Two Minnesotans earn weekly WCHA awards

Two players from Minnesota are among the four receiving the WCHA weekly awards. Minnesota State forward Jerad Stewart of Hastings shared the Offensive Player of the Week Award while St. Cloud State goalie Mike Lee of Roseau was named the Rookie of the Week.

Slightly edited news releases on the awards, with my comments:

Offensive Players of the Week: Joe Colborne, So., F, Denver
Jerad Stewart, Sr., F, Minnesota State

A pair of forwards who enjoyed big weekends offensively – Joe Colborne of the University of Denver and Jerad Stewart of Minnesota State University – have been named co-Offensive Players of the Week.

A 6-5, 195-pound sophomore from Calgary, Alberta and a draftee of the NHL's Boston Bruins, Colborne factored in on all four of Denver's goals in a 1-0, 3-2 sweep of visiting North Dakota on Nov. 20-21. Colborne scored two goals and added assists on both game-winning goals in the series, fired 14 shots on goal, and had four hits and four blocks. Last Saturday, with his team trailing 2-0, Colborne scored a pair of power-play goals to tie the score and then assisted on the winner.

Stewart, a 5-11, 200-pound senior, tallied a career-high five points – including four goals and the game-winner – to power Minnesota State to an 8-2 road victory at league-rival Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 20.

Stewart became the first MSU player to score five points in a game since Jerry Cunningham had 1-4=5 in a win over Findlay in 2001 and is the first Maverick to score four goals in a game since Shane Joseph accomplished the feat in a 9-6 win at Colorado College on March 1, 2003.

Also nominated were Bill Sweatt, F, CC; and Jack Connolly, F, UMD. Connolly scored three goals in UMD's sweep over the Gophers.

Defensive Player of the Week: Marc Cheverie, Jr., G, Denver

Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie, who backstopped his team to a two-game conference sweep over North Dakota last weekend, has been chosen as the Defensive Player of the Week. He also earned the same honor after the Pioneers swept the Gophers 3-0 and 3-0 in late October.

He stopped all 34 shots on goal Friday in a 1-0 DU victory over UND to earn his fourth shutout of the 2009-10 season. Cheverie then came back last Saturday to stop 24 of 26 shots on goal in a 3-2 Pioneers victory, with both goals he allowed coming on the power-play.

In the weekend series, Cheverie held UND to just two goals on 13 power-play attempts, had five shutout periods and recorded a .967 saves percentage.

Cheverie is 6-0-0 and leads the nation in goals-against average (1.19), saves percentage (.961) and shutouts (4). He has also stopped 38 of 40 shots on the penalty-kill this season.

Also nominated this week were Kris Fredheim, D, CC; and Brad Eidsness, G, UND.

Rookie of the Week: Mike Lee, Fr., G, St. Cloud State

Mike Lee, a goaltender at St. Cloud State University, is th Rookie of the Week fo as a result of his outstanding performance in a home-ice victory over Wisconsin last weekend.

The 6-0, 190-pound freshman from Roseau, Minn., and a draftee of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, was named the first star of the game after turning in a career-high 38-save performance in a 4-1 WCHA win over the visiting Badgers.

This season Lee is 2-3-2 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .923 saves percentage with 192 stops over 426:03 of action.