The 66th annual University of Denver hockey awards banquet was celebrated Monday night and seven different athletes received awards for their season-wide accomplishments for the 2022-23 season. The senior class, Lane Krenzen (Twig, Minn), Brett Edwards (Grand Prairie, Alberta), Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills, Calif.), Magnus Chrona (Stockholm Sweden) and Justin Lee (Waskada, Manitoba) were also honored for their four or five-year commitments to the team and the success that their class has brought to the team this season.
To start off the ceremony, Jay Stickney, the voice of DU hockey radio and the host of the banquet asked each class of players to come up to the podium and introduce themselves with the standard name, position, and where they are from. But each different grade of players had a unique question to answer.
The freshman question was “dream job” and some of the unique answers included Aidan Thomson’s (Fort Collins, Colo.) aspirations to be a hairstylist and Lucas Overstald’s (Stockholm, Sweden) dreams to be a DJ. Kent Anderson (Calgary, Alberta), Jared Wright (Burnsville, Minn.) and Rieger Lorenz (Calgary, Alberta) all took the easy route and answered something related to hockey.
The sophomore question was “favorite celebrity couple” and the most popular response said by both Massimo Rizzo (Burnaby, B.C) and Shai Buium (San Diego, Calif.) was Blake Lively and Ryan Renolds. Carter King (Calgary, Alberta) said Machine Gun Kelly and Meghan Fox while Jack Devine (Glencoe, Ill.) said Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.
The junior question was, “what are your goals for your senior year.”Connor Caponi (Milwaukee, Wis.) wanted to have more than 10 points in a season and McKade Webster (St. Louis, Mo.) wanted to stay healthy.
The senior question was, “what would you tell your freshman-year self.” Edwards said never attend the Stanley Cup parade before a workout and Mayhew said to “apply more sunscreen.”
The next part of the ceremony was for the awards and, six athletes were honored over seven awards that ranged from accomplishments on the ice, to those off the ice in the classroom or in the community.
The Most Sportsmanlike Player was awarded to Wright. Wright played in 34 games this season and recorded eight goals, three of which were game-winning and four assists.
The Top Scholar-Athlete went to King. King is a two-time member of both the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete which signifies above a 3.5 cumulative GPA. He played in 38 games this season totalling 11 goals and 12 assists.
The Freshman of the Year Award was given to Thompson. Thompson played in 32 games this season and scored 10 goals with two game-winners and recorded 22 assists. He also had a low four penalty minutes over the course of the season.
Junior goaltender Jack Caruso (St. Louis, Missouri) received the Bob Martin Community Service Award. This was his second receiving this award as he was also awarded the community-centered award last season. He saw playing time four times this season and was on the ice for eleven minutes.
Freshman Tristan Lemyre (Mirabel, Quebec) was awarded the Most Improved Player. Lemyre played in 19 games this season and recorded four goals and three assists. He had a .364 shot percentage over the season and recorded two penalty minutes.
Rizzo received the Offensive Player of the Year. He played in 38 games this season. He recorded 29 goals, 2 of which were game-winners and 29 assists. He also had 5 power-play goals and 14 minutes in the box.
Lee received both The Most Inspirational Player Award as well as Defensive Player of the Year. The Caption of the 2022-23 squad played in 40 games and tallied 16 points (6g/7a). He recorded 21 penalties and spent 59 minutes in the box.
Chrona received the MVP award. The senior goaltender started in 32 games and recorded one point over the course of the season. He had 736 saves, a .916 save percentage over this season with 68 goals allowed.
DU Hockey will return this fall and the out-of-conference schedule for the 2023-24 season will be released later this Summer.
