Hockey East announced Thursday the 2020-21 all-rookie team and six other season-long awards as voted by the men’s league’s 11 head coaches.
The 2020-21 all-rookie team consists of seven players, including one unanimous selection in Boston University forward Luke Tuch.
The rest of the team includes goaltender Drew Commesso (Boston University), defenseman Eamon Powell (Boston College), and forwards Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Northeastern), Alex Jefferies (Merrimack), Josh Lopina (Massachusetts) and Nikita Nesterenko (Boston College).
Also recognized is a pair of defensive awards, as Boston College sophomore Drew Helleson has been named the best defensive defenseman and Boston College junior captain Marc McLaughlin was voted best defensive forward.
Two statistical awards have been formally announced, including the league’s top scorer in UConn junior forward Jonny Evans (14 goals, 14 assists, 28 points) The three stars award ended in a three-way tie between Evans, McLaughlin, and Northeastern sophomore forward Aidan McDonough. Each player racked up 20 points in the rankings, compiling the total number of points earned when named a first, second, or third star of the game in Hockey East games.
New Hampshire senior forward Patrick Grasso will be presented with the Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award, given by the league to one player who has consistently demonstrated superior conduct and sportsmanship on the ice. The Massachusetts Minutemen will be acknowledged with the Charlie Holt Team Sportsmanship Award for accruing the fewest average penalty minutes per Hockey East game.
Hockey East will announce the 2020-21 all-star teams Friday at 11 a.m. The league will then announce finalists for the player, rookie, and coach of the year awards on Sunday, prior to the start of the quarterfinals. The winners of those awards will then be revealed on March 17 at 1 p.m.
