We had a long end of the year meeting on Tuesday and it was an extremely gratifying one for me as a coach as well as our team.  It is wonderful to hear the guys speak from the heart about their teammates and to reaffirm all that is good in our program.  It was an opportunity for us to have some closure on this season and served as a great jumping off point for next year.  February 15^th can’t come soon enough!

Without further adieu – the award winners….

The “Lou Munro Memorial Award” – MVP – Henry Riehl (Junior – St. Paul’s, MD) – Henry had a fantastic year for us and finished 2^nd on the team in points with 72 (53g, 19a).  Henry played a ton his first two years at attack and midfield but had a breakout season this spring. He is an unselfish player and as the young guy on the offensive end the past few years was more than willing to defer to our veterans on the team.  We definitely missed him during the playoffs last year after the injury he suffered against Williams at the end of the regular season.  This year we planned to play Henry in the midfield along with Jack Gould as a great 1-2 punch and when Michael McCormack went down for the year (on our 2^nd possession of the season against Conn!!), plans changed.  From that point on Henry became our lefty attackman and thrived both in transition and in our settled offense by playing up top.  By the end of the year, due to both of our other first line midfielders going down with season ending injuries (Jack Gould and John Simms), Henry was essentially an attackman in transition and then a midfielder once we subbed in our offensive personnel.  His versatility and talent played a huge role in us having success in the home stretch including 3 goals and an assist in the 4^th quarter at Amherst in the NESCAC Quarterfinals.  Henry was named 2^nd Team All NESCAC this year as well and hopefully will receive some additional recognition as All New England and All American teams are announced.

Ric Rosbeck – MIP – Chase Midgley (So. – Ossining, NY/The Hill School, PA) – Chase was our 3^rd string goalie to start the year as we began the season splitting halves with senior captain Will Ernst and first year Will Perry.  Chase started the first game of his career against Hamilton in the beginning of April and didn’t look back.  He was named NESCAC player of the week after his 24 save performance against Amherst in the NESCAC Quarterfinals and was outstanding in the goal this past weekend against Bates and Wesleyan. He finished a few saves shy of the NESCAC tourney record. 

Baggataway Award – Jack King (Sr. – Gilman, MD) –  Jack’s energy, smile, and work ethic all served to motivate our group over the past four years.  When he scored his first career goal against Hamilton this year, it was about as wild a celebration as you’ll see on a sideline.  Jack was also one of the many guys who was asked to step up in a big moment when his number was called and was up to the task.  He made a few big plays defensively and on the wing in both our Amherst and Bates playoff victories down the stretch.  He embodied the persistence of our group this year and how much these guys cared about each other.

Looking ahead to next year we return a good group and will get a number of key contributors back from injury.  We will also be adding some talented first years and it wouldn’t surprise me if a few of them crack the lineup.  Our league will be as deep as ever so we are going to put in a ton of work to hopefully come out on the right end of a bunch of one/two goal games along the way! 

As always, thanks for the continued support.