Gophers senior Jack LaFontaine was named Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, while teammates Sampo Ranta and Jackson LaCombe joined him on the All-Big Ten first team in honors announced by the conference on Tuesday.
Regular-season champion Wisconsin landed three honors. Sophomore forward Cole Caufield was a unanimous selection as Big Ten Player of the Year and was the league's scoring champion with 27 goals and 21 assists, while Tony Granato was named as Coach of the Year. Michigan sophomore defenseman Cam York was selected Defensive Player of the Year, and Wolverines forward Thomas Bordeleau was named Freshman of the Year. The awards were based on the voting of coaches and media members.
LaFontaine also was a player of the year finalist, while Gophers defenseman Brock Faber (defensive player of the year, freshman of the year) and Bob Motzko (coach of the year) also were individual awards finalists.
LaFontaine leads the nation with 20 wins, ranks second with five shutouts, ranks third with a 1.65 goals-against average and is tied for third with a .937 save percentage.
The Gophers face Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (BTN) in the Big Ten tournament championship game in South Bend, Ind.
Here are the All-Big Ten teams (unanimous selections in ALL CAPS):
FIRST TEAM
Sampo Ranta, F, Gophers
