It is with the utmost honor that I unveil the first ever Fear The Triangle Player of the Year.  All year long I have picked a player of the game in each recap I’ve written.  I haven’t always gone with the player that scored the most points or had the game winning goal.  Instead I’ve tried to pick the person whose play was key to giving UMass a chance to win.  Sometimes it was based on numbers or effort or perhaps something intangible.  The Fear The Triangle Player of the Year Award is chosen based on which player had the greatest total of FTT Player of the Game awards over the course of the 36 game season.  Without further adieu, the envelope please.

It probably comes as no surprise that the recipient of the inaugural FTT Player of the Year is James Marcou.  Marcou is an amazing player.  He’s an excellent skater and possesses stellar stick skills.  But his greatest assets are his vision of the ice and his anticipation of the game play.  With the puck it seems that he is always two or three steps ahead of everyone else.  He doesn’t see where the defense is, he sees where the defense will be.  He seems to find the narrow passing lanes just before they close.  He locates his teammates before the defense even knows they’re there.  In all my years of watching Hockey East I’ve seen very few players that are as good as James Marcou at making his teammates better.  No matter what happens in the near future, he will go down as one of UMass’ best.

Here were the final standings for Fear The Triangle Player of the Game awards this season:

James Marcou 7
Justin Braun 4
Paul Dainton 4
Casey Wellman 4
Will Ortiz 3
Danny Hobbs 2
Matt Irwin 2
Mike Lecomte 2
TJ Syner 2
Brett Watson 2
Kevin Czepiel 1
Brian Keane 1
Mike Marcou 1
Dan Meyers 1

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Justin Braun was named an All Hockey East selection.  Marcou was named to the second team while Casey Wellman received Honorable Mention.  Congratulations to all three.

Stephane Da Costa won Rookie of the Year while UNH’s Bobby Butler was named Player of the Year.  Dick Umile and Mark Dennehy shared the Coach of the Year honors.  That’s good to see as I thought they both deserved it.

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Here’s one of the better articles I’ve come across regarding Casey Wellman’s signing with the Wild.  It includes a picture of Wellman in a Wild sweater during pre-game warmpus.

Dick Baker also has a good story as well, with the same picture.