Hockey East Awards

[BoSox3066]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Acknowledging the fact that it's a world obsessed with points - he's the best player in Hockey East and does it all (though I could do without the stupid penalties now and then).

I like him, I don't think he's better than Nyquist.

[Runsub5]

Re: Hockey East Awards

I know you're on a roll right now, but Da Costa isn't on the same level as Gibbons. Not even close if you get to watch Gibbons on a nightly basis. Acknowledging the fact that it's a world obsessed with points - he's the best player in Hockey East and does it all (though I could do without the stupid penalties now and then).

Da Costa commits stupid penalties as well. It's sometimes easy to get under his skin if you hit him.

[UMLGoon]

Re: Hockey East Awards

my last post on the subject will just be some numbers in da costa's favor:

merrimack averaged 3.09 GF (105), 2.97 GA (101) in da costa's 34 games

in the 3 games.. i know, i know, sample size.. without him, merrimack averaged 1.33 GF (4) and 5.00 GA (15).

da costa was on the ice for 55 of merrimack's 105 goals for, and just 23 of the 101 goals against. think about that; huge impact on both ends, and his ability to control the puck certainly made the warriors much better.

legit case for league mvp, i don't care what year he is and what school he attends.

I know you're on a roll right now, but Da Costa isn't on the same level as Gibbons. Not even close if you get to watch Gibbons on a nightly basis. Acknowledging the fact that it's a world obsessed with points - he's the best player in Hockey East and does it all (though I could do without the stupid penalties now and then).

okay let's take gibbons off bc and drop him on a line with jeff valleca and brandon brodhag and watch him rack up points like a pinball machine

[BU Hammer]

Re: Hockey East Awards

oh by the way stephane da costa should have made a run at league MVP and doesn't even end up on the first team. it's ridiculous.

He did. Da Costa, Butler, and Nyquist were the three finalists for player of the year.

Not that I necessarily think Da Costa was more valuable than Gibbons –– it's kind of an apples (points, points and more points) and oranges (solid all-around game) kind of thing. Personally, probably would've gone with Da Costa if I had to pick, but that factors in my minor man-crush on the Parisian Warrior and my BU affiliation, so there's that.

[Federal League]

Re: Hockey East Awards

I think Da Costa is not only a better player than Gibbons, but easily a more valuable player. After seeing everyone in this league play at least three times this season, I think Nyquist and Da Costa are the two most valuable players to their team. They're the two guys who do the best job of making everyone around them better. They're the two guys who can create for themselves or for others every time they touch the puck. They're the two guys that coaches gameplan for the most. I don't really have a huge beef with Gibbons getting First Team because he's a great all-around player. And I don't really have a huge beef with Butler getting POTY because his numbers are spectacular, he scores more goals, he plays good defense and he's a senior captain. He just doesn't scare me as much as Nyquist or Da Costa, though.

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Da Costa is obviously more valuable to Merrimack than Gibbons is to BC. I won't argue that. But a better all around player? Gibbons.

[dmjossel]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Yup. They're regular season awards. Which is a shame, because Dennehy probably would have been helped by his team losing at BU...

Dennehy was being considered not just for the team's absolute performance, ut for the improvement from last year. Merrimack finished last the previous season, and moved up to sixth into the late-season logjam competing for home ice. It's the largest improvement in a team's standing from last season to this season. They were picked to miss the playoffs and finish last again this season, so frankly, taking BU to 3 games and then losing doesn't really hurt his claim to COTY one bit.

And the RS title is probably the reason UNH won. They lost a lot of talent from a team that finished tied for third last year, didn't add much in the way of Freshman talent, and finished first. That kind of thing might have swayed some voters.

Right. Meanwhile, UNH moves up two spots from third to first, but were hanging onto first by their fingernails. If the season had been a week or two longer, they'd likely have lost it to BC, who are clearly playing better than any other team in the league right now (BU included). If the award had been given a weekend later I think Dennehy still gets the nod and Umile doesn't share it. UNH was expected to finish well this year, and having finished well, was expected to advance from the first round in the playoffs and didn't.

So UNH has met some expectations but failed to meet others, while Merrimack's program has met or exceeded just about every expectation one could reasonably have held for it, given last year's performance.

Dennehy won for bringing the program up from the doldrums of a 3-win season early in his tenure to competing for home ice and getting into the playoffs this year after finishing in last place the previous season.

Umile won for finishing first in the regular season while not being BC or BU.

I suppose one can say those are equivalent

[umassfan49]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Colby Cohen?!

I can only hope this prompts the Avalanche to take him away. Hurt or not, his give-aways and defensive nonchalance cancels out his shot, imo.

