F, Hilary Knight, Wisconsin
On the heels of being chosen as the WCHA pre-season player of the year Wisconsin forward Hilary Knight has now been voted the national pre-season player of the year in the annual Beyond the Dashers Poll. Knight who led the nation in scoring and in points as a sophomore is returning to the Badgers this season after spending last year training and competing as the youngest member of the United States Olympic Team. Knight had one goal against Finland and seven assists helping the USA to a silver medal finish in the Vancouver games. But in the voters minds her experience last season on top of her numbers as a Freshman and Sophomore gave her the edge over the reigning Patty Kazmaier winner, last seasons ECAC Hockey Player of the Year, and two fellow Olympians.
As a freshman at Wisconsin, Knight impressed everyone who saw her compete as she was twice was recognized as the WCHA rookie of the week. Feeling her skills were in need of improvement, Knight spent the majority of the summer living and training with Team USA teammate Jenny Potter and her husband. The adjustments that Potter were able to make for Hilary truly began to show in her sophomore season as Knight was one of the keys to the Badgers locking up their third National Championship in four seasons. Playing in 39 games, Hilary had 24 multi-point outings and 13 multi-goal games. While she also led the nation in goal scoring (45) and points (83), “Knighter” as she is called by her teammates had a team best six points in the Frozen Four with three goals and three assists. At the 2009 IIHF Women's World Championships, Hilary again impressed being named one of the three best American players by the participating coaches in the tournament and for good reason. Knight fished the event as the leader in goals (7) and finishing behind American teammates Julie Chu and Natalie Darwitz for third in points (9). Selected to Centralize in Blaine, MN with the US team last season has allowed Knight more time to focus on her game and make another run at being the Nations top player.
Knight was chosen by 46 out of 50 selections for the honor. The remaining four selections were split between Mercyhurst forwards Meghan Agosta and Vicki Bendus, Boston College forward Kelli Stack, and Cornell forward Catherine White.
Pre-Season Rookie of the Year
F, Marie-Philip Poulin, Boston U
On all of her previous platforms -be it a national team festival, at Dawson College, or in the Olympics- Marie-Philip Poulin has consistently performed beyond her years. Once she is integrated into an already seasoned and loaded Boston University strike force, her acetylene stick will only get hotter and her impact that much greater in comparison to the rest of the nation’s frosh. Being integrated into a group highlighted by the likes of Jillian Kirchner, Jenelle Kohanchuk, Holly Lorms, and Jenn Wakefield should be a relaxed seminar compared to being kneaded in with Gillian Apps, Jennifer Botterill, Cherie Piper, and Hayley Wickenheiser.
Upon an effortless glance back, Poulin didn’t have much trouble fitting in to the latter frame. After all, she pitched in a respectable five of the Olympic team’s 48 tournament goals, including both strikes in their 2-0 gold medal triumph. At BU, Poulin will paradoxically face more and less pressure. With teammates and adversaries all much closer to her age, she can be asked to contribute a bigger hunk of the offense, but should approach the situation with no awe in her heart.
Nobody else has had quite the same intensive honing experience before orientation.
Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year (DPOTY)
D, Anne Schleper, Minnesota
Beginning with her days on the USA U-18 team, St Cloud Minnesota native Anne Schleper began making a name for herself as a top tier defender. Over her first two seasons at Minnesota, Schleper has rather quietly climbed into her teams defensive drivers seat, showing that it takes both grit and skill to become one of the Nations elite two way defenders. In her freshman campaign for the gophers she ranked second amongst gopher defenders in scoring and racked up Second-Team All-WCHA and WCHA All-Rookie Team awards.
Last season, coming off a summer cut from the Olympic selection process, Schleper dedicated herself to turning her disappointment into a second successful collegiate season. As the weeks of the campaign wore on, her league opposition and the nation began to notice as Schleper made noise in the race to become the nations top statistical defender. Finishing the year with 32 points to go along with being named WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-American, First Team All-WCHA, Academic All-WCHA, and a Patty Kazmaier nominee; Schleper truly stood out from the rest.
This season finds Anne a confident Junior and team leader looking to once again impress the nation this time with a target of the players below her, following her path to the top.
Goalie of the Year (GOTY)
With a new season upon us the race to be the best goaltender in the nation is as tight as ever. With the return of last seasons established and emerging stars along with the return of several Olympians, the voters in the Beyond the Dashers pre season poll had a hard time awarding a consensus favorite for this honor. Overall ten goaltenders received votes in the poll with three tying for first place and three tying for second place. Returning collegian Amanda Mazotta (Cornell) joins Olympic returners Molly Schaus (Boston College) and Kim Martin (UMD) in the three way tie at the top. Noora Räty (Minnesota) who played both for Minnesota and Finland last season joins Victoria Vigilanti (Quinnipiac) and Lauren Dahm (Clarkson) in a three way tie one vote below the top. Also receiving votes were Hillary Pattenden (Mercyhurst), Florence Schelling (Northeastern), Genevieve Lacasse (Providence), and Zuzana Tomcikova (Bemidji State). With voting this close, we felt it was best to celebrate each of these fine goalies and hopefully the games will allow for a decided vote when this season winds to a close.
Passages Written By:
Mel Webster - Pre-Season Player of the Year and Defensive Pre-Season Player of the Year
Al Daniel - Pre-Season Rookie of the Year
Mark Spencer - Pre-Season Goalie of the Year
No comments:
Post a Comment