Spencer Penrose Award

[NorthDakotaHockey]

A more deserving college coach there has never been . . . .

Go Sioux. Go Ryan. Go Dave. Here comes the Trifecta. This is gonna be special.

Hakstol Announcement

[Siouxman]

Congratulations Dave. However, I am afraid that Jeff Jackson of Notre Dame will be tough to beat.

[UNDintheNHL]

Jeff Jackson of Notre Dame isnt taking his [fluke year] team to a third Frozen Four in 3 years, in his 3rd year as coach of a team in the toughest conference in college hockey......is. he?

[Siouxman]

Jeff Jackson of Notre Dame isnt taking his [fluke year] team to a third Frozen Four in 3 years, in his 3rd year as coach of a team in the toughest conference in college hockey......is. he?

No, he certainly isn't. But he has resurrected a derelect hockey program and the unfortunate part is that much of the college hockey world has the infamous bias that doesn't recognize the worldly greatness of the WCHA.

[UNDintheNHL]

No, he certainly isn't. But he has resurrected a derelect hockey program and the unfortunate part is that much of the college hockey world has the infamous bias that doesn't recognize the worldly greatness of the WCHA.

exactly. which is why Hak won't win it. even though he has [at this point] every qualification to have it, except maybe #8, but me thinks he'll be adding it next week. we'll see...would be nice to get all 3, but we also could come home with none of them. so im crossin my fingers..... GO SIOUX!!!

[The Whistler]

I'm thinking that Hak will have to be content with the consolation of just winning the national tournament. Oh well that's not too bad.

[siouxnami]

Congratulations Dave. However, I am afraid that Jeff Jackson of Notre Dame will be tough to beat.

Jackson, doesn't deserve it, if anyone at Notre Dame deserves it it is whoever made that pathetic schedule. Sure they looked good when they completed the home and homes against the American Quadriplegic Society and Girl Scout Troop 273.

[PCM]

I think it's going to be difficult to deny Hakstol the award after three straight Frozen Four appearances.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

I think it's going to be difficult to deny Hakstol the award after three straight Frozen Four appearances.

It's not a career achievement award, it's for the 2006-2007 season. While Hakstol has done great things in turning this team around, he wasn't even WCHA Coach of the Year. Jeff Jackson turned a mediocre program into one of the top programs into the country, while Hak merely got immense talent to play at their level. I would love to see Hak win it, but I don't think he should.

[siouxnami]

I think it's going to be difficult to deny Hakstol the award after three straight Frozen Four appearances.

Motzko deserves a nod as well.

[dagies]

I talked to a former player who played when Hak was assistant under Blais. After the Tech debacle in December I emailed him and asked him if this was pretty much what we can expect for this season, and his response was simply "Patience".

At the end of the regular season I asked him what he knew that I didn't know at that time, and his reply was "Because I know how good a coach Hak is.".

I think pretty much stands on its own.

[Goon]

Motzko deserves a nod as well.

Yep one and done. I think Hak should get the award.

[rochsioux]

Jackson, doesn't deserve it, if anyone at Notre Dame deserves it it is whoever made that pathetic schedule. Sure they looked good when they completed the home and homes against the American Quadriplegic Society and Girl Scout Troop 273.

Notre Dame did have a pretty pathetic schedule but much of it is not their fault or under their control. Like the WCHA, the CCHA has a 28 game conference schedule. Because the league has 12 teams it means that you only play most teams twice (8 teams twice, 3 teams four times), which is the main reason I do not want to see the WCHA expand beyond 10 teams. This year ND played 5th place UNO, 11th place Alaska, and 12th place Bowling Green four times, so they had about as soft a CCHA schedule as you could get. Almost half their conference games were against the 5th, 11th, and 12th place teams.

