FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Contact: Danny Martin, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
(907) 459-7586
ROGERS HIGHLIGHTS UAF HOCKEY AWARDS
For the University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team to be successful, freshman goaltender
Wylie Rogers had to have success. It was a statement first-year head coach Tavis MacMillan made more than once this past season.
"I accepted it as a challenge," Rogers said Saturday night during a break in the UAF Hockey Awards Banquet at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel. "I accepted every game and every practice as a challenge. It was a motivation for me."
Rogers accepted the challenge well, as he backstopped 15 of the team's 17 wins.
His efforts were recognized on Saturday night, as the native of Fairbanks received both the Steve Moria Most Valuable Player honor and Doug Desorcie Top Rookie award.
"I'm totally excited about it and I attribute it to a team effort," Rogers said.
Other honorees were sophomore center
Lucas Burnett with three awards; senior defenseman
Corbin Schmidt with the Shawn Chambers Best Defense Award; freshman center Ryan McLeod with the inaugural Top Playoff Performer honor; senior center and team captain Jared Sylvestre with the Scholar-Athlete Award; freshman left wing
Kyle Greentree with the Keith Street Top Scorer Award; and senior goaltender Keith Bartusch with the Pump House Restaurant Team Player recognition.
A record turnout of 396 people attended the annual banquet that was conducted by the UAF Face-off Club. The previous high was 250 last year.
The MVP award is named for the forward who owns most of UAF's scoring records despite playing for only three seasons (1982-85). Moria, now 43, set single-season records of goals (43) and points (109) in 1984-85.
Rogers earned a first-team selection on the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Rookie Team and was named to the CCHA Super Six All-Tournament Team along with freshman center McLeod. The 20-year-old net minder compiled a 15-12-4 record with a 2.88 goals-against average and .906 saves percentage, and his three shutouts tied the single-season record set by Todd Henderson in 1990-91.
His postseason record of 4-1 featured 62 saves in the first-round sweep at Bowling Green and a career-high 46 stops in a 3-1 loss to eventual champion Michigan in the semifinals of the Super Six Tournament at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. He finished the Super Six with 107 saves, including 36 in a 3-2 victory over Michigan State for third place.
Burnett had his arms full on Saturday with the Most Improved Player award, the Don Jamieson Unsung Hero honor and Ricky Pitta Most Dedicated Player.
"I really don't know what to say this time," Burnett said with a laugh during his third time at the podium.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from Rossland, British Columbia, finished this season with five goals and nine assists for 14 points. His last assist landed on the stick of freshman left wing
Aaron Lee for the game winner against Michigan State in the third-place contest of the Super Six Tournament.
"For me to be recognized, I have to be an extremely hard worker," Burnett said after the awards banquet. "These awards could have gone to a lot of other guys because everyone on this team is dedicated. They've helped me, too, and I really appreciate these guys so much."
The 5-11, 190-pound Schmidt from Anchorage, who had four goals and 23 assists in 114 career games, took on a leadership role on the blue line this season after junior defenseman and assistant captain Jordan Hendry sustained a season-ending knee injury during a 5-2 loss to UAA at Sullivan Arena in the first game of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup Series.
"He walked on as a forward, but he had the best feet I'd ever seen and he had a bomb for a shot," MacMillan said of Schmidt, who had a goal and 14 points this season.
McLeod generated five goals and eight points in the postseason to lead all scorers in the CCHA. His two goals in the first 13 seconds of a 6-3 win over Bowling Green in Game 1 of the playoffs set CCHA postseason and UAF team records for fastest goals from the start of the game and fastest two goals by one player.
The 5-10, 175-pounder from Fernie, B.C, finished his rookie campaign as UAF's fifth-leading scorer with 15-10-25 totals in 35 games.
Sylvestre, a mechanical engineering major, was a leader more by example than words. The native of Bonnyville, Alberta, sacrificed his 5-8, 165-pound frame by relentlessly blocking shots, particularly on penalty killing.
The nominee for the 2004-05 CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year posted 13-7-20 totals in 37 games in his final season and his seven power-play goals were second on the team this season to the nine of sophomore center
Curtis Fraser. Sylvestre had 36-41-77 career totals in 129 games.
The 6-3, 200-pound Greentree from Victoria, B.C., led UAF in scoring with 12-20-32 totals in 37 games. The CCHA All-Rookie Team Honorable Mention selected registered eight of his goals and 22 of his points in the second half of the season.
"It's definitely an individual award, but I got a lot of help from everyone on this team," he said.
Bartusch, in his final season, appeared in 11 games, compiling a 2-4-0 record with a 4.36 GAA and .848 goals against average. The native of Graham, Wash., backstopped UAF's first win of the season, a 5-3 decision at Western Michigan on Oct. 16, and a 6-4 victory at Nebraska-Omaha on Feb. 26.
Bartusch, Sylvestre, Schmidt and fellow seniors Jason Grinevitch and Scott Vockeroth (right wings) and Cramer Hickey (defenseman).
"It was sweat and all hard work," said Vockeroth, "but the juice was worth the squeeze."
----THE DAILY NEWS-MINER----
