March 19, 2014
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame freshman center Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.) has been selected to the Hockey East all-rookie team for the 2013-14 season the conference announced on Wednesday along with several other league honors.
The all-conference teams along with player of the year, goaltender of the year and coach of the year awards will be announced on Thursday, March 20 at the Hockey East Awards Banquet that will be held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Mass.
“He may have been the rookie of the year if he hadn’t been hurt for six weeks,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“His overall numbers are among the top three or four rookies in the country. He deserves the honor. He’s been that valuable to us all season.”
Hinostroza has been a regular in the Irish lineup since the opening of the season and is second on the team in scoring with eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points. He has scored a pair of power-play goals and has two game winners while being +8 for the season.
He was named the Hockey East/Pro Ambitions rookie of the week four times this year, collecting the award on Oct. 21, Nov. 10, Jan. 12 and March 3. He was the Hockey East/Pro Ambitions rookie of the month for October and also received the Hockey Commissioner’s Association Rookie of the Month award for October.
Hinostroza was joined on the Hockey East all-rookie team by Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko, Boston College defenseman Steve Santini, UMass-Lowell defenseman Michael Kapla and forwards Mario Puskarich of Vermont, Mike Szmatula of Northeastern and Robbie Baillargeon of Boston University. Demko, Puskarich and Szmatula were unanimous selections.
A product of the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks, Hinostroza also was a member of the U.S. Junior National Team that competed at the 2014 World Junior Championships this past December.
“Coming into the year, you have goals and that was one of my goals to make the all-rookie team,” said Hinostroza following practice on Wednesday.
“Throughout the year, you really don’t think about the goal, you just try to play your best. At the end of the year, it’s nice to be rewarded with that, so it’s pretty cool.”
Hockey East also announced seven individual awards:
The Charlie Holt Sportsmanship Award went to the New Hampshire Wildcats who set a league record with an average of just 7.8 penalty minutes per game. The award is named after long-time New Hampshire coach Charlie Holt.
Providence College’s Ross Mauermann was the winner of the Len Ceglarski Individual Sportsmanship Award. Notre Dame’s Bryan Rust (Sr. Novi, Mich.) along with Massachusetts forward Conor Sheary were the runner-ups for the award. Ceglarski is the long-time coach of the Boston College Eagles.
Mauermann also shares the Gladiator Best Defensive Award with Boston College center Bill Arnold. The third-place finisher was Notre Dame left wing Jeff Costello (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis.).
Northeastern defenseman Josh Manson was the winner of the Old Time Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman Award with Notre Dame blue liner Stephen Johns (Sr., Wampum, Pa.) named the runner-up for the honor.
The winner of the Three Star Award for the player who earned the most points in three star voting following Hockey East conference games was Northeastern goaltender Clay Witt who was a first star seven times in 19 league games.
Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko was the league’s Stop-It Goaltending Champion as he had a 1.35 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage in Hockey East games. Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) was the runner-up with a 1.89 goals-against and a .931 save percentage in 20 Hockey East games.
Rounding out the individual honors, as the Squad Locker Scoring Champion was Boston College left wing Johnny Gaudreau who had nine more points in league play that his closest competitor. Gaudreau had 18 goals and 18 assists for 36 points in 20 league contests. His linemate, Kevin Hayes, was second with 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in Hockey East play this season.
Notre Dame faces UMass-Lowell at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 21 in one semi-final at TD Garden in Boston. Providence College and New Hampshire play at 8:00 p.m. in the second semifinal game. The two winners advance to the Hockey East championship at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 22.