PucKato's all-conference picks

Filling out this year's All-WCHA ballot may have been the toughest it's been in several seasons. Many good forwards are getting left off a lot of ballots, including my own. I probably changed my mind several times before turning in my final picks and likely would tweak them some more if there was an extended deadline. For what it's worth, here were my selections:

First team
F -- Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin
F -- Rhett Rakhshani, Denver
F -- Jack Connolly, Duluth
D -- Brendan Smith, Wisconsin
D -- Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
G -- Marc Chevrie, Denver 

Second team
F -- Justin Fontaine, Duluth
F -- Tyler Ruegsegger, Denver
F -- Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud
D -- Ryan McDonagh, Wisconsin
D -- Nate Prosser, Colorado College
G -- Brad Eidsness, North Dakota 

Third team
F -- Joe Colborne, Denver
F -- Chris VandeVelde, North Dakota
F -- Kevin Clark, Alaska Anchorage
D -- Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud
D -- Ben Youds, Minnesota State
G -- Scott Gudmandson, Wisconsin 

Rookie team
F -- Danny Kristo, North Dakota
F -- Rylan Schwartz, Colorado College
F -- Tyler Pitlick, Minnesota State
D -- Matt Donovan, Denver
D -- Justin Schultz, Wisconsin
G -- Joe Howe, Colorado College

Player of the year -- Marc Cheverie, Denver
Rookie of the year -- Danny Kristo, North Dakota
Coach of the year -- George Gwozdecky, Denver

Notable omissions: Like I said earlier, this was tough. I look at the players not on my lists and wonder if they should have gone: Garrett Roe, St. Cloud; Mike Connolly, Duluth; Michael Davies and Derek Stepan, Wisconsin; Jason Gregoire, North Dakota; Bill Sweatt, Colorado College -- and that's just the forwards. On defense, North Dakota's Jake Marto, CC's Gabe Guentzel, Duluth's Brady Lamb and MSU's Kurt Davis all deserve at least a pondering.

Another note: Just a few weeks ago I had written that I had Blake Geoffrion already penciled in as my player of the year. Interestingly, Wisconsin did not put its captain up for the award. Brendan Smith was on the list. There was a spot for a write-in candidate, but it's hard to argue with Cheverie's performance this year. After some thought, I went with easily the most important player on the conference's best team this season.