Their out of conference schedule was:

Mankato (2) - split

BC (1) - won

Providence (1) - won

Army (1) - won

Air Force (1) - won

Robert Morris (2) - split

Not exactly a schedule to toughen you up for the NCAA tourney. My biggest criticism of the schedule is they should not schedule Army, Air Force, and Robert Morris all in the same season. Maybe replace one of these series with a higher quality opponent (UND, Maine, UNH, etc). They especially need to be sure the non-conference schedule is tough enough given that the CCHA is a weaker conference to begin with.

IMO, Notre Dame was a highly suspect #1 seed going into the tourney due to the schedule they played. Not that they might not be deserving, but based on their schedule it was very hard to evaluate how good they were. I think the tournament would have been much better by just swapping Minnesota and Notre Dame in the brackets.

Does Jackson deserve the award ? Not IMO, based on the results. For him to win the award he needed to at least make the FF and prove to some extent that the lofty seeding/rankings were justified.

[siouxnami]

Yep one and done. I think Hak should get the award.

Not his fault, that is in the SCCC job description...

[Goon]

Providence (1) - won

Army (1) - won

Air Force (1) - won

Robert Morris (2) - split

That is an impressive non-conference schedule.

Tell them to bring their butts over to Grand Forks for a couple of shellackings.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Notre Dame did have a pretty pathetic schedule but much of it is not their fault or under their control. Like the WCHA, the CCHA has a 28 game conference schedule. Because the league has 12 teams it means that you only play most teams twice (8 teams twice, 3 teams four times), which is the main reason I do not want to see the WCHA expand beyond 10 teams. This year ND played 5th place UNO, 11th place Alaska, and 12th place Bowling Green four times, so they had about as soft a CCHA schedule as you could get. Almost half their conference games were against the 5th, 11th, and 12th place teams.

Their out of conference schedule was:

Mankato (2) - split

BC (1) - won

Providence (1) - won

Army (1) - won

Air Force (1) - won

Robert Morris (2) - split

Not exactly a schedule to toughen you up for the NCAA tourney. My biggest criticism of the schedule is they should not schedule Army, Air Force, and Robert Morris all in the same season. Maybe replace one of these series with a higher quality opponent (UND, Maine, UNH, etc). They especially need to be sure the non-conference schedule is tough enough given that the CCHA is a weaker conference to begin with.

IMO, Notre Dame was a highly suspect #1 seed going into the tourney due to the schedule they played. Not that they might not be deserving, but based on their schedule it was very hard to evaluate how good they were. I think the tournament would have been much better by just swapping Minnesota and Notre Dame in the brackets.

Does Jackson deserve the award ? Not IMO, based on the results. For him to win the award he needed to at least make the FF and prove to some extent that the lofty seeding/rankings were justified.

Army and Air Force were part of the Lightning College Hockey Showcase, so I'm not sure how much influence they had on who they played as far as the opening round game versus Army. Then obviously they had no control who they would play in the Championship, but it wound up being Atlantic Hockey Tournament Champion Air Force.

The wins at BC and Providence are impressive (they beat BC 7-1), and the split with Mankato is nothing to laugh at. The only questionable non-conference loss was against Robert Morris, but they played their backup goalie, so that will happen.

Notre Dame won the CCHA easily, as well as the conference tournament. They were 3-0 against Michigan, and split the season series with Michigan State before losing out in the Regional Final. They had 32 wins this season, NINETEEN more than a year ago, and the most victories in the program's history.

Jeff Jackson deserves this award moreso than Dave Hakstol. He had a better overall season. He had less talent than Hakstol had to work with, and led his program to it's best season ever. Again, I'm not trying to bash Hakstol here, I never have. I just don't think that Hakstol should win this award this season.

[Runninwiththedogs]

Not exactly a schedule to toughen you up for the NCAA tourney. My biggest criticism of the schedule is they should not schedule Army, Air Force, and Robert Morris all in the same season. Maybe replace one of these series with a higher quality opponent (UND, Maine, UNH, etc). They especially need to be sure the non-conference schedule is tough enough given that the CCHA is a weaker conference to begin with.

Isn't that sort of attitude the reason the CHA is going under? Because no one will play them?

