On Feb 19, 14:43, "Greg R. Berge" wrote:
>I do not have a list of past ECAC COTY.  In the year in which RPI and
>Princeton were surprise finalists, did either Fridgen or Cahoon win the
>award?
 
No, Brown's Bob Gaudet won it that year (1995).  Note that only the regular
season is considered for the award, not the ECAC tournament.
 
As far as COTY for this year, my prediction is that if Cornell pulls off a
first-place finish, Mike Schafer will win it... if they don't (and it's going to
be real difficult), then the award will go to Dan Fridgen.  Stan Moore would
definitely be a worthy candidate, except that ECAC policy seems to be to ignore
rookie head coaches for the award.  (Schafer last year, RPI's Buddy Powers in
1990, Cornell's Brian McCutcheon in 1988, etc. etc.)
 
As for my own vote, well, it's hard to ignore what Coach Schafer has done with a
Cornell program that was going nowhere and looking up at a lot of other ECAC
teams as recently as two years ago, and if they do take the regular-season
title, maybe some people will remember that the Big Red did lose nine seniors
from last year's team, including a sizeable portion of their offense.  But I
think I'm going to have to put in a plug for Coach Fridgen.  RPI lost eight
players from last year, including four of their top five scorers and their
starting goaltender, and their current team has *zero* seniors (only five
juniors).  And yet the Engineers are still in the thick of the ECAC race and
will almost assuredly gain home ice for the quarterfinals.  An amazing job this
year by Coach Fridgen.
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I believe Marcel Marceau said it best."
-- Madeline Kahn, "Cosby"
 
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