It turns out that the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship trophy was not the last award that the Ohio hockey team would receive this year.
Adding to the Bobcats' list of prestigious honors following the championship victory against Penn State, head coach Dan Morris was named ACHA Coach of the Year, and Ohio goalie Brian Gallagher was named ACHA Player of the Year.
In case these national honors were not enough, eleven other ACHA honors were handed out to Ohio players.
For the senior goalie, the award was a more than fitting touch on his last season as a Bobcat. Gallagher posted a 23-2-1 record during the season, tying an Ohio record for most wins in a season.
More impressive than Gallagher's 23 wins, however, is his number of losses - one. His lone loss came against St. Louis in the first weekend of the year, when Gallagher was still recovering from a broken finger in his glove hand that was suffered in the preseason. Gallagher bounced back from that injury to become the first Bobcat to win the ACHA Player of the Year award.
It means a lot to know you worked so hard
pretty much your whole life and people are recognizing it Gallagher said. It's a great thing for the younger guys to see the amount of work that was put in and what we accomplished this year. Hopefully that work ethic will benefit the whole program.
Gallagher, who Morris said was one of the key leaders on the team, also set Ohio records for shutouts in a season (six) and goals against average (1.63).
In addition to the player of the year honor, Gallagher was named as a First-team ACHA All-American, the Central States Collegiate Hockey League Most Valuable Player and First-team All-Tournament at both the CSCHL and ACHA Tournaments.
For Morris, who has compiled an 80-31-10 record in his three years as Ohio's coach, the coach of the year award meant great things for his whole coaching staff.
It's a great honor to our program
Morris said. This is an award that gets voted on by our peers
and they recognize the hard work that you put in. They recognize what builds a successful program.
Calling Morris' program a success would be a safe bet. His teams have made trips to the ACHA Championship game the last two seasons, and Morris has a solid core of young players returning for next season, including ACHA All-Rookie team member Travis Preble.
Morris said that the postseason honors also have helped with recruiting for next season.
Certainly it helps immensely with recruiting because guys want to play somewhere that they will be challenged
Morris said. This type of recognition helps to seal the deal with a few of those types
and we appreciate anything that helps with that.
To add on to the awards received by Gallagher and Morris, defenseman Nick Bilanow was named ACHA Third-team All-American, and defenseman Brad Krolak, center Frank Kubas and forwards Nick Bassarab and Sean Gallagher were ACHA All-American Honorable Mentions. Bilanow, Bassarab and forwards Daniel Richardson and Matt Shenk were named to the Academic All-American team.
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Mike Cottrill
