With the No. 2/3 Gophers preparing for Saturday’s 2021-2022 Big Ten Championship title game against No. 4 Michigan, Minnesota will go into the finale after making splashes in the Big Ten postseason honors that the conference announced Tuesday.
The Gophers took home three of the five “of the year” awards as the conference announced head coach Bob Motzko as the Big Ten Coach of the Year, junior co-captain Ben Meyers as the Big Ten Player of the Year and sophomore Brock Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
“Our guys have just rolled with any punch that got thrown at them, they just roll with it and keep going,” Motzko said to the Big Ten Network. “It’s just been an excellent group of young men to be around. You just count your blessings when you have seasons like this with leadership like this and the group of kids we have.”
The Big Ten Coach of the Year honors comes in as Motzko’s second in his four seasons with the Gophers. It also marks his sixth career conference coach of the year honor as he won the award twice in the WCHA and two more in the NCHC.
Through a rollercoaster of a 2021-2022 season, Motzko guided the Gophers to a 23-11 (18-6 Big Ten) regular-season record to win the conference’s regular-season title.
Despite battling injuries in the first half of the season and missing games in the second half due to the Olympics, Meyers continued to show persistence en route to the conference naming him the Big Ten Player of the Year. He is the third Minnesota men’s hockey player to achieve this feat alongside Adam Wilcox and Tyler Sheehy.
Also earning a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team, Meyers ranks No. 1 in goals (16) and points (36) for the Gophers, both coming in as career-highs. He has 11 multi-point performances this season, as 10 of his 36 points have come in his most recent four games since returning from Beijing.
Leading a defense that currently ranks in the top-10 nationally in goals against per game, the conference announced Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Los Angeles Kings prospect is the third Gophers men’s hockey defender to earn this accolade behind Mike Reilly and Jake Bischoff.
Faber, alongside Meyers, earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team. He has career-highs in goals (2) and points (13) in 28 games this season.
Outside of these honors, the conference named junior Jackson LaCombe and freshman Matthew Knies to the All-Big Ten Second Team, while Knies also unanimously earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
Knies and LaCombe rank tied for No. 3 in points on the team with 27 alongside senior co-captain Sammy Walker, who received an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.
Senior Blake McLaughlin and junior goaltender Justen Close joined Walker as All-Big Ten Honorable Mentions to close out the day full of commendation for the Gophers.
