ECAC Predictions

[offsides]

With the season winding down curious to see predictions for the ECAC awards: player, goalie, rookie, coach of the year.

[umbeaconfan14]

player of the year: unknown
rookie of the year: co rookies, Belmonte and Ciarlleta UMB
goalie of the year: Boucher, UMB
Coach of the year: Schuler UMB

[offsides]

Any DI predictions out there?

[GreenQuill]

Originally posted by offsides
With the season winding down curious to see predictions for the ECAC awards: player, goalie, rookie, coach of the year.

Player: Nicole Corriero, Harvard - Leading scorer on a powerhouse team.

Goalie: Rachel Barrie, SLU - Unbelievable performances at Dartmouth that showed the world how legit SLU is. Boe has been alright, but has had some growing pains, and Dartmouth doesn't have any one keeper who stands out above the others. Van Beusekom (Princeton) and Germain (Brown) are tough, but Barrie is tougher.

Rookie: Christine Capuano, Dartmouth - Has come up big when called upon, especially in the January game against Harvard at the Bright Center.

Coach: Mark Hudak, Dartmouth - If it isn't the talent (no Kaz nominees on the Big Green), then it's the coaching. Not everyone can manage a constantly shifiting roster like Dartmouth's (injuries, national teams, U-22 teams, etc.), while also splitting time between three capable keepers, especially as a first-year head coach.

[dave1381]

Originally posted by GreenQuill
Player: Nicole Corriero, Harvard - Leading scorer on a powerhouse team.
While Nicole has obviously had a fantastic season where she's gone far above and beyond a lot of people expected, I can't imagine the award not going to Angela. You take every thing she brings as the best defensemen in the game, and add to that the fact that she has four game-winning goals in games that were tied in the third period. I can't think of any other player that's ever done that, let alone a defensemen.

Originally posted by GreenQuill
Goalie: Rachel Barrie, SLU - Unbelievable performances at Dartmouth that showed the world how legit SLU is. Boe has been alright, but has had some growing pains, and Dartmouth doesn't have any one keeper who stands out above the others. Van Beusekom (Princeton) and Germain (Brown) are tough, but Barrie is tougher.
Agreed Barrie's a pretty easy pick here. Boe has been strong, but she can't really compete for this award in the same way because Harvard typically does not have to rely on her as much as other teams. Also her save percentage is deceptively low because she doesn't play against the weaker teams and when she does Harvard typically allows fewer shots than other teams might. If you look at save pct. vs. just top ten teams, I'm guessing she compares pretty favorably with any goaltender in the nation. Van Beusekom, Boe, and Sarah Love I think are in the running for the ECAC Second Team and Honorable mention slots. Germain has had her moments throughout her career, but she has been inconsistent, and I can't see a goaltender with a sub-.900 save percentage getting an award.

Originally posted by GreenQuill
Rookie: Christine Capuano, Dartmouth - Has come up big when called upon, especially in the January game against Harvard at the Bright Center.
I'd think Chelsea Grills is the favorite, playing on the top line for St. Lawrence. Princeton's Kim Pearce and Laura Watt deserve some consideration as well. There are plenty of Harvard rookies that deserve consideration too, but I don't think they have the stats, which is the way these things tend to work. Capuano might have been the frontrunner for this award in January, but after a rough February I just don't see that she has a shot.

Originally posted by GreenQuill
Coach: Mark Hudak, Dartmouth - If it isn't the talent (no Kaz nominees on the Big Green), then it's the coaching. Not everyone can manage a constantly shifiting roster like Dartmouth's (injuries, national teams, U-22 teams, etc.), while also splitting time between three capable keepers, especially as a first-year head coach.
Oh please. Don't think you can fool anyone into thinking Dartmouth doesn't have the talent. The main reasons why Dartmouth has no Kaz nominees is that most of Dartmouth's talent is in its sophomore class for an award that typically favors upperclassmen, and that Apps and Piper didn't compile enough stats due to injuries and six missed games to Canadian national camps. We don't even know which two players Dartmouth nominated, and if the coach chooses no one or rewards older players that might not have the same reputation as his younger players, then that can play a role too. It has nothing to do with Dartmouth not having talent.

