(Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Notre Dame goalie is Big Ten Player of Year; four Gophers honored
Cale Morris led the Fighting Irish to the Big Ten regular-season title.
March 13, 2018 at 6:58PM
Goalie Cale Morris of conference regular-season champion Notre Dame was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year on Tuesday. The other major awards were Penn State's Trevor Hamilton as Defensive Player of the Year, Michigan State's Mitchell Lewandowski as Freshman of the Year and Ohio State's Steve Rohlik as Coach of the Year.
Morris, a sophomore, Colo., is 23-7-1 with a 1.93 goals-against average and .946 save percentage for the Fighting Irish, who'll play Ohio State on Saturday for the Big Ten tournament championship. Hamilton, a senior defenseman, has six goals and 23 assists for 29 points. He also has a plus-23 rating. Lewandowski finished with 19 goals and 15 assists for the Spartans. Rohlik, a St. Paul native and former player and coach at Hill-Murray, led the Buckeyes (24-8-5) to second place in the Big Ten regular-season standings and has them in line for a No. 1 seed in an NCAA regional.
The Big Ten also announced its all-conference teams, as selected by coaches and a media voting panel, and the Gophers are represented by only three players: forward Tyler Sheehy and defenseman Ryan Lindgren as honorable mention, and forward Casey Mittelstadt on the all-freshman team. In addition, senior forward Mike Szmatula was a Sportsmanship Award honoree.
The All-Big Ten teams:
First team
Cooper Marody, F, Michigan
Jake Evans, F, Notre Dame
Tanner Laczynski, F, Ohio State
Jordan Gross, D, Notre Dame
Trevor Hamilton, D, Penn State
Cale Morris, G, Notre Dame
Second team
Tony Calderone, F, Michigan
Taro Hirose, F, Michigan State
Mason Jobst, F, Ohio State
Quinn Hughes, D, Michigan
Sasha Larocque, D, Ohio State
Sean Romeo, G, Ohio State
Honorable mention
Mitchell Lewandowski, F, Michigan State
Tyler Sheehy, F, Gophers
Matthew Weis, F, Ohio State
Andrew Sturtz, F, Penn State
Trent Frederic, F, Wisconsin
Carson Gatt, D, Michigan State
Ryan Lindgren, D, Gophers
Wyatt Kalynuk, D, Wisconsin
Peter Tischke, D, Wisconsin
Hayden Lavigne, G, Michigan
All-Freshman Team
Mitchell Lewandowski, F, Michigan State
Casey Mittelstadt, F, Gophers
Linus Weissbach, F, Wisconsin
Quinn Hughes, D, Michigan
Wyatt Kalynuk, D, Wisconsin
Tommy Nappier, G, Ohio State
MSU Mankato pair, Potulny earn WCHA awards
The WCHA also announced its individual award winners, and Minnesota State Mankato had two honorees: Senior forward C.J. Suess of Forest Lake was named Offensive Player of the Year, and freshman forward Jake Jaremko of Nowthen, Minn., was named Rookie of the Year.
Northern Michigan's Grant Potulny, a former Gophers player and assistant coach, was named Coach of the Year. Bowling Green sophomore Alec Rauhauser was named Defenseman of the Year, and Northern Michigan junior Atte Tolvanen was named Goaltender of the Year.
Suess led the WCHA in scoring (36 points) and goals (17) in conference games and had a WCHA-best plus-19 rating. Jaremko had a 11 goals and 31 points, both tops among WCHA freshmen. Rauhauser had six goals and 20 assists, along with a plus-16 rating. Tolvanen led the league with 17 WCHA wins, had a 2.05 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Potulny, in his first year at Northern Michigan, led a turnaround from a 13-22-4 record to a 25-14-3 mark this season. The Wildcats play host to Michigan Tech on Saturday in the WCHA championship game, with an NCAA tournament berth on the line.