring.
Speaking of Riley, he leads the conference in goals per game with .73 gpg and is 2nd in the conference in goals with 16. Ferris hasn’t played the toughest schedule as of yet, but they are tied for 1st in the CCHA with Miami. And guess who comes to Ferris this weekend?
Biggest Disappointment – BU
BU was ranked third in our preseason rankings. Whoops. Granted the injury to Nick Bonino has hurt the team, but the Terriers just aren’t getting it done. BU’s highest scorer is tied for 17th in Hockey East and it is defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who has 17 points, and just 3 goals. Their highest scorer is Zach Cohen with 8. They are scoring 3 goals per game, but in the offense heavy Hockey East, that is good for just 8th in the conference. And goalie Kieran Millan has collapsed, ranking last in the conference in save percentage with a .869 mark. They have talent, but I don’t think they’ll be making it back to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach of the year – Scott Owens, CC
With Richard Bachman leaving for the professional ranks early, and the hubbub over the John Moore fiasco, Colorado College was a WCHA afterthought this year. I thought they were a real threat to finish down with Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech. Fast forward to today, and the Tigers are in 4th place in the WCHA. The Tigers have gotten great goaltending from Joe Howe (better than Mike Lee), and have enjoyed a big year from Bill Sweatt, as well as Mike Testuwide, who has drawn some interest from the NHL.
CC has a tough schedule for the rest of the season, especially if Minnesota plays up to their talent, so if they are a home ice team at the end of the year, expect Owens to rake in the national awards.
First team All-Americans
F – Gustav Nyquist, Maine
F – Blair Riley, Ferris State
F – Rhett Rakhshani, Denver
D – Brendan Smith, Wisconsin
D – Blake Kessel, New Hampshire
G – Marc Cheverie, Denver
Second Team
F – Corey Tropp, Michigan State
F – Cory Conacher, Canisius
F – Jack Connolly, Minnesota – Duluth
D – Jeff Petry, Michigan State
D – Nick Schaus, UMass-Lowell
G – Cody Reichard, Miami