Colorado College’s Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling and Denver’s Paul Stastny and George Gwozdecky top the list of USCHO.com’s 2004-05 Division I Men’s Year-End Honorees, announced Friday.
During the 2004-05 season, little has separated Sertich, a junior from Roseville, Minn., and Sterling, a junior from Pasadena, Calif. The pair of forwards led the Colorado College Tigers and the nation in scoring with 61 points each entering the NCAA tournament, as Sterling had 32 goals while Sertich had 25. As a result, the linemates were named co-winners of the USCHO.com Player of the Year award. The duo led Colorado College to a share of the WCHA regular-season title, second place in the WCHA tournament and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Stastny, who has 15-27-42 on the season to lead all WCHA rookies in scoring, was named the USCHO.com Rookie of the Year. Stastny came into the Denver lineup and quickly contributed to the Pioneers’ pursuit of a second consecutive NCAA championship. The forward from St. Louis, Mo., helped lead the team to a share of the regular-season title and the WCHA tournament Championship.
Gwozdecky, the USCHO.com Coach of the Year, was the mastermind behind the Pioneer bench. After winning the NCAA championship last year, the Pioneers came back with a vengeance, picked up steam as the season went along, and won a share of the MacNaughton Cup to go with the Broadmoor Trophy. The Pioneers are 28-9-2 heading into the NCAA tournament.
Other awards are as follows:
Most Improved Player goes to Niagara’s Ryan Gale. In his first three seasons, Gale scored a modest total of 27 points on 16 goals and 11 assists. This season the St. Catharine’s, Ont., native blasted by that mark with 24 goals and 14 assists for the Purple Eagles.
Bowling Green’s Jordan Sigalet is the winner of the Sportsmanship Award. In December, the senior goaltender from Surrey, B.C., disclosed that he was suffering from multiple sclerosis, which didn’t stop him from becoming a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist. Epitomizing his love of the game and its fans, Sigalet went so far as to encourage opposing crowds to keep the heat on him as he manned the Falcon nets after the announcement of his illness.
The Unsung Hero Award goes to Harvard’s Ryan Lannon. The senior from Grafton, Mass., may not get the recognition that some others do, but he sparkled on defense for the Crimson, compiling a +25 plus-minus rating on the season (+66 for his career), while playing in all situations along the blueline.
The Defensive Player of the Year is Cornell’s David McKee. The sophomore shattered the legendary Ken Dryden’s career shutout record at Cornell this season in only his second year as a collegian. He leads the nation with a goals against average of 1.20, and coming into the NCAA tournament is tied for first in the nation in save percentage at .947.
Also named Friday were three All-USCHO teams, as well as the All-Rookie team. Colorado College placed three players on the All-USCHO teams, while Michigan, Denver, Harvard and Cornell saw two players honored.
All-USCHO First Team
F Patrick Eaves, Jr., Boston College
F Marty Sertich, Jr., Colorado College
F Brett Sterling, Jr., Colorado College
D Matt Carle, Sr., Denver
D Andy Greene, Jr., Miami
G David McKee, So., Cornell
All-USCHO Second Team
F Preston Callander, Sr., New Hampshire
F T.J. Hensick, So., Michigan
F Colin Murphy, Sr., Michigan Tech
D Mark Stuart, Jr., Colorado College
D Noah Welch, Sr., Harvard
G Tuomas Tarkki, Sr., Northern Michigan
All-USCHO Third Team
F Matt Moulson, Jr., Cornell
F Andrew Murray, Sr., Bemidji State
F Jeff Tambellini, Jr., Michigan
D Reid Cashman, So., Quinnipiac
D Brett Skinner, Jr., Denver
G Dov Grumet-Morris, Sr., Harvard
Honorable Mention
Sean Collins, Sr., New Hampshire
Jason Guerriero, Sr., Northeastern
Scott Mifsud, Sr., Vermont
Jared Ross, Sr., Alabama-Huntsville
Matt Hunwick, So., Michigan
Matt Jones, Sr., North Dakota
Brian Yandle, Jr., New Hampshire
Dave Caruso, Jr., Ohio State
Steve Silverthorn, Sr., Colgate
All-USCHO Rookie Team
F Joe Pavelski, Wisconsin
F Paul Stastny, Denver
F Bill Thomas, Nebraska-Omaha
D Alex Goligoski, Minnesota
D Bret Tyler, Maine
G Joe Fallon, Vermont