Of course everyone wants to play the good teams. But that isn't good for college hockey as a whole.

[rochsioux]

Army and Air Force were part of the Lightning College Hockey Showcase, so I'm not sure how much influence they had on who they played as far as the opening round game versus Army. Then obviously they had no control who they would play in the Championship, but it wound up being Atlantic Hockey Tournament Champion Air Force.

The wins at BC and Providence are impressive (they beat BC 7-1), and the split with Mankato is nothing to laugh at. The only questionable non-conference loss was against Robert Morris, but they played their backup goalie, so that will happen.

Notre Dame won the CCHA easily, as well as the conference tournament. They were 3-0 against Michigan, and split the season series with Michigan State before losing out in the Regional Final. They had 32 wins this season, NINETEEN more than a year ago, and the most victories in the program's history.

Jeff Jackson deserves this award moreso than Dave Hakstol. He had a better overall season. He had less talent than Hakstol had to work with, and led his program to it's best season ever. Again, I'm not trying to bash Hakstol here, I never have. I just don't think that Hakstol should win this award this season.

The other team in the Lightning showcase was Alabama-Huntsville so it was not a quality tourney.

Beating Providence is not impressive, they finished 8th in Hockey East and had a 10-23-3 overall record. Based on their schedule, Jackson should have had a great year, they didn't play very many tough games. That's why I was suspect of them going into the tourney and they did nothing to prove the skeptics wrong. ND had no expectations, no pressure to win, and played a lousy schedule. IMO, for Jackson to get the award he needed to a least make the FF and preferably beat a quality WCHA/HEA team on the way. They made the tourney, won one game (double ot against 13-20-3 Alabama-Huntsville), not good enough for me.

I think Hakstol is definitely a deserving candidate and I hope he wins it. He lost his starting goalie, top defenseman, and three of the best forwards in the WCHA, all players that could have returned this year. Were these departures expected ? Some, but I doubt all. With a team comprised primarily of freshman and sophomores, they started slowly but put it together in the second half and made the FF. To me that is the very definition of a great coaching job.

This is the third year in a row that Hakstol has taken the team to the FF. Somethings wrong if he can do this and not get the Spencer Penrose Award at least once. People can't keep claiming that UND always gets the talent, blah, blah, blah so anyone could do a good coaching job. If so then no UND, Minn, BC, Wisconsin, Michigan coach should ever win the award.

[rochsioux]

Isn't that sort of attitude the reason the CHA is going under? Because no one will play them?

Of course everyone wants to play the good teams. But that isn't good for college hockey as a whole.

I have no problem with scheduling teams in these conferences. Just don't schedule too many in the same year, especially when your own conference SOS is not very good.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

The other team in the Lightning showcase was Alabama-Huntsville so it was not a quality tourney.

Beating Providence is not impressive, they finished 8th in Hockey East and had a 10-23-3 overall record. Based on their schedule, Jackson should have had a great year, they didn't play very many tough games. That's why I was suspect of them going into the tourney and they did nothing to prove the skeptics wrong. ND had no expectations, no pressure to win, and played a lousy schedule. IMO, for Jackson to get the award he needed to a least make the FF and preferably beat a quality WCHA/HEA team on the way. They made the tourney, won one game (double ot against 13-20-3 Alabama-Huntsville), not good enough for me.

I think Hakstol is definitely a deserving candidate and I hope he wins it. He lost his starting goalie, top defenseman, and three of the best forwards in the WCHA, all players that could have returned this year. Were these departures expected ? Some, but I doubt all. With a team comprised primarily of freshman and sophomores, they started slowly but put it together in the second half and made the FF. To me that is the very definition of a great coaching job.

This is the third year in a row that Hakstol has taken the team to the FF. Somethings wrong if he can do this and not get the Spencer Penrose Award at least once. People can't keep claiming that UND always gets the talent, blah, blah, blah so anyone could do a good coaching job. If so then no UND, Minn, BC, Wisconsin, Michigan coach should ever win the award.

