TCHB National Awards
By Fetch
Last year’s awards went off as a smashing success (sure), and I’m back again for another post rewarding the best of the best in college hockey for the 2009-10 season.
Player of the year – Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin
What hasn’t been said about the Badgers’ captain? Geoffrion ended the year with 28 goals and 50 points, and provided great defense and stellar leadership as he led the Badgers to a 2nd place finish in the WCHA, a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and a trip to the national championship game.
You can read more about the Hobey winner here and here
Coach of the year – Dave Hakstol, North Dakota
There were a ton of coaches I thought about for this spot. Nate Leaman at Union turned the Dutchmen into an ECAC contender. CJ Marottolo took Sacred Heart from under .500 to 2nd place in Atlantic Hockey, but Hakstol lost probable Hobey candidate, and the team’s captain, Chay Genoway just 8 games into the WCHA season. After going into a rut, the Sioux responded with 12 wins in their final 14 games, including an 8 game winning streak and a run to the WCHA tournament championship. Hakstol’s team did so despite relying on only 4 defensemen, some iffy goaltending, and their 2nd leading goal scorer having just 16 tallies.
Freshman of the year – Andy Taranto, Alaska
Stephane Da Costa has the edge in raw stats, as he had more goals and points per game than Taranto, but Taranto did his scoring in the CCHA, where it was much tougher to score goals. He led all rookies with 18 goals and finished the year with 42 points. He was a huge part of Alaska’s first ever berth into the NCAA tournament and scored almost one fifth of their goals.
Goalie of the year – Ben Scrivens, Cornell
Although he had a rough time against UNH in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Scrivens had yet another stellar year. He surpassed Ken Dryden on Cornell’s all-time shutouts list, and led the country in save percentage with a .934 mark. Scrivens had 7 shutouts, which were 3 off Ryan Miller’s single season mark, including 3 in a row in the ECAC playoffs.
First team All-Americans
F – Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin
F – Bobby Butler, New Hampshire
F – Gustav Nyquist, Maine
D – Brendan Smith, Wisconsin
D – Erik Gustafsson, Northern Michigan
G – Ben Scrivens, Cornell
2nd team All-Americans
F – Rhett Rakhshani, Denver
F – Mark Olver, Northern Michigan
F – Nick Johnson, Sacred Heart
D – Tom Dignard, Yale
D – Blake Kessell, New Hampshire
G – Marc Cheverie, Denver
3rd team All-Americans
F – Cam Atkinson, Boston College
F – Chase Polacek, RPI
F – Broc Little, Yale
D – Jeff Petry, Michigan State
D – Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
G – Cody Reichard, Miami
Freshman All-Americans
F – Andy Taranto, Alaska
F – Stephane Da Costa, Merrimack
F – Danny Kristo, North Dakota
D – Matt Donovan, Denver
D – Chris Tanev, RIT
G – Mike Lee, St. Cloud State