The Big Ten released its inaugural conference awards, which include the Player of the Year, Goaltender of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Some of the media (myself included) weren’t asked to vote, but I compiled my own awards.

A lot of the choices I agree with and a lot of them are close calls. Adam Wilcox earned a first team selection as well as the goaltender and player of the year awards. I would’ve put Wisconsin’s Joel Rumpel on the First Team and made him the Goaltender of the Year — but only by a very, very slim margin.

But I think Ohio State’s Ryan Dzingel should be the league’s Player of the Year. Overall he leads Big Ten players with 43 points, and he has a league-high 24 points in conference play. He’s also an extremely skilled and talented player.

The All-Freshman Team consisted of JT Compher, Hudson Fasching, Nick Schilkey, Michael Downing, Drew Brevig and Christian Frey.

It’s surprising Frey earned the nod over Zach Nagelvoort, who was forced into Michigan’s starting job after Steve Racine went down. I think Nagelvoort had to play in a very tough situation with the Wolverines.

Frey had to join a tumultuous situation in Ohio State, but he played less than half the season. I’ve seen both Frey and Nagelvoort playa little bit this season. I’ve seen good things from them and I’ve also seen them struggle.

My guess is it’s because Nagelvoort started four of the last 10 games, while Frey started seven of the last 10.

I also swapped JT Compher for Hudson Fasching as the Rookie of the Year.

Here are my Big Ten awards:

First Team
F: Ryan Dzingle, Ohio State
F: Nic Kerdiles, Wisconsin
F: Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin
D: Frankie Simonelli, Wisconsin
D: Mike Reilly, Minnesota
G: Joel Rumpel, Wisconsin

Second Team:
F: Michael Mersch, Wisconsin
F: JT Compher, Michigan
F: Hudson Fasching, Minnesota
D: Mac Bennett, Michigan
D: Jake Chelios, Michigan State
G: Adam Wilcox, Minnesota

All-Rookie Team:
F: JT Compher, Michigan
F: Hudson Fasching, Minnesota
F: Justin Kloos, Minnesota
D: Drew Brevig, Ohio State
D: Michael Downing, Michigan
G: Zach Nagelvoort, Michigan

Rookie of the Year: Hudson Fasching, Minnesota

Coach of the Year: Don Lucia, Minnesota

Player of the Year: Ryan Dzingel, Ohio State

Defensive Player of the Year: Frankie Simonelli, Wisconsin

Goaltender of the Year: Joel Rumpel, Wisconsin

Here are the complete awards released by the conference:

Big Ten Player of the Year
Adam Wilcox – Goaltender, Sophomore, Minnesota

Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
Mike Reilly – Defenseman, Sophomore, Minnesota

Big Ten Goaltender of the Year
Adam Wilcox – Goaltender, Sophomore, Minnesota

Big Ten Freshman of the Year
JT Compher, Forward, Freshman, Michigan

Big Ten Coach of the Year
Don Lucia – Minnesota

First Team:
F: Ryan Dzingel, Ohio State
F: Michael Mersch, Wisconsin
F: Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin
D: Mike Reilly, Minnesota
D: Jake McCabe, Wisconsin
G: Adam Wilcox, Minnesota

Second Team:
F: JT Compher, Michigan
F: Kyle Rau, Minnesota
F: Nic Kerdiles, Wisconsin
D: Mac Bennett, Michigan
D: Frankie Simonelli, Wiscosin
G: Joel Rumpel, Wisconsin

All-Freshman Team:
F: JT Compher, Michigan
F: Hudson Fasching, Minnesota
F: Nick Schilkey, Ohio State
D: Michael Downing, Michigan
D: Drew Brevig, Ohio State
G: Christian Frey, Ohio State

Honorable Mention:
F: Andrew Copp, Michigan
F: Alex Guptill, Michigan
F: Greg Wolfe, Michigan State
F: Hudson Fasching, Minnesota
F: Sam Warning, Minnesota
D: Jake Chelios, Michigan State
D: Ben Marshall, Minnesota
D: Brady Skjei, Minnesota
G: Jake Hildebrand, Michigan State

Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Luke Moffatt, Michigan
Greg Wolfe, Michigan State
Nate Condon, Minnesota
Tanner Fritz, Ohio State
David Glen, Penn State
Frankie Simonelli, Wisconsin

Monday, March 17th, 2014 - 9:12 pm | Big Ten, Blogs, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings