College hockey: 9 finalists announced for Spencer Penrose Award

Nine coaches who have enjoyed on-ice success in 2019-20 have been named finalists for the Spencer Penrose Award, given annually to the CCM/AHCA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year.

Selected by the nation's 60 NCAA Division I head coaches, the winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 7. The nominees represent any coach who won or shared Coach of the Year honors in his conference this past season, coaches whose teams are ranked in the Top Four of the final Pairwise Rankings, and also include a recommended nomination from the Big Ten conference (Bob Motzko of Minnesota).

In addition, the AHCA Awards Committee has nominated Greg Powers of Arizona State, coach of the sole NCAA Division I independent program, on the basis of an NCAA Tournament qualifying position in the Pairwise Rankings. 

Of this year's finalists, two are past recipients of this award: Mike Hastings of Minnesota State (2015) and Scott Sandelin of Minnesota Duluth (2004).

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Four schools have captured four Penrose awards: Boston College, Boston University, Denver and New Hampshire. The four Denver awards were presented to four different coaches: Murray Armstrong, Ralph Backstrom, George Gwozdecky and 2017 recipient Jim Montgomery. 

Four schools claim three winners: Clarkson, Colorado College, Harvard and North Dakota. Three different coaches received those awards at Clarkson and CC. For Clarkson: Bill Harrison, Jerry York and Bill O'Flaherty. For Colorado College: Cheddy Thompson, Tony Frasca and Don Lucia.

From this year's finalists, no coach from AIC, Arizona State or Bemidji State has ever won this award. (Bemidji State has had multiple COY recipients prior to entering Division I.)

* Past Spencer Penrose Award Winner

The Spencer Penrose Award is named in memory of the Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor Hotel Complex, site of the first 10 NCAA championship hockey tournaments.

The CCM AHCA COACH of the YEAR AWARDS are sponsored by CCM HOCKEY and chosen by members of the AMERICAN HOCKEY COACHES ASSOCIATION. CCM is the legendary hockey brand dedicated to the endless pursuit of performance by delivering game-changing, head-to-toe innovative hockey equipment to players worldwide.

Previous winners of the Spencer Penrose Award