Gophers announce men’s hockey team awards

The University of Minnesota men’s hockey program has announced its 2022-23 team awards.

Matthew Knies received the John Mariucci MVP Award after tallying career highs of 21 goals, 21 assists and 42 points.

Brock Faber earned the Mike Crupi Most Determined Player Award following a year in which he set career highs with four goals, 23 assists and 27 points from the blue line. Faber also was the Elwin “Doc” Romnes Leadership & Sportsmanship Award winner after serving as team captain.

Logan Cooley was the winner of the Frank Pond Rookie of the Year Award after recording 22 goals and 38 assists, ranking him second in the nation with 60 points, which is also the fifth-highest single-season total by a freshman in program history.

Mason Nevers won the Dr. V. George Nagobads Unsung Hero Award after setting career highs in goals (10), assists (13) and points (23).

Colin Schmidt received the John Mayasich Outstanding Student-Athlete Award following a year in which he was named the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award winner as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average at the NCAA Frozen Four, something he’s done each of the last two years.

Ryan Johnson won the Donald M. Clark Community Service Award. He led the team with 64 blocked shots, was named to the All-Big Ten Honorable Mention Team, was given the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, was a nominee for the Hockey Humanitarian Award and landed on the Academic All-Big Ten Team for the third time as a Gopher.

Justen Close was named the winner of the Tom Mohr Playoff MVP Award after finishing the campaign as the Big Ten leader in goals against average (2.02), wins (26) and shutouts (6) and was second in save percentage (.927), all of which ranked in the top four nationally.