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College Hockey:
St. Cloud State’s LeBlanc earns WCHA player of the year laurels

USCHO Staff Report •

St. Cloud State senior forward Drew LeBlanc was named WCHA player and student-athlete of the year on Thursday on the eve of the conference postseason getting underway.

Defensive player of the year went to St. Cloud State junior Nick Jensen, while Minnesota State freshman goalie Stephon Williams was named rookie of the year and goaltending champion.

Nebraska-Omaha junior Ryan Walters earned scoring champion honors and Minnesota State’s Mike Hastings was named coach of the year.

In addition, the WCHA announced three All-WCHA teams and an All-Rookie squad.

2013 All-WCHA First Team

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Ryan WaltersFJr.Nebraska-Omaha
Drew LeBlancFSr.St. Cloud State
Danny KristoFSr.North Dakota
Nate SchmidtDJr.Minnesota
Nick JensenDJr.St. Cloud
Stephon WilliamsGFr.Minnesota State

2013 All-WCHA Second Team

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Corban KnightFSr.North Dakota
Erik HaulaFJr.Minnesota
Rylan SchwartzFSr.Colorado College
Joey LaLeggiaDSr.Denver
Mike BoivinDSr.Colorado College
Juho OlkinuoraGSo.Denver

2013 All-WCHA Third Team

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Matt LeitnerFSo.Minnesota State
Nick BjugstadFJr.Minnesota
Eriah HayesFSr.Minnesota State
Andrej SustrDJr.Nebraska-Omaha
Jake McCabeDSo.Wisconsin
Adam WilcoxGFr.Minnesota

2013 All-WCHA Rookie Team

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Tony CameranesiFFr.Minnesota-Duluth
Alex PetanFFr.Michigan Tech
Rocco GrimaldiFFr.North Dakota
Nolan ZajacDFr.Denver
Andy WelinskiDFr.Minnesota-Duluth
Stephon WilliamsGFr.Minnesota State

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  • onemoreday2a@yahoo.com

    wow, now that is a shocker!! being a gopher fan i am a bit biased, but no haula on the first team and schmidt not being the defensive player of the year are a huge shocker!! but to me the biggest of all has to be wilcox NOT being the roty and 1st team tender. williams is great, no doubt about that and without him mankato is not in the position they are, but without wilcox minnesota probably loses 5 or 6 more games than they did. which would mean that they probably finish 4th or 5th in the wcha. wilcox is hands down the best keeper i have seen in college hockey since robb stauber. simply put, wilcox is the reason that the gophers can play as offensively as they do. i also have no idea how on earth you can select a goalie who plays half a teams games as they did with the kid from denver. really a shame, but the best part is that wilcox is only a freshman.
    on a side note, i have no idea how walters is not the player of the year either. leblanc and kristo should not be 1st teamers. is should be haula and knight with walters.

    • HuskyHauler

      Did you miss that fact that LeBlanc led the NATION in apples? I don’t know how that doesn’t merit at least a first team all-WCHA. The three forwards chosen led in goals, assists, and points so I don’t know where you’re deciding Haula gets in.
      Also how can you not make the exact same points for Williams as you did for Wilcox?

    • I BLeed Maroon And Gold

      At first, I was skeptical about making the argument for Haula on the 1st team, but looking at the numbers, there’s a pretty good case. In WCHA games only (which, in my opinion, should be the stats considered), Haula had 13-24 for 37 points in 26 games, whereas LeBlanc had 10-25 for 35 points in 28 games. Plus, both of them were outscored by Walters (16-24-40). So, I guess it’s not too much of a stretch to question why LeBlanc was POY in my opinion.

      As for defensive POY, Schmidt had 7-19-26 while Jensen had 4-19-23. Additionally, Joey LaLeggia and Mike Boivin both outscored Jensen. I don’t know if anyone keeps track of +/-, so I can’t comment on that, but as a whole, Minnesota gave up 1.95 goals/gm to SCSU’s 2.49. I just don’t see how Jensen was more deserving when Schmidt led the league in scoring (for d-men) while playing on the league’s best defense.

      As far as Wilcox goes, I think he should have been the 2nd team goalie, but Williams absolutely earned 1st team, ROY, and all-rookie team. Wilcox has been great, but Williams has been better in my opinion.

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