U.S. College Hockey Online has selected Norwich forward Keith Aucoin as Division III Player of the Year.
The senior from Chelmsford, Mass., had 26 goals and 30 assists to lead his team in scoring. He is the all-time leading scorer in Norwich history with 240 points, and was an integral part of Norwich’s 1999-2000 Division III national championship.
“Keith Aucoin has been one of the most dominant players in Division III for the past four years,” said Norwich head coach Mike McShane. “What is most special about Keith is how his personality and work ethic has carried over to the other members of the team.”
This has been a year of accolades for Aucoin. His honors include:
This is the third season that USCHO.com has honored a Division III player, and Aucoin has won the award twice. He captured Player of the Year honors after his sophomore season in 1999, and was runner-up last year to St. Thomas’ Steve Aronson.
“I would like to thank everyone who voted for me to receive such a prestigious award,” Aucoin said. “It is really exciting to win this award for the second time and I will accept this award on behalf of my team because hockey is a team sport and without them this award would not be possible.
“I had the opportunity to play with so many great players here at Norwich. I would like to thank Coach McShane and his staff and also thanks to my parents for all their support.”
Ballots from a committee of USCHO.com staff, plus input from a fan poll similar to USCHO.com’s highly successful “Vote for Hobey,” were used to select the winner.
This year’s runner up was junior defenseman Jerry Galway from RIT. Other finalists included, in alphabetical order, Jason Boudrow (Tufts), Peter Bournazakis (RIT), Brendon Hodge (Plattsburgh), Ivan Prokic (Wisconsin-Superior), Jeff Rowe (Stonehill) and Niklas Sundberg (Plattsburgh).
