Four Terriers Honored By Hockey East
March 14, 2001 | Men's Ice Hockey
Senior co-captains Mike Pandolfo (Burlington) and Chris Dyment (Reading) along with freshmen Ryan Whitney (Scituate) and Brian McConnell (Norfolk) have been honored by Hockey East for their play during the 2001-02 season.
In a vote of the nine league coaches, Pandolfo was selected the league's Best Defensive Forward, while Dyment, who was also voted Second Team All-Conference, was named the Old Time Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman. In addition, both Whitney and McConnell were voted to the All-Rookie Team.
The announcement of the award winners was made tonight (March 14th) at the league's annual banquet. The evening actually kicked off the Hockey East tournament finals weekend that will culminate on Saturday night (March 16th) with the championship game at the FleetCenter. On Friday (March 15th), top-seeded University of New Hampshire (27-6-3) will take on fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts/Lowell (22-12-3) at 4:00 p.m. Then, at 7:00 p.m., second-seeded Boston University (25-8-3) will meet third-seeded University of Maine (22-9-7).
The two winners will meet at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday (March 16th) at the FleetCenter.
Pandolfo has enjoyed his finest season as a Terrier. He enters this weekend leading the team in goals (21) and points (38), while he is tied for the team lead in assists (17). In addition to his taking a regular shift as the left wing on the Terriers' first line, he has also played on the Terrier power play and penalty killing units. On the former, he led the team in power play goals with nine, while, on the latter, he played a key role in the Terriers being one of the league's top teams in killing penalties. In fact, their penalty killing ranked second in Hockey East both in league games only and in all games. In their 24 league games, they killed off 94-of-110 chances for an .855 efficiency, which ranked second in the league. They were also second in all games, as they killed off 150-of-177 chances (.847).
Dyment also enjoyed an outstanding season, as he led all Terrier defensemen, and was fifth overall in scoring with 6 goals and 17 assists for 23 points. He finished the season on a strong note with 1-7-8 in his final 10 games. What's more, he led the team in plus-minus with a plus-21. Thus far, he has played in all 36 Terrier games, as he has not missed a game over the past three years.
One of the secrets to the Terriers' success this year has been the play of the freshman class. Considered one of the nation's premier freshman classes when the season began, the six first-year players have lived up to their advanced billing. Through the first 36 games, the freshmen lead the team in assists with 72 and in points with 103.
Two of the top freshmen are McConnell and Whitney.
McConnell, who centers the first line, has played in all 36 of the Terrier games and has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points. He was the Terriers' top-scoring freshman, while he tied for third on the team overall. His 11 goals were fourth on the team, while his 15 assists were tied for fifth. During the second half of the season, he had at least one point in 14 of the final 21 games. During this stretch, he had 8-11-19.
A defenseman, Whitney has 4-16-20 in 33 games. The only games he missed were because he was with the U.S. Junior Team at the World Junior Championships. His assist total tied for fourth, while he was second only to Dyment in plus-minus with a plus-19.
