Members of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux dominated the year-end awards announced today by the WCHA, as UND players won four major awards and occupied three spots on both of the first-team all-conference and all-rookie teams.
Sioux defenseman Curtis Murphy took home Player of the Year honors after leading conference blueliners in league and overall scoring and anchoring a North Dakota defense that allowed fewer than three goals per game during regular-season play.
Matt Henderson of North Dakota and Andy Sutton of Michigan Tech shared the Defensive Player of the Year honor, while UND goaltender Karl Goehring was named WCHA Rookie of the Year, and teammate Mitch Vig won Student-Athlete of the Year accolades.
Coach of the Year honors went to St. Cloud’s Craig Dahl, who led his team to a 16-11-1 league record and a fourth-place finish after a run at the top of the standings for much of the season.
The All-WCHA first team features three Sioux in Murphy, Goehring and forward Jason Blake, as well as forwards Brian Swanson of Colorado College and Andre Savage of Michigan Tech, and defenseman Craig Anderson of Wisconsin.
Goehring and teammates Jeff Panzer, a forward, and Trevor Hamner, a defenseman, made the All-Rookie team, as did Denver’s Mark Rycroft and Wisconsin’s Kevin Granato at forward and Paul Manning of Colorado College and Ryan Coole of Minnesota-Duluth on defense.
