My WCHA ballot

Like a lot of people holding WCHA all-conference ballots over the weekend, I had a tough time filling it out. Certainly, there are some very good players who got left off my (and others') list by the time I turned it in on Sunday afternoon. In the spirit of full transparency, here are my votes:

FIRST TEAM

F-Jack Connolly, UMD

F-J.T. Brown, UMD

F-Nick Bjugstad, Minn.

D-Justin Schultz, Wis.

D-Gabe Guentzel, CC

G-Kent Patterson, Minn.

Comment: Connolly, Brown, Schultz and Patterson were no-brainers. Bjugstad got the nod based on his goal total and his outstanding first half of the season that really helped establish the Gophers as a top team. Guentzel was outstanding against MSU in December, plays a ton of minutes and seems to get better every time I see him play.

SECOND TEAM

F-Mark Zengerle, Wis.

F-Travis Oleksuk, UMD

F-Drew Shore, DU

D-Nate Schmidt, Minn.

D-Joey LaLeggia, DU

G-Kenny Reiter, UMD

Comment: Any of those forwards could have taken a spot on my first team with the outstanding seasons they had. Schmidt gave the Gophers the points at the blue line they had been missing for a long time (funny, they won the league, too).

THIRD TEAM

F-Jaden Schwartz, CC

F-Jason Zucker, DU

F-Brock Nelson, UND

D-Ben Blood, UND

D-Nick Jensen, SCSU

G-Josh Thorimbert, CC

Comment: Looking at my "apologies" list below, you can see just how tough this ballot was. Hard to argue with Nelson's goal-scoring prowess this year and the overall outstanding play of Blood and Jensen. Schwartz edged his brother on a mythical coin flip. Zucker, of course, continues to make Wild fans excited about the future.

Apologies to: Rylan Schwartz, CC; Ben Hanowski, SCSU; Danny Kristo, UND; Jordan George, BSU; Brett Olson, MTU; Brady Lamb, UMD

ROOKIE TEAM

F-Kyle Rau, Minn.

F-Jean-Paul LaFontaine, MSU

F-Matt Leitner, MSU

D-Joey LaLeggia, DU

D-Zach Palmquist

G-Juho Olkinuora, DU

Apologies to: Andrew Prochno, SCSU; Caleb Herbert, UMD; Jayson Megna, UNO; Ryan Faragher, SCSU; Ryan Massa, UNO

Comment: This looks like a homer ballot, I know, with three MSU players on it. After watching LaFontaine and Leitner all year, though, they established themselves as players in this league without much help from veterans. As for Palmquist, he was handed Kurt Davis' minutes and responsibility and had the points and an impressive six goals.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jack Connolly, UMD

Comment: This nearly came down to a coin flip between Connolly and Justin Schultz, but Connolly got the edge on my ballot. Despite losing his wingers from last year, there was no slip in his production at all. He led the WCHA in scoring and UMD to a second-place finish in the league.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Joey LaLeggia, DU

Comment: This might have been the quietest dominant performance by a rookie defenseman in many years (remember the fanfare around Patrick Wierchioch?), but how do you ignore an 11-goal, 37-point season from a rookie at probably the toughest position to transition into?

COACH OF THE YEAR

Don Lucia, Minn.

Comment: There was a stretch this season when Michigan Tech's Mel Pearson looked like a lock. By the end of the year, you could put a bunch of names in a hat, draw one and not be wrong — Lucia, Pearson, St. Cloud's Bob Motzko, North Dakota's Dave Hakstol. I went with Lucia because his team went wire to wire to win the league and was picked sixth in the preseason polls.