How do you explain Notre Dame's improvement this season? Last Year's team didn't have that much harder of a schedule (Non-conference against Mankato, Princeton and @CC/Denver), and yet they only won 13 games. This year they had a similar schedule and won 32 games. That's remarkable. Hakstol had an underachieving team the first half of the seaon that finally got its act together to save its season.

If you look at the past winners of the award, they tend to go to coaches who have turned things around (Blasi in '06, 'Sandelin in '04, Daniels (Ferris) in '03, Whitehead in '02, Marsh (SLU) in '00) than coaches who have succeeded with talent (Gwoz in '05 and Blais in '01). Jeff Jackson will most likely be the '07 winner, and he should. He deserves this award.

[mikejm]

IIRC, coaches who's teams make it to the Frozen Four are automatically nominated for the Spencer Penrose award. Just saying.

[rochsioux]

How do you explain Notre Dame's improvement this season? Last Year's team didn't have that much harder of a schedule (Non-conference against Mankato, Princeton and @CC/Denver), and yet they only won 13 games. This year they had a similar schedule and won 32 games. That's remarkable. Hakstol had an underachieving team the first half of the seaon that finally got its act together to save its season.

If you look at the past winners of the award, they tend to go to coaches who have turned things around (Blasi in '06, 'Sandelin in '04, Daniels (Ferris) in '03, Whitehead in '02, Marsh (SLU) in '00) than coaches who have succeeded with talent (Gwoz in '05 and Blais in '01). Jeff Jackson will most likely be the '07 winner, and he should. He deserves this award.

I explain ND's improvement this year to playing an extremely easy schedule (#40 in RPI). A better question may be, why, if the schedule last year was similar, didn't Jackson win more than 13 games ?

I believe Notre Dame played 17 games against teams in the bottom 20 of the RPI (UND played 0).

IMO to win the Spencer Penrose, if you play that type of schedule you gotta do better than one tourney win against a 13-20-3 team (in 2 ots).

Now, Jackson may win the award, I just don't believe he should.

If the Sioux go on to win the NCAA tourney I believe without question that Hakstol deserves the award. When you look at the players the Sioux lost, the early season injuries, and the turnaround the team made, not to mention the teams that the Sioux will have defeated in the tourney (Mich, Minn, BC, Maine/MichSt) I think there would be no coach as deserving of the award then Hakstol.

[nodakvindy]

IIRC, coaches who's teams make it to the Frozen Four are automatically nominated for the Spencer Penrose award. Just saying.

That is correct. All Frozen Four coaches along with conference coach of the year winners are finalists.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

I explain ND's improvement this year to playing an extremely easy schedule (#40 in RPI). A better question may be, why, if the schedule last year was similar, didn't Jackson win more than 13 games ?

I believe Notre Dame played 17 games against teams in the bottom 20 of the RPI (UND played 0).

IMO to win the Spencer Penrose, if you play that type of schedule you gotta do better than one tourney win against a 13-20-3 team (in 2 ots).

Now, Jackson may win the award, I just don't believe he should.

If the Sioux go on to win the NCAA tourney I believe without question that Hakstol deserves the award. When you look at the players the Sioux lost, the early season injuries, and the turnaround the team made, not to mention the teams that the Sioux will have defeated in the tourney (Mich, Minn, BC, Maine/MichSt) I think there would be no coach as deserving of the award then Hakstol.

The Award isn't given out for last year, it's given out for this year. He more than doubled his team's victories from the year before.

How many of the 17 games were against Conference Opponents? Jackson can't control who he play.

Obviously everyone on here has massive bias towards Hakstol (Sioux fans anyway), but if one looks at USCHO in the poll thread about this topic, Jackson has received 11 votes to Hakstol's 0. Does it mean that Jackson is a better coach than Hak? I would say no, merely that this season, Jackson probably deserves the award...IMHO.

[HeidiSioux62]

I know that the award is presented on April 28th at the "coaches convention", but when is it voted on or decided (before, during or after the FF)?