2013-2014 Hockey LEast Awards: Get Your Popcorn Ready

Welcome to the 3rd Annual edition of the Hockey LEast Awards. While we leave the real postseason awards to the writers and coaches, we feel it's wrong if the worst players in the league fail to be recognized as well.  When putting this list together, we take into account the following: goals, assists, plus/minus, games played, and our personal hatred level towards each player. We released our Pre-season favorites back in September and some were spot on...others not so much. Enjoy.

Dennehy explaining away another Merrimack loss. Courtesy of Merrimack Athletics

(Worst) Coach of the Year- Mark Dennehy (Merrimack)
This 1991 BC grad had a year for the ages behind the bench at Merrimack posting only 3 wins in league play leading to a last place finish. Only one Merrimack player recorded more than 14 points this season. Think about that for a minute. There were 87 players who scored more than 14 points this season in Hockey East. When you only have one of the top 87 scorers in the league, that generally doesn't lead to success. Some will claim it is because of the talent level being recruited which is certainly part of it but who recruits the players? Bingo! It's Dennehy and his staff. The moral of the story is if you don't want to get this award, don't be a BC alum and come in last in the league. Maybe just the first one.

Gaudreault about to be pick-pocketed/Courtesy of UNH Athletics

(Worst) Player of the Year- Maxim Gaudreault (UNH)
Gaudreault not only has a terrible last name, but also a terrible stat line. His measly 3 points in 34 games along with a -10 rating are straight up bad. This comes on a team that is above .500 and possibly bound for the NCAA tournament.  You combine his stat line with how eerily close his last name is to the worst person on the face of the earth and this award became unanimous very quickly. He literally contributes nothing to UNH. Gaudreault sucks and so do both Gaudreaus. We personally want to congratulate him on being the first player not named Vinny Saponari to win this award. It took Vinny leaving Hockey East for it to happen, but Maxim has filled his shoes quite nicely.
                                                

2013-2014 (3rd annual)Hockey LEast Pre-Season Awards

It is once again the time of year where the media releases all of their preseason polls. This means that fans(including us) will get all ticked off because their team is picked to finish 4th instead of 3rd(1st in our case) in the conference. While I have already posted our predictions, we will continue our set of awards that we post at the beginning and conclusion of each season. The Hockey LEast awards(2012-2013 final awards here) are who we think are the worst players and coaches for a various number of reasons including performance, team , off-ice rapping career etc. If you want to whine about it, feel free to leave a comment.

(Worst) Coach of the Year- Jerry York (BC)
-The fact that our pal Jerry hasn't won this award before is quite surprising in itself but we believe BC will suck enough for him to come through this year. It is really too perfect as the media and fellow coaches pumps up BC's hype in the pre-season polls. This is a team that is reliant on a freshman class to have success this season. Someone name me the last team that made a serious run with as many freshmen playing important roles as BC will have this year. The answer is never.  Throw in his team's inevitable failure this year and the fact that York and Co. will probably have to cover up more off the ice issues, this was an easy choice for our Hockey LEast coach of the year. Let the countdown for most career losses continue. 569 and counting...

The 2012 Hockey LEast Awards

There are plenty of players who suit up every year in Hockey East, but only a special few are bad enough to make the BSRS All Hockey LEast team.  Taken into account are: stat lines, games played, and whether or not they have pissed us off on a personal level.  Very professional, we know.

(Worst) Player of the Year
An absolutely obvious decision.  Here's a hint for those of you in the dark - he acted like a moron, got kicked out of BU, rejected by BC, and finally accepted by Northeastern.  Yes, yes - our Hockey LEast Valuable Player for 2011-2012 is the one and only Vinny Saponari.  While he claimed to be a "sniper" in his Grammy nominated song "Party Like a Puckstar", Vin only managed to sneak the puck into the net 7 times all year.  Keep in mind - one of those was an empty netter. Also, anybody who refuses to shake the hand of a former coach - and a legend at that - is a classless, mouth-breathing goon.  Stay classy, Saponari.