March 10, 2011
Farmington Hills, Mich. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) announced the top three finalists for six of the major individual awards that will be presented on Thursday, March 17 at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.
Freshman center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) has been named as one of three finalists for the league’s Rookie of the Year award along with Lake Superior State goaltender Kevin Kapalka and Michigan defenseman Jon Merrill. Tynan was a unanimous selection to the CCHA all-rookie team as he led the conference and the nation’s freshmen in scoring with 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points. The CCHA rookie of the month in November and RBC Financial Group CCHA player of the month in December, Tynan collected four CCHA rookie of the week awards during the regular season.
Freshman T.J. Tynan is one of three finalists for the CCHA’s Rookie of the Year Award.
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Kapalka posted three regular-season shutouts in his freshman campaign for the Lakers, good for a three-way tie atop the league leaderboards. Merrill had an outstanding season on the Wolverine’s blue line and led all freshmen defensemen in goals, assists and points.
Sean Lorenz (Jr., Littleton, Colo.) is a finalist for the CCHA’s Best Defensive Defenseman Award along with Michigan’s Merrill and Miami’s Will Weber. Lorenz played in all 36 games for the Irish and had career highs in goals (4), assists (9) and points (13) while being a league-best +26 for the season.
Merrill had a breakout rookie campaign and was a member of the all-rookie team while playing an integral part in Michigan’s defense that allowed a league-low 57 goals in conference play. Weber, the winner of the 2010 CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman Award is nominated again after anchoring a Miami penalty-killing unit that owned the best percentage in the league at 90.5 percent.
Irish head coach Jeff Jackson is one of three finalists for CCHA Coach of the Year honors along with Michigan’s Red Berenson and Western Michigan’s Jeff Blashill. Now in his sixth season guiding behind the Notre Dame bench, Jackson saw the Irish go from 13-17-8 last season to 21-10-5 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 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.
Berenson helped the Wolverines improve six places in the standings and capture their 11th regular-season title in the past 20 years on the final night of regular-season play. Blashill’s Broncos were picked to finish 10th in the preseason polls, yet jumped 23 points in the standings from last season’s total and earned their first top-four CCHA finish since 1995-96.
The CCHA Awards presented by RBC Financial Group kick off CCHA Championship Weekend on Thursday, March 17. The banquet, an Academy Awards-style event with music videos and highlights, is held at historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. The event begins with a social hour at 6:30 p.m. The Awards Program starts at 7:30 p.m. Awards tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling the CCHA at (248) 888-0600 or at the door the day of the event.
CCHA TOP THREE AWARD FINALISTS
RBC PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTSCarl Hagelin, MichiganAndy Miele, MiamiPat Nagle, Ferris State
COACH OF THE YEAR FINALISTSRed Berenson, MichiganJeff Blashill, Western MichiganJeff Jackson, Notre Dame
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTSKevin Kapalka, Lake Superior StateJon Merrill, MichiganT.J. Tynan, Notre Dame
BEST OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN FINALISTSTorey Krug, Michigan StateJon Merrill, MichiganZach Redmond, Ferris State
BEST DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN FINALISTSSean Lorenz, Notre DameJon Merrill, MichiganWill Weber, Miami
BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD FINALISTSWill Acton, Lake Superior StateCarl Hagelin, MichiganReilly Smith, Miami