I have some issues with the Hockey East awards.
 
At 10:29 PM 3/12/97 -0500, Deron Treadwell wrote:
 
>ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Greg Koehler, UMass-Lowell
 
This doesn't surprise me.  Even though Cory Larose led all Hockey East
rookies in scoring, people didn't know who he was around the conference,
presumably because of lack of TV coverage.  A collegue was interviewing
coaches and several didn't even mention Cory as a canidate for ROTY.
 
However, Larose was selected to the All-Rookie team which is a terrific
award as well.
 
>LEN CEGLARSKI SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: Steve Kariya, Maine
 
Steve had 13-23--36 in league play with only three penalties for six minutes
in that time.  All Hockey East awards are based on league play.
 
>ALL-HOCKEY EAST TEAM:
>
>Forwards:
>
>Eric Boguniecki, UNH
>Mark Mowers, UNH
>Jason Krog, UNH
>Chris Drury, BU
>Neil Donovan, UML
>Marty Reasoner, BC
 
Steve Kariya really got shafted here in my opinion.  In discussion on the
UNH list prior to the announcement of the awards, most everyone mentioned
Kariya as a canidate for the All-Hockey East team.
 
Kariya (13-23--36) outscored three of the All-Hockey East members, Donovan
(11-21--34) and Reasoner (16-15--31) and Boguniecki (12-21--33).  He was
also tied with Mark Mowers (15-21--36) who did make the team and Eric
Nickulas (22-14--36) who didn't make the team.
 
I think it is a crime that Nickulas and Kariya didn't make the All-HE team.
Nickulas' 22 goals rank him second to Chris Drury in league scoring.
 
I firmly believe that lack of exposure for Maine (read: TV ban) contributed
to Kariya, as well as the fact that Kariya is a sophomore and Nickulas is a
junior.  Boguniecki, Donovan are both seniors.  Another problem for Nickulas
is that
three of the six forwards where already from UNH.
 
It's hard to argue against Boguniecki and Donovan, but Marty Reasoner
doesn't deserve to be on that list over these other guys.
 
Like Jon said when he reported what the Boston Globe article said, Maine is
loaded for next year, especially when you consider Maine scored 5 goals a
game last year in Hockey East contests and didn't even place one forward on
the All-HE list.
 
>Goaltenders:
>
>Tom Noble, BU
>Martin Legault, MC
 
Huh?  :-)
 
Michel Larocque clearly outplayed Noble, so much so that Jack Parker didn't
even play Noble in that crucial last weekend of the series.
 
The second goalie could have been anyone, but Larocque deserved to be there
with his 9-2-2 record with a 2.37 GAA and a .903 save percentage.
 
Noble was 7-2-2, 3.19 GAA and .873 SV%.  Seems pretty clear to me.
 
As far as Legault, well his stats aren't good enough to make the leading
goaltenders list at the end of the regular season.  I'm sure Mike can give
us his stats, and his opinion, but Legault doesn't deserve this honor in my
opinion either.  Certainly not over Michel Larocque.
 
>ROOKIE TEAM:
>
>Goaltender:
>
>Sean Matile, UNH
 
I know we will have a disagreement here with some of our non-Maine members,
but I believe Alfie Michaud should have received the award, and let me state
that this is clearly my opinion and others should treat it as such!  :-)
 
Why?
 
He led the league in wins, with 12, that's not just rookies that's everyone.
He had the same number of losses as Sean Matile (5) while playing in six
more games than Matile.
 
Here are the lines on the two goalies, remember that only league stats count:
 
                GP   W-L-T       MIN   GA    GAA   SVS   PCT
Michaud        *20 *12-5-1       1048  50    2.86  356   .872
Matile          14   9-5-0        750  40    3.20  419   .913
 
* led Hockey East
 
Now, I know some people (Dave Hendrickson) think that Northeastern goalie
Marc Robitaille should have won the award.  I know that Robitaille had NO
team in front of him, but he has a goals against average of over 4.00 just
isn't good enough in my opinion.  He had some great games, held his team in
many a game, but he didn't get the wins.  Clearly he made a great impact on
his team, but they only won three games.  I have a hard time awarding a
goalie who only earned three wins.
 
Sure, maybe without him NU wins zero games, or maybe just a couple.. but
three isn't enough to do it for me.
 
Matile had a problem with medication that caused him to struggle some while
Michaud had some personal problems off ice during the first semester that
contributed to his struggle.  So I think that fact they both had to deal
with off-ice issues cancel each other out and you look at the stats alone.
As soon as the Maine staff found out about Michaud's issues, they dealt with
it and he made a great turnaround.
 
Matile was also a red shirt freshman who didn't have to get used to college
life and athletics, while Michaud was a true freshman and likely this
contributed to his personal problems.
 
I don't expect the non-Maine people to agree here, but Alfie Michaud
rebounded well and made himself into one of the better goaltenders in the
league.  If you had to pin the success in Maine's final month on one person
it is Michaud.  He was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month in both January
and February, and there was a reason for that.  However, perhaps maybe
Michaud suffers from his early season struggle and the lack of exposure for
Maine players because of the TV ban.
 
Also, one award not mentioned is the team sportsmanship award which Maine won.
 
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Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])