Massachusetts-Lowell’s Norm Bazin has been named the Spencer Penrose Award winner as the Division I men’s coach of the year.
Bazin led the River Hawks to Hockey East regular season and playoff titles and a No. 1 regional seed in the NCAA tournament. Lowell plays Yale in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday.
Finalists for the award, presented by the American Hockey Coaches Association, are the coaches of Frozen Four teams and the winners of the league coach of the year awards.
In his second season at his alma mater, Bazin has led the River Hawks to a 28-10-2 record that includes wins in 14 of their last 15 games.
He has been his league’s coach of the year four years in a row: two at Lowell, two at Hamilton in the Division III NESCAC.
Last season, he posted the largest turnaround in NCAA Division I history, taking Lowell from five wins in 2010-11 to a 24-13-1 season in 2011-12.