Cohen was 2nd in the league among defenseman in scoring. He also plays for BU, one of Hockey East's "golden teams" along with BC. You had a Gibbons and Atkinson make an all-team from BC, so you have to put at least one kid from BU on there too. Plus, getting the winning goal in the NCAAs, although last year, really made him a household name.

[sterlippo1]

Re: Hockey East Awards

no mention of warsofsky? even honorable mention? i don't know, i only saw BU 3 times in person and some on TV but seems to me he's pretty **** good..............am i missing something? did he tail off in the second half?

[acs64]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Wow....poor choices everywhere this year. Don't know where to start. Looks like UHN got lots of sympathy votes

[thecomicbookguy]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Right. Meanwhile, UNH moves up two spots from third to first, but were hanging onto first by their fingernails. If the season had been a week or two longer, they'd likely have lost it to BC, who are clearly playing better than any other team in the league right now (BU included). If the award had been given a weekend later I think Dennehy still gets the nod and Umile doesn't share it. UNH was expected to finish well this year, and having finished well, was expected to advance from the first round in the playoffs and didn't.

So UNH has met some expectations but failed to meet others, while Merrimack's program has met or exceeded just about every expectation one could reasonably have held for it, given last year's performance.

Dennehy won for bringing the program up from the doldrums of a 3-win season early in his tenure to competing for home ice and getting into the playoffs this year after finishing in last place the previous season.

Umile won for finishing first in the regular season while not being BC or BU.

I suppose one can say those are equivalent

I'm not going to dispute anything in this post except the bolded part, as UNH was not expected to finish all that well. There was a lot of talk heading into the season about the team missing home ice this year. (Although, Connelly and Hendrickson pretty much nailed it in the season preview: "In the Hockey East logjam, the Wildcats could make a run at first place or miss home ice by a mile.") Even as the season got rolling, most people thought UNH would struggle to finish 4th. This UNH team looked awful in the first quarter of the season, and steadily improved to take over the number one spot. I think that is why Umile got the nod.

As for the "if the season was a week longer" bit, yeah, UNH might have dropped out of the top spot, but Merrimack finished tied with UMass, one point higher than Vermont, and just two points out of 9th. With some up and down play those last few weeks as well, who's to say that with another week, NU and UVM* don't overtake Merrimack? Again, I'm not saying Dennehy isn't deserving, or that Umile deserved it more, just trying to get people to admit that Umile may have done a pretty good job this year.


*Speaking of NU and UVM, were it not for three straight late-game comebacks in back-to-back weekends towards the end of the season by UNH, both teams would have finished above Merrimack, pushing them into 9th.

[Slasher7]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Brian Foster first-team goalie. Yeah okay.

Hutton wins top goalie, but isn't on the First Team? Typical Hockey East. Foster's "highlight reel" should include when he fell on his *** and allowed that goal vs. UVM.

[thecomicbookguy]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Hutton wins top goalie, but isn't on the First Team? Typical Hockey East. Foster's "highlight reel" should include when he fell on his *** and allowed that goal vs. UVM.

I want to say that the Goaltending Champion award is based strictly on stats, while the all-star selections are more subjective. Hutton put up better numbers, but I think he had a better defense in front of him. Also, Foster played in far more games than Hutton (26 of 27, as opposed to 18), put up similar numbers (.913/2.75 vs .920/2.35) with a much better record (.654 vs .500).

[REDMEN2002]

Re: Hockey East Awards

Very disappointed that Dennehy didn't win that award outright.

[UMLFan]

Re: Hockey East Awards

I want to say that the Goaltending Champion award is based strictly on stats, while the all-star selections are more subjective. Hutton put up better numbers, but I think he had a better defense in front of him. Also, Foster played in far more games than Hutton (26 of 27, as opposed to 18), put up similar numbers (.913/2.75 vs .920/2.35) with a much better record (.654 vs .500).

People might disagree with me, but I think W and L for goalies are overrated, just as they are for pitchers in baseball. Hutton's record (W-L) is rather sad for what he accomplished because he got no offensive support.

To me, this was the most disappointing part of the season ... games where Hutton gave up 2 goals this year and didn't win include:
12/4/09 @ UNH, lost 2-1.
1/3/10, Northeastern (Dartmouth Tournament), lost 2-1
1/16/10, UMass, lost 2-1
1/29/10, @ Northeastern, lost 2-1
2/13/10, @ BC, lost 2-1
2/27/10, @ PC, tied 2-2
3/6/10, UVM, tied 1-1
3/13/10, @ Maine, lost 2-0

7 games this year where Hutton gave up 2 or less and didn't get a win. To me, that's amazing.