Goalies to get own national award

In major league baseball, pitchers rarely win the MVP Award. But they have their own award, the Cy Young.

Now so do goalies in college hockey.

Like pitchers, netminders rarely win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which goes to the top hockey player in the nation. But now they have their own award.

Let's Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation, two established Minnesota hockey entities, have announced the creation of the Mike Richter Award which will got annually honor the most outstanding goalie in NCAA men's hockey. The inaugural award will be presented during the 2014 Frozen Four.

College coaches wil make nominatd and the finalists and winner will be selected by a committee of coaches, scouts and media.

Richter was a former Wisconsin goalie in the late 1980s and then an NHL goalie for 14 years with the New York Rangers. He also compete in three Winter Olympics on the U.S. team.

Criteria for the word will go beyond just hockey skills. It will inclue academics and community service.

Former St. Cloud State men's hockey coach will be admitted to the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

He will be one of eight inductees, the others:

Dahl was the Huskies coach for 18 seasons and won 338 games from 1987-2005. He also was there when they moved into Division I in 1987-88.

His teams went to five NCAA tournaments and won the Broadmoor Trophy in 2001.

He coached five All-America players and one Hobey Baker Memorial Award top three finalist in Mark Hartigan, in 2002. Seventeen of his former players reached the National Hockey League including Bret Hedican, Mark Parrish, Matt Cullen, Tyler Arnason, Ryan Malone and Duvie Westcott.

BSU REBUILDING

Hopefully, Bemdiji coach Tom Serratore is not too superstitious. This is his 13th season as the Beavers head coach.

He has 15 players back, and 11 newcomers. And to start the season, he draws St. Cloud State, coming off a Frozen Four trip.

Last season Bemidji State was 6-22-8, 5-16-7, its lowest win total in 13 years. There's that number again. And BSU played top 25 teams 13 times, and averaged just over two goals per game.

"We only have 35 goals returning. That's not a lot," Serratore said in a BSU news release. "We are going to have to have some veterans take a step forward and I think we will, but we will also need to insert some freshmen into some roles that will be fun for them. It will be baptism by fire for some of those freshmen, but it's also going to be exciting."

The captain of the Beavers is junior defenseman Matt Prapavessis of Oakville, Ontario.

The alternate captains are senior forward Matt Hartmann of White Bear Lake and senior forward Jeff Jubinville of Edmonton, Alberta.

Etc.

* Denver is cominf off its 12th 20-win season in a row -- the longest such streak in the nation. First-year coach Jim Montgomery will lead the Pioneers vs. New Brunswick in a home exhibition game at Magness Arena.

N.B. has some talent, it is the defending Canada Inter-university Sport champion after going 31-7 a year ago and 4-1 in exhibitions so far this season.