WCHA Player of the Year
by WCHBlog on Mar 5, 2009 12:06 AM PST
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PrintThe WCHA award ballots got sent out this week, and some people are having a tough time with the Player of the Year voting because, as it turns out, all of the WCHA's good players are in the NHL. Brad Schlossman asks if Ryan Duncan is the WCHA's most valuable player(Spoiler Alert: He's not), and makes a pretty lengthy case for it.
Personally, if the ballot had come out in January, I probably would have gone with Ryan Stoa. Stoa is still putting up points--that's almost given when you're linemates with Jordan Schroeder--but aside from the occasional point here or there, he hasn't seemed like much of a threat. He took over games in the first half of the season. The past four to five weeks, I think the Hoeffel/Carman line has been more impressive than Stoa's line for Minnesota.
I think the best choice here would probably be Jamie McBain. I ragged on his play earlier this season when he had an atrocious +/- rating during UW's winless start to the season, and I don't think he ever got that number back into the positives, but besides that, he's done just about everything else for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin hasn't been amazing this season--it's looking likely that they'll miss the NCAA tournament--but they're in decent shape to finish in the top half of the league, which is pretty impressive considering the start they had to the season. And for being Wisconsin, his supporting cast isn't as strong as you might expect. His defensive partners are talented, but young and inconsistent. They've got a deep cast of forwards, but most are of the big, defensively responsible type, as opposed to being flashy offensive talent. And in goal, Shane Connelly pretty much defines average. That group could very easily finish towards the bottom of the conference without McBain's stellar play on both ends of the ice.
The next best choice would probably be Alex Stalock. Last year's clutch-and-grab fest produced the Year of the Goaltender. This year, with the rules being called a little tighter, it gave players a little more room to work offensively and let the best goaltenders rise to the top. Richard Bachman, Alex Kangas, and Mike Zacharias all took a huge step backwards in terms of the quality of their play. Stalock proved his impressive numbers last year weren't a fluke, and improved on them.
He can be maddening at times. One wonders how much lower his GAA would be if he was tethered to his net. For example last Friday night, with his team up 1-0 and controlling play, Stalock wandered from his net, turned the puck over, and gave Minnesota a goal that put them back in the game. But the flip side is that when he is playing well and controlling his rebounds, he is near impossible to beat, and he's been playing well more often than not this season.
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McBain
That minus 12 plus/minus rating is no longer “atrocious”? Not sure what would be, then. It’s in the worst handful of players in the WCHA from what I could find.
Player of the Year
It seems easy to dismiss Duncan as the player of the year, as you have done, but there is really no one that stands out. There hasn’t been any one player that has done anything all that spectacular for the whole year. So, maybe picking someone like Duncan who has been consistent, yet not stellar, is the way to go. Not that I expect that to happen, but it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand so quickly.
by Brad Johnson (Sioux Fan) on Mar 5, 2009 8:05 AM PST reply actions
Season Isn't Over
I dont’ know what the deadline is, but I’d prefer the vote not happen until after the regular season is complete. It’d be much easier to recognize a Stoa, a Fontaine, a Lasch, or a Roe if their team finished third instead of eighth. Likewise, Wisconsin could still drop and SCSU team could still rise. If that happened and Raboin had a much bigger weekend than McBain, the argument for giving the award to the highest scoring defenseman would be gone. Again, I think this is just a really poor time to be deciding on an MVP.
Oops
I didn’t notice the list was already down to seven! The point still holds though.
Close enough
Exiled – Votes are typically handed in during the final weekend of the regular season. I handed mine in on the Monday after the last games, and that was always okay. However, I voted for three years, and I don’t remember one time where something I saw on the final weekend of the season affected my votes. After all, if Ryan Stoa is the best player in the league (he’s not, but he’s closer than Duncan is), it shouldn’t matter if the Gophers finish third or eighth in the final standings. This is not an MVP vote where how a team finishes should matter at least a little bit. I know I’m biased, and I’ll admit it to the world, but I’d go with Stalock as Player of the Year. He might be maddening at times, but he’s usually entertaining at the very least, and he’s definitely been as good as advertised.
Allenspach Agrees with Me
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090306/SPORTS0401/103060011/1002/SPORTS
Maybe all of us St. Cloud fans just think alike. ;-)
by The Exiled One on Mar 6, 2009 6:50 AM PST up reply actions
Player of the Year
Seems like most people are stuck in the past—Stoa, Duncan and McBain. Roe, Rau and Lasch all had solid years, but not head and shoulders above the rest
If you look at the numbers there is New blood to be considered.
Points +/- Goals
>Justin Fontaine UMD-F 31 +2 9
>Patrick Wiercioch DU-D 26 +6 8
>Garrett Raboin SCSU-D 24 +13 7
>AnthonyMaiani DU-F 29 +6 8
Fontaine, Wiercioch, Maiani, and Raboin all are superior to Schroeder on the Power Play.
Maiani’s scoring has to be the surprise of the year. Although I’m not sure that translates to POTY.
>Jordan Schroeder UM-F 33 +8 11
I suggest he and Stoa cancel each other out. The only difference in their numbers: Stoa scores more goals and is stronger on the PP. Could be size and experience speaking. If there was an award for highest scoring line, Stoa-Schroeder-Whoever, would be right up there
Stalock has the lead in numbers for Goalie of the Year. But if you add value to the team, let me suggest,
>Marc Cheverie DU
or as much as I hate to say it, Brad Eidsness UND.
None of the three were as dominant as Bachman was last year, so I see POTY going to a skater.
Interesting
I thought Duncan was only good because of his linemates in Oshie, and Toews.. This year though he’s disproved my theories. Being moved to center two freshman while leading a team from 9th in the WCHA to 1st is pretty impressive..
As for McBain, his stats show his inconsistency, and weakness as a strong 2-way player..
As for Stalock? Really he isn’t putting up Brian Elliot or even Bachman’s numbers or any other goalie in the past that may have deserved but didn’t…. In lieu of that it’ll go to a skater
My vote hate to say it, would be Duncan
Regarding McBain's +1 over the last 19 games
So he was bad to start (along with this team), and as the league’s highest scoring defenseman he can manage a +1 over the next 19 games?
Impressive.
Let's Look at the D
player Pts Goals PPpts +/-
Wiercioch 26 8 15 +6
Raboin
Oops. Hit the wrong button. Back to the D
COMPARE:
player Pts Goals PPpts +/-
Wiercioch 26 8 15 +6
Raboin 24 7 15 +13
McBain 28 6 20 -9
I think you could make the case that either Raboin or Wiercioch played better than McBain.