That said, Hudak is certainly a candidate for the award, and he has a done a commendable job dealing with the adversity for the most part, although his team did have a rough spell there for a bit. Katey Stone and Paul Flanagan also deserve plenty of credit for the success they've had with younger teams, and replacing a ton of talent (especially in Harvard's case). I might consider Hudak the favorite, just because Stone and Flanagan have won the award before, and voters might be inclined to spread the wealth and respect his first-season efforts. But all three have done a commendable job. You have three teams at the top who are 2-2 against each other head-to-head and there's still a good chance all three programs will make the Frozen Four for the second time in four years.

[GreenQuill]

Originally posted by dave1381



Oh please. Don't think you can fool anyone into thinking Dartmouth doesn't have the talent. The main reasons why Dartmouth has no Kaz nominees is that most of Dartmouth's talent is in its sophomore class for an award that typically favors upperclassmen, and that Apps and Piper didn't compile enough stats due to injuries and six missed games to Canadian national camps. We don't even know which two players Dartmouth nominated, and if the coach chooses no one or rewards older players that might not have the same reputation as his younger players, then that can play a role too. It has nothing to do with Dartmouth not having talent.

That said, Hudak is certainly a candidate for the award, and he has a done a commendable job dealing with the adversity for the most part, although his team did have a rough spell there for a bit. Katey Stone and Paul Flanagan also deserve plenty of credit for the success they've had with younger teams, and replacing a ton of talent (especially in Harvard's case). I might consider Hudak the favorite, just because Stone and Flanagan have won the award before, and voters might be inclined to spread the wealth and respect his first-season efforts. But all three have done a commendable job. You have three teams at the top who are 2-2 against each other head-to-head and there's still a good chance all three programs will make the Frozen Four for the second time in four years.

My point wasn't that Dartmouth doesn't HAVE talent. I kind of feel that if you don't show love to a top team's talent, you need to show love to the coach. I felt this way in the men's ECAC last year, where Dartmouth had one Second Team selection and two Honorable Mentions, yet outperformed teams with more honored players. I was really surprised Gaudet didn't get that.

But I digress, this is the women's board. My point was that Hudak deserves the award, especially if you don't show love to the Dartmouth talent. Trust me...I know the Dartmouth players, and they would kill me if they thought I was ragging on the talent!
:eek:

As far as Dartmouth's slide, the four teams that Dartmouth lost to were Minnesota, SLU (twice), and Princeton. Losing to the Tigers is nothing that Harvard and SLU haven't done, and there's certainly no shame in splitting with Minnesota on their ice. I certainly hope they play like they did on the front end of the split should these teams meet in Providence, but there's not much shame in that slide Dartmouth had, especially considering how they broke out of it.:cool:

But yeah, I still like Hudak for Coach of the Year. Dartmouth's gotten Coaching Staff of the Month twice, so that might be on indicator too.

-GQ

[dave1381]

Well, if that's your story, then my story is, everyone knows that Dartmouth has talent, but there are good, sensible reasons as to why Dartmouth has no Patty Kazmaier nominations (personally I feel the team with the most reason to gripe there about is St. Lawrence!), and I don't agree Hudak is any more deserving of an award because his players didn't get nominated for the Patty Kaz, though I still think he's done a great job and you can make a great case for him.

[thumbtack]

Player of the year: Julie Chu, Harvard

Rookie of the year: Kristin Savard, Yale... Leads Yale in scoring and is either no. 1 or no. 2 in freshman scoring in the ECAC. Also has been named rookie of the week 3 or 4 times.

Goalie of the year: Rachel Barrie, SLU

Coach of the year: Paul Flanagan, SLU

[Jerrytas]

Not gonna make any predictions, just wanted to add that Barrie is far and away the best goalie I've seen all year (including Gunn).

[dave1381]

Originally posted by Jerrytas
Not gonna make any predictions, just wanted to add that Barrie is far and away the best goalie I've seen all year (including Gunn).
Sure... but I'd also caution anyone against making judgments based on just one game. I'm sure if you had picked a different pair of games, maybe Barrie would have looked bad and Gunn would have looked amazing.