March 17, 2011
Detroit, Mich. – Three members of the 2010-11 Notre Dame hockey team were selected as winners of major postseason awards by the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Thursday night at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. The awards show precedes Friday’s semifinal action at Joe Louis Arena.
Freshman center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) was named as the conference’s rookie of the year while head coach Jeff Jackson won the CCHA coach of the year award for the third time in his 12 seasons in the conference and second time with the Irish. Junior defenseman Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) was named the league’s top defensive defenseman.
Tynan becomes the second Notre Dame player to win the CCHA’s rookie of the year award, joining defenseman Mark Eaton who won the award following the 1997-98 season. Tynan is Notre Dame’s leading scorer this season with 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points and leads all freshmen scorers in both the CCHA and on the national level. His 49 points to date are the third most in Notre Dame history for a freshman and the most by any Irish player since the 1991-92 season when Curtis Janicke `93 had 50 points. A unanimous selection to the CCHA all-rookie team along with linemate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.), Tynan was a four-time CCHA rookie of the week while being selected as the CCHA rookie of the month for November and the RBC Financial Group CCHA player of the month for December. Tynan goes into this weekend’s tournament ranked third overall in the CCHA in scoring and ninth in the nation. Along with Lee, Tynan also was a second team all-CCHA choice for this season. He was chosen as the conference’s rookie of the year over Lake Superior State goaltender Kevin Kapalka and Michigan defenseman Jon Merrill.
Jackson, now in his sixth season at Notre Dame, was selected as CCHA coach of the year over Michigan’s Red Berenson and Western Michigan’s Jeff Blashill. This is Jackson’s third CCHA coach of the year award as he won it for the 2006-07 season with the Irish and in 1990-91 while with the Lake Superior State Lakers. This season, Jackson engineered a bounce-back year at Notre Dame as the Irish went from 13-17-8 last season to 23-11-5 in 2010-11 while doubling their conference wins (nine in `09-’10 to 18 this season). With 12 freshmen incorporated into the lineup, Notre Dame scored 41 more goals than last season in league play and finished second in the CCHA regular season after a ninth-place finish last season. During the `10-’11 campaign, Jackson recorded his 300th career win and his 200th win in CCHA league games. He has now guided Notre Dame to its fourth trip to the CCHA Championships in his six years behind the Irish bench. In his 12 seasons coaching in the CCHA, Jackson’s teams have moved on to Detroit in 10 of them (four with Notre Dame, six at Lake Superior).
Defenseman Sean Lorenz was named the CCHA’s Best Defensive Defenseman for the 2011 season. He leads all CCHA players with a +27 this season.
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Lorenz becomes the second Notre Dame defenseman to win the CCHA’s Best Defensive Defenseman Award, joining Kyle Lawson `10, who won the award following the 2008-09 season. Lorenz was one of two upperclassmen on the Irish defense along with captain Joe Lavin and helped guide a young Irish defense that played as many as three freshman defenders in any game. Lorenz has played in all 39 games this season and leads Notre Dame and the CCHA with a +27 plus-minus. He also led the Irish with 51 blocked shots while turning in career highs in goals (4), assists (9) and points (13). He won the award over Michigan’s Merrill and Miami’s Will Weber.
The CCHA also announced its other major award winners:
RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Year - Andy Miele, Sr., F, Miami
CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year - Carter Camper, Sr., F, Miami
Mike and Marian Ilitch Humanitarian Award - Trevor Nill, Jr., F, Michigan State
Terry Flanagan Memorial Award - Kevin Petovello, Sr., F, Alaska(for dedication, perseverance and courage)
CCHA Best Offensive Defenseman - Tory Krug, Michigan State
CCHA Best Defensive Forward - Carl Hagelin, Sr., F, Michigan
The 2011 CCHA Tournament begins on Friday, March 18 at 4:35 p.m. with Notre Dame taking on Miami in one semifinal while Michigan plays Western Michigan at 8:05 p.m. On Saturday, the third-place and championship games will be played at 3:35 p.m. and 7:35 p.m. Fox Sports Detroit PLUS will televise all four games.