Junior Lessard, who tied for the WCHA scoring title while leading the offense for resurgent Minnesota-Duluth, was named the conference’s Player of the Year Thursday.<\/p>\n
Lessard, a senior winger from St. Joseph deBeauce, Que., totaled 39 points in league play and had a nation-best 55 points overall entering the WCHA Final Five. He was the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week three times during the regular season.<\/p>\n
Also Thursday, Denver defenseman Ryan Caldwell was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year, and North Dakota winger Brady Murray earned league Rookie of the Year honors.<\/p>\n
From Deloraine, Man., Caldwell is the Pioneers’ team captain and one of the top-scoring defensemen in college hockey while averaging 28 minutes per game including extensive power-play and penalty-killing time.<\/p>\n
Murray, a native of Brandon, Man., led WCHA rookies with 31 points in league play and 42 points overall. He was also named to the all-conference third team.<\/p>\n
Minnesota-Duluth bench boss Scott Sandelin was named WCHA Coach of the Year after leading the Bulldogs to a second-place finish and a 25-11-4 overall record coming into the weekend. The No. 4 Bulldogs also enjoyed a school-record 14-game unbeaten streak this season. Sandelin took over the coaching duties at UMD in 2000-01 after serving for six seasons as assistant coach at North Dakota.<\/p>\n
Connor James of Denver was named Student-Athlete of the Year. Apart from scoring 147 career points, James has earned a 3.5 grade-point average in finance and marketing, is a three-time WCHA All-Academic Team honoree, has volunteered his time with the DU Youth Hockey Association and Starlight Children’s Foundation, and visits local schools to promote good grades while participating in sports.<\/p>\n
Among the All-WCHA teams, repeat honorees included forward Brandon Bochenski (North Dakota), who went from second to first team; forward Zach Parise (UND), who went from third to first team; defenseman Keith Ballard (Minnesota), who went from second to first team; forward Thomas Vanek (Minnesota), who made the second team for the second straight year; goaltender Isaac Reichmuth (UMD), who went from third to second team; and forward Shane Joseph (Minnesota State).<\/p>\n
Voting for the WCHA’s annual postseason awards is done by member coaches, players, sports information directors and media.<\/p>\n
Following are the All-WCHA teams:<\/p>\n
2003-04 All-WCHA First Team<\/b>
\nPos Name Team Hgt Wgt Yr Hometown Pts
\nF Junior Lessard Minnesota-Duluth 6-0 195 Sr St. Joseph deBeauce, Quebec 379
\nF Brandon Bochenski North Dakota 6-2 195 Jr Blaine, Minnesota 359
\nF Zach Parise North Dakota 5-11 180 So Faribault, Minnesota 310
\nD Keith Ballard Minnesota 5-11 208 Jr Baudette, Minnesota 346
\nD Beau Geisler Minnesota-Duluth 6-0 190 Sr Coleraine, Minnesota 239
\nG Bernd Bruckler Wisconsin 6-9 190 Jr Graz, Austria 300 <\/p>\n
2003-04 All-WCHA Second Team<\/b>
\nP Name Team Hgt Wgt Yr Hometown Pts
\nF Chris Conner Michigan Tech 5-7 175 So Westland, Michigan 262
\nF Thomas Vanek Minnesota 6-2 207 So Graz, Austria 159
\nF Evan Schwabe Minnesota-Duluth 5-9 155 Jr Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan 115
\nD Ryan Caldwell Denver 6-3 195 Sr Deloraine, Manitoba 238
\nD Matt Jones North Dakota 6-0 218 Jr Lisle, Illinois 111
\nG Isaac Reichmuth Minnesota-Duluth 5-11 175 So Fruitvale, British Columbia 212 <\/p>\n
2003-04 All-WCHA Third Team<\/b>
\nP Name Team Hgt Wgt Yr Hometown Points
\nF Shane Joseph Minnesota State 5-9 185 Sr Brooks, Alberta 111
\nF Brady Murray North Dakota 5-9 180 Fr Brandon, Manitoba 79
\nF Gabe Gauthier Denver 5-9 185 So Buena Park, California 53
\nD Mark Stuart Colorado College 6-2 212 So Rochester, Minnesota 102
\nD Ryan Suter Wisconsin 6-1 185 Fr Madison, Wisconsin 83
\nG Adam Berkhoel Denver 5-11 190 Sr Woodbury, Minnesota 71 <\/p>\n
2003-04 All-WCHA Rookie Team<\/b>
\nPos Name Team Hgt Wgt Yr Hometown Votes
\nF Brady Murray North Dakota 5-9 180 Fr Brandon, Manitoba 77
\nF David Backes Minnesota State 6-2 200 Fr Blaine, Minnesota 50
\nF Robbie Earl Wisconsin 5-11 175 Fr Los Angeles, California 49
\nD Ryan Suter Wisconsin 6-1 185 Fr Madison, Wisconsin 67
\nD Matt Carle Denver 6-0 190 Fr Anchorage, Alaska 43
\nG Matt Zaba Colorado College 6-1 170 Fr Yorkton, Saskatchewan 49 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Junior Lessard, who tied for the WCHA scoring title while leading the offense for resurgent Minnesota-Duluth, was named the conference’s Player of the Year Thursday. Lessard, a senior winger from St. Joseph deBeauce, Que., totaled 39 points in league play and had a nation-best 55 points overall entering the WCHA Final Five. He was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n