Minnesota State's Mike Hastings named WCHA Coach of the Year

Minnesota State men's hockey coach Mike Hastings is the WCHA Coach of the Year after leading the program to its first WCHA regular-season championship and a 25-7-3 record, the conference announced on Thursday.

The Mavericks won the MacNaughton Cup and enter this weekend's WCHA playoffs against Lake Super State as the top seed and ranked No. 2 in the USCHO poll. Earlier in the season, they climbed to No. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history.

Bemidji State goaltender Michael Bitzer earned WCHA Rookie of the Year honors. He led the conference with a .936 save percentage and ranked second with a 1.61 goals against average. Since Dec. 12, he leads the country with a .948 save percentage and 1.31 goals against, while earning a 12-4-3 record.

Bitzer, a Moorhead, Minn., native, also led the unranked Beavers' championship run at the North Star College Cup in late-January, giving up just one goal in two games against then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth and No. 1 Minnesota State. He was named the tournament MVP.

Minnesota State junior goaltender Stephon Williams (1.55 goals against average in conference play) was the Goaltending Champion and Michigan Tech's senior forward Tanner Kero (13 goals, 21 assists WCHA) was named the WCHA Player of the Year.

The Mavericks picked up six conference honors with forward Matt Leitner and defenseman Zach Palmquist landing on the First Team. Bemidji State earned three All-WCHA mentions.

2014-15 WCHA Individual Awards

First Team

Tanner Kero (Sr. / Hancock, Mich.) Forward Michigan Tech
Matt Leitner (Sr. / Los Alamitos, Calif.) Forward Minnesota State
Tyler Morley (Jr. / Burnaby, British Columbia) Forward University of Alaska
Colton Parayko (Jr. / St. Albert, Alberta) Defenseman University of Alaska
Zach Palmquist (Sr. / South St. Paul, Minn.) Defenseman Minnesota State
Jamie Phillips (Jr. / Caledonia, Ontario) Goaltender Michigan Tech

Second Team

Bryce Gervais (Jr. / Battleford, Saskatchewan) Forward Minnesota State
Alex Petan (Jr. / Delta, British Columbia) Forward Michigan Tech
Malcolm Gould (Jr. / North Vancouver, British Columbia) Forward Michigan Tech
Matt Prapavessis (Sr. / Oakville, Ontario) Defenseman Bemidji State
Casey Nelson (Soph. / Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) Defenseman Minnesota State
Stephon Williams (Jr. / Fairbanks, Alaska) Goaltender Minnesota State

Third Team

All-Rookie Team

Brandon Hawkins (Fr. / Macomb, Mich.) Forward Bowling Green
C.J. Franklin (Fr. / Forest Hills, Minn.) Forward Minnesota State
Max McHugh (Fr. / Seattle, Wash.) Forward Alabama Huntsville
Mark Friedman (Fr. / Toronto, Ontario) Defenseman Bowling Green
Nolan Valleau (Fr. / Novi, Mich.) Defenseman Bowling Green
Michael Bitzer (Fr. / Moorhead, Minn.) Goaltender Bemidji State

• The NCHC will announce its individual honors on March 19, but unveiled its all-conference teams this week. St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth each earned four All-NCHC mentions led by St. Cloud State's junior forward Jonny Brodzinski on the First Team. Brodzinski is also a finalist for the Player of the Year award.

Gophers associate head coach Mike Guentzel's son, Jake, a sophomore defenseman for Omaha, was an NCHC all-conference honorable mention.

NCHC First-Team All-Conference
Trevor Moore, So., F, Denver – 26 points (8 first-place votes)
Jonny Brodzinski, Jr., F, SCSU – 25 (7)
Mark MacMillan, Sr., F, UND – 22 (6)
Joey LaLeggia, Sr., D, Denver – 42 (14) (unanimous)
Jaccob Slavin, So., D, CC – 21 (5)
Zane McIntyre, Jr., G, UND – 32 (10)

Honorable Mention All-Conference
Austin Ortega, So., F, Omaha – 16 (4)
Dominic Toninato, So., F, UMD – 14 (4)
Jake Guentzel, So., F, Omaha – 8 (2)
Matthew Caito, Jr., D, Miami – 10 (3)
Andrew Prochno, Sr., D, SCSU – 4 (0)
Charlie Lindgren, So., G, SCSU - 6 (1)