The Gopher hockey team was well represented in the Big Ten’s postseason conference awards, announced on Monday.
The Big Ten regular-season champions took home four of the major conference awards and also had four all-conference selections.
Gopher goaltender Adam Wilcox was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and Goaltender of the Year, Mike Reilly was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Don Lucia was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Wilcox and Reilly were also named First Team All-Big Ten, while Kyle Rau was named Second Team All-Big Ten and Hudson Fasching was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Wilcox, a Hobey Baker Award and Mike Richter Award nominee, leads the Big Ten and ranked third nationally in wins (23), save percentage (.934) and goals against average (1.91). The South St. Paul native is also on pace to set a Minnesota single-season record for save percentage this season. He allowed just 30 goals in 18 conference games this season.
Sam Warning, Ben Marshall, Brady Skjei and Fasching also were named All-Big Honorable Mention. Nate Condon was honored as a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
The Big Ten Hockey Tournament begins on Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center, in St. Paul. The Gophers are the top seed in the tournament, they will play Friday against the winner of Ohio State and Michigan State.
