By Ryan Lambert (link to full story)

As the college hockey season winds down, the discussion logically shifts to who deserves the postseason awards.

The discussions for the Mike Richter and Spencer Penrose awards this year are, as far as I'm concerned, more or less academic. Canisius's Charles Williams (.944) is the only goalie in the country for the Richter worth considering; the next-closest contender is Army's Parker Gahagen (.936). It's a huge gap. And for Jim Montgomery to guide Denver through that conference and fend off that Minnesota-Duluth team after all it lost in the summer, and only really suffering, what, one bad weekend all year? If he's not the coach of the year, I really don't know who is.

Meanwhile, the Hobey Baker is probably going to be more of a wide-open field. It shouldn't be.

Zach Aston-Reese, