Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau seems a shoo-in for the Hockey East player of the year award (photo: Melissa Wade).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGaudreau scored in every Hockey East contest and was held off the board just once all season (when his entire team was shut out by Minnesota). It has been a long time since the Hobey Baker Award has been a shoo-in for a Hockey East player but in my opinion, Gaudreau’s candidacy for the Hobey is head and shoulders above all the rest.<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Kevin Hayes, Boston College; Ross Mauermann, Providence; Clay Witt, Northeastern.<\/p>\n
Rookie of the year: Mario Puskarich, Vermont<\/b><\/p>\n
As easy as it was to pick Gaudreau for player of the year, it was equally as difficult to select Puskarich as rookie of the year. That hardly reflects on the player, rather on the depth of freshman talent that Hockey East offered up this season.<\/p>\n
What separated Puskarich from the rest was his play inside the league, the criteria on which league awards are supposed to be voted. As a freshman, though, Puskarich elevated a Vermont squad that had struggled in recent years, returning the team to NCAA tournament contention.<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Mike Szmatula, Northeastern; Vince Hinostroza, Notre Dame; Thatcher Demko, Boston College.<\/p>\n
Co-coaches of the year: Jerry York, Boston College; Jim Madigan, Northeastern<\/b><\/p>\n
OK, I took the easy road and named two coach of the year winners. For me, the vote was simply too difficult.<\/p>\n
You have Madigan, who elevated his team from what most considered a cellar dweller to a fifth-place team that is in contention for an NCAA bid.<\/p>\n
And you have York, a coach for whom every year there is high expectations who this year delivered a 16-2-2 league mark.<\/p>\n
Both coaches had incredible recruiting classes that had immediate impact. And both got so much out of their respective teams that ignoring either would be criminal.<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Norm Bazin, Massachusetts-Lowell; Dick Umile, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Best defensive forward: Joe Pendenza, Massachusetts-Lowell<\/b><\/p>\n
This and the next award are often two of the most difficult to select as it requires you to see a lot of the individual player to understand their defensive prowess.<\/p>\n
Pendenza is possibly the best defensive player on a defensively focused team. He is one of the league’s top faceoff men and contributes on both sides of the puck for a River Hawks squad that isn’t offensively potent.<\/p>\n
Although there are a number of forwards in the league that take pride in playing defense, Pendenza stands out in my mind.<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Braden Pimm, Northeastern; Kevin Lind, Notre Dame; Bill Arnold, Boston College.<\/p>\n
Best defensive defenseman: Stephen Johns, Notre Dame<\/b><\/p>\n
In his first and only season in Hockey East, Johns proved what a lot of people already know about the blueliner: He can shut down offenses.<\/p>\n
The top defensive defenseman on one of the league’s best defensive teams, Johns still contributed offensively for the Irish, leading the team in scoring by a defenseman.<\/p>\n
Though only a plus-6 overall, there is no player you would want out on the ice in a shutdown situation more than Johns.<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Josh Manson, Northeastern; Isaac MacLeod, Boston College; Zack Kamrass, Massachusetts-Lowell.<\/p>\n
All-Hockey East teams<\/b><\/p>\n
Though the league awards only a first and second team, I’m naming three myself as some positions caused me enough strife that I believe it warrants recognition of three teams worth of players.<\/p>\n
First team<\/b><\/p>\n
F Johnny Gaudreau, Boston College \nF Kevin Hayes, Boston College \nF Ross Mauermann, Providence \nD Ben Hutton, Maine \nD Brett Pesce, New Hampshire \nG Thatcher Demko, Boston College<\/p>\n
Second team<\/b><\/p>\n
F Bill Arnold, Boston College \nF Devin Shore, Maine \nF Chris McCarthy, Vermont \nD Michael Matheson, Boston College \nD Eric Knodel, New Hampshire \nG Clay Witt, Northeastern<\/p>\n
Third team<\/b><\/p>\n
F Kevin Goumas, New Hampshire \nF Kevin Roy, Northeastern \nF Matt Willows, New Hampshire \nD Colin Shea, Massachusetts \nD Zack Kamrass, Massachusetts-Lowell \nG Connor Hellebuyck, Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
All-rookie team<\/b><\/p>\n
F Mario Puskarich, Vermont \nF Vince Hinostroza, Notre Dame \nF Mike Szmatula, Northeastern \nD Michael Kapla, Massachusetts-Lowell \nD Doyle Somerby, Boston\u00a0University \nG Thatcher Demko, Boston College<\/p>\n
And finally …<\/h4>\n For those who have offered concern and thoughts for Dave Hendrickson, I wanted to pass along an update. Dave is progressing well from his open-heart surgery.<\/p>\n
I had the chance to have lunch with him on Wednesday and he looks great. He is exercising daily and feels he is able to push himself physically. He’s still unable to drive for a few weeks until he gets a doctor’s clearance, but he hopes to be back for the NCAA regional in Worcester and the Frozen Four in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
All good news about one of the game’s good guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of unhappy coaches, athletic directors and presidents at the end of the weekend likely will have a lot to do with whether this same do-or-die format is around next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":119929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[721],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Pressure gets narrowed into one game in new Hockey East first-round format - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n