Ryan Cruthers, a senior forward at Robert Morris, took home CHA Player of the Year honors while Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore was named the league’s Coach of the Year and BSU freshman Matt Read was Rookie of the Year in awards announced Thursday.
Along with Vince Rocco of Niagara, Cruthers was a unanimous pick to the conference’s First Team all-league as voted by head coaches and assistant coaches from the conference’s five member schools (which were not allowed to vote for members of their own teams).
Niagara led all schools with five selections, followed by Bemidji State with three. Wayne State and Robert Morris each had two representatives.
At the forward position, Cruthers and Vince Rocco were unanimous selections. Cruthers led the Colonials with 48 points (22 goals, 26 assists) and led the league in points (31), goals (14) and shorthanded goals (three), and was third in assists (17). Rocco led the Purple Eagles with 41 points (14 goals, 27 assists) while leading the league in assists (18) in 20 conference games. Rounding out the First-Team forwards was Wayne State senior Stavros Paskaris, who led the conference in power-play points (13), ranked second in scoring (27 points, nine goals, 18 assists) and assists (18), and sixth in goals (nine).
Three members were named to the defensive team. Wayne State sophomore Jeff Caister tied for third in defenseman scoring with 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) and ranked seventh in assists (13). Bemidji State junior Cody Bostock also tied for third in defenseman scoring with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) and ranked eighth in power-play points (nine) while finishing the regular season with a +2 rating. Niagara sophomore Ryan Annesley was the final blueliner on the First Team. He was +3 on the season while placing fifth in defenseman scoring with 13 points (six goals, seven assists).
Niagara netminder Juliano Pagliero was named to the First Team between the pipes after leading the conference in save percentage (.935) while ranking second in goals-against average (2.02) and winning percentage (.714) with a 9-3-2 league mark. Pagliero also recorded six shutouts on the year.
The league’s Student-Athlete of the Year was Robert Morris’ Joel Gasper, who holds a 4.00 grade-point average while majoring in manufacturing engineering.
First Team All-CHA
F Ryan Cruthers*, Robert Morris Sr., (Farmingdale, N.Y.)
F Vince Rocco*, Niagara Jr., (Woodbridge, Ont.)
F Stavros Paskaris, Wayne State Sr., (Dearborn, Mich.)
D Jeff Caister, Wayne State So., (Mississauga, Ont.)
D Cody Bostock, Bemidji State Jr., (Salmon Arm, B.C.)
D Ryan Annesley, Niagara So., (Ajax, Ont.)
G Juliano Pagliero, Niagara Jr., (Dalroy, Alb.)
* unanimous selection
Second Team All-CHA
F Matt Caruana, Niagara Sr., (Orono, Ont.)
F Travis Winter, Bemidji State Jr., (St. Cloud, Minn.)
F Chris Margott, Robert Morris Jr., (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
D Tyler Gotto, Niagara So., (Calgary, Alb.)
G Matt Climie, Bemidji State Sr., (Leduc, Alb.)
All-Rookie Team
F Matt Read*, Bemidji State (Ilderton, Ontario)
F Nathan Longpre*, Robert Morris (Peterborough, Ontario)
F Andrew Coburn, Alabama-Hunstville (Mount Forest, Ontario)
D Denny Urban*, Robert Morris (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
D Ryan Adams, Wayne State (Deloraine, Man.)
G Adam Avramenko, Niagara (Strathmore, Alb.)
* unanimous selection
