Jayson Moy's intriguing ECAC award predictions didn't seem to stir
any conversation. So here goes...
 
Player of the Year: Jayson picked Todd White. I pick Todd White. The
coaches will pick Todd White. The only other possibility in my mind
is Tim Thomas, if he carries UVM to the league title.
 
Rookie of the Year: Jayson picked Pete Gardiner of RPI. Now some of
you may have been thinking "Homer" (or, alternatively, "Doe!"), but
10 years from now you'll understand when Mr. Gardiner is playing
in the NHL and most of these other guys are stock brokers and the
like. BUT I don't pick Pete Gardiner, and the coaches probably won't
either. There are several great candidates - Yale's Jeff Hamilton,
who has led the rookies in scoring for most of the season, Cornell's
Ryan Moynihan and Mike Rutter, Princeton's Dominque Auger, Harvard's
JR Prestifillipo, RPI's Joel Laing, Scott Prekaski AND Bryan Pothier,
Clarkson's Philippe Roy and Dartmouth's Jason Wong are all worthy.
Of course, each coach can only nominate one player (poor Fridge).
If you go by impact on his team, Auger and Hamilton are the favorites.
I think the coaches will go with Hamilton, and I would vote for Auger.
 
Defensive Defenseman: Jayson picked Steve Wilson. I know that made
Arthur Mintz cringe. My candidates include Princeton's Steve Sherrifs,
Clarkson's Scott Ricci, Colgate's Jack McIntosh, Vermont's Eric
Hallman and Brown's Bill McKay. The coaches will concur with Jayson.
I'll take Hallman.
 
Defensive Forward: Jayson took J-F Houle. I like that pick. When
you play like Houle, you should win an award. Joel Prpic will
be right there in the voting. Matt Stelljes will get some votes,
as will Syl Apps III.
 
Dryden Award: Jayson took Trevor Koenig, which is a great pick. The
irony is that Koenig may well win and see Tim Thomas and Dan
Murphy named All-America ahead of him. Any of the three is deserving and,
despite the fact that there are several other excellent goalies, it
will come down to this trio. My choice is Thomas.
 
Coach of the Year: Jayson selected Dan Fridgen ("Homer! Doe! MMMMM...
donuts!"). Don Cahoon and Mike Schafer are the other candidates. This
one will really depend on the last few weekends, but I would go along
with Jayson for now.
 
My all-ECAC teams are as follows:
 
1st Team
 
F Todd White
F Martin St. Louis
F Eric Perrin
D Steve Wilson
D John Poapst
G Tim Thomas
 
2nd Team
 
F Eric Healey
F JF Houle
F Mike Harder
D Matt Pagnutti
D Eric Hallman
G (tie) Dan Murphy, Trevor Koenig (ok, I wussed out)
 
Of course, this is all subject to change in the next three weeks :-).
 
Geoff Howell
 
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