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~ UMass-Lowell's Norm Bazin tabbed as Coach of the Year, Scott Wilson earns Rookie of the Year ~
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Major Award Winners: Maine's Spencer Abbott, UML's Norm Bazin and UML's Scott Wilson |
Wakefield, Mass. - The Hockey East Association announced that senior forward Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ont.) from the
University of Maine was named 2012 Athletic Republic Player of the Year on Thursday night at the league's annual Championship
Awards night at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Mass.
Leading the league as well as the nation in overall point production this season, Abbott was chosen by the league's 10 head
coaches. Abbott is the fifth Black Bear to receive the league's top player honor, but the first since defenseman Chris Imes in 1995.
Abbott lit up the scoreboard with 15 points in only five games in December, and added 16 points in only eight games in February,
culminating his hot stretch run with a goal and an assist in Sunday's quarterfinal-series-clinching 2-1 victory over Merrimack.
The University of Massachusetts-Lowell's Norm Bazin was a nearly unanimous choice as Hockey East's Bob Kullen Coach of the
Year, as he steered a River Hawk team from last place to second place in just his first year behind his alma mater's bench. The River
Hawks managed 17 league wins this year, winning seven of their nine series and losing only one (vs. first-place Boston College),
marking one of the best single-season turnarounds in league history. Bazin set the Division I hockey record for largest turnaround
by a first-year coach, guiding the River Hawks to 18 more wins than last season.
Bazin was fortunate to have one of the nation's most prolific rookies on his squad in Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ontario) who finished
tied with BC sniper Chris Kreider for sixth in league scoring and tied with UMass Lowell junior Riley Wetmore for the team scoring
lead, averaging just over a point per game in both league and overall play. Wilson is this year's Pro Ambitions Hockey East Rookie
of the Year, making him the fourth River Hawk to receive the honor and first since Peter Vetri in 2005.
The Hockey East Association is a 10-team Division I college men's hockey conference founded in 1984 and an eightteam Division
I women's league which began play in 2002-03. The men's league has won seven NCAA championships in the past 19 years.
Since 1999, Hockey East has won five NCAA Championships and have placed 18 teams in the Frozen Four, along with 45 teams
in the NCAA Tournament.
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