DIIIHockeyNews.com Men’s Awards: Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, & All-Rookie Team!

The season has come to an end and that means end of year awards are here! These awards were determined by many factors, including voting from our poll voters throughout the season. This is the first edition of the DIIIHockeyNews.com awards! Our awards will be released throughout this week, with Tuesday being First Team East & West, followed by Wednesday being Second Team East & West.

Coach of the Year

Peter Roundy – Curry College

• 25-4-0
• CNE regular season title
• CNE conference championship
• First ever Frozen Four appearance in program history
• #1 seed entering NCAA Tournament
• Fourth season at Curry

Head Coach Peter Roundy of Curry has turned this program around in incredible fashion in just four season at the helm of the Colonels. This season Coach Roundy made his third-straight NCAA Tournament with Curry, making the first Frozen Four in program history and coaching the Sid Watson winner Shane Soderwall who recently made the move to NCAA Division I – Clarkson (via the Currier Times).

Coach Roundy in his last three seasons has gone 68-16-2 with three tournament appearances, two CNE regular season titles, and a CNE conference championship.

This season, the Colonels went 25-4-0, earning the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but eventually fell to Utica University 2-1 in overtime in the Frozen Four semifinal round.

Roundy began his coaching career at Becker College after playing four seasons at Stonehill College (2006-2010), then served as an assistant under National Championship-winning Head Coach Matt Greason at Trinity College from 2011-2015, then served as an assistant (eventually Associate Head Coach) at NCAA Division I – Holy Cross from 2015-2021.

Congratulations to Coach Peter Roundy on winning Coach of the Year, many more successful years ahead.

Player of the Year

Logan Dombrowsky – St. Norbert College

• 17 goals
• 34 assists
• 51 points
• NCHA Player of the Year

This may surprise some, but Logan Dombrowsky of St. Norbert has won Player of the Year. Dombrowsky, a Sophomore, came up huge, leading the Green Knights all season long en route to their NCHA regular season & conference titles.

Some highlights of the season from Dombrowsky:

• Season-high five points vs Dubuque (2G, 3A)
• Seven points in two games vs #5 Aurora
• Nine points in the NCHA playoffs (2G ,7A)
• Recorded a goal and assist in the NCAA Tournament versus Gustavus & Utica respectively.

The Sophomore Forward was recognized by every team he faced, recording the most points by any St. Norbert player since Peter Bates (28G, 30A – 58 points) in 2021-2022. Prior to 2022, we have to go back to 2003-2004 to find a Green Knight with more, Jason Deitsch (19G, 34A – 53 points).

Considering how talented St. Norbert’s rosters are year-after-year, we have to account for the ability of Dombrowsky to standout from the rest this season.

Congratulations to Sophomore Logan Dombrowsky on winning Player of the Year.

Rookie of the Year

Landry Schmuck – Aurora University

• 31 goals
• 13 assists
• 44 points

• 31 goals
• 13 assists
• 44 points
• Top goal scorer in D-III, next closest was 21

Landry Schmuck was a straight up machine this season when it came to scoring goals… Schmuck had 31 goals, which was 10 more than the next closest total of 21. While scoring 31 goals, he tallied a respectable 13 assists to go along with it.

Schmuck oddly enough didn’t have a hat trick this season, seeing the total you would think it’s likely, but he scored in 20 of the 28 games for the Spartans, including a streak of 13 games with at least one goal.

Landry came up big, scoring multiple times versus the likes of Adrian, St. Norbert, & Trine, the other members of this year’s “Big Four” in the NCHA.

Congratulations to Landry Schmuck on winning Rookie of the Year, many great years ahead it seems like.

All-Rookie Team

Landry Schmuck – Aurora University

• 31 goals
• 13 assists
• 44 points
• Top goal scorer in D-III, next closest was 21

Please read above to see the full writeup of Landry Schmuck of Aurora University.

Ryan Burke – Oswego State

• 11 goals
• 28 assists
• 39 points

Oswego finds themselves with multiple players on the All-Rookie team, considering they had 22 new players, there’s a good chance they would have some standout players from their strong recruiting class.

Ryan Burke had himself quite the freshman year, putting together a season Laker fans could only look back and think of some of the names that have put together seasons like this, the future looks bright for Burke. Burke scored 11 goals, but tallied nearly 30 assists (28) for a total of 39 points.

Ryan’s biggest games included points versus the eventual national champion Hobart on opening night, Adrian, Univ. New England, & Plattsburgh. The highlight game came versus Cortland, where he totaled two goals & four assists for a total of six points, he also had five points versus Canton (1G, 4A).

Brandon Cohen – Oswego State

• 19 goals
• 14 assists
• 33 points

Brandon Cohen is the second Laker to find themselves on this list, racking up 33 points on 19 goals & 14 assists.

Cohen’s biggest numbers this season came against Canton, totaling 11 points in four games (held to zero in one game), which included a hat trick in February.

Like his teammate Burke, Cohen had big nights vs Plattsburgh & Univ. New England. Another bright future ahead in Oswego.

Wyatt Wurst – St. Scholastica

• 5 goals
• 20 assists
• 25 points

Wyatt Wurst, the Edina, MN native had a big year for the Saints of St. Scholastica. Wurst had four games of three points and multiple two point games as well.

Although St. Scholastica didn’t have the season they wanted, Wurst manning the defense is a bright future and provides a lockdown defense with some offensive potential as he showed this season, tallying five goals and 20 assists for a total of 25 points.

Evan Brown – Skidmore

• 10 goals
• 17 assists
• 27 points

Evan Brown of Skidmore provided a solid defense while also contributing often offensively. Brown’s biggest game came against UMass-Boston after he tallied a trio of assists vs the Beacons. While during the season he registered at least one point in 20 games… very consistent.

Points aside, Brown was recognized by various coaches from the east region, we’ll see him in a new league next year as the NEHC dissolves, the SUNYAC will be the new home for the Thoroughbreds of Skidmore & the Statesman of Hobart.

Ryan Piros – Utica University

• 19 games for Utica (transferred from Univ. of Dubuque during winter break)
• 15-3-1 record
• 1.95 GAA
• .926 save-percentage
• 44 saves (season-high) vs Hobart in the national championship
• Registered two assists (vs Manhattanville & Nazareth)

Ryan Piros, a wild freshman year… Piros began his career at the Univ. of Dubuque in Iowa, in the NCHA, but found himself in Utica, NY at the mid-season winter break.

Piros had fair numbers at Dubuque, granted, a lesser-skilled team than Utica, but solid numbers all things considered.

Piros in the national championship vs Hobart made 44 saves in the 2-1 overtime loss, coming off his victories over St. Norbert & Curry College.

Bright future ahead for Ryan Piros as he helped take Head Coach Gary Heenan to his first ever national championship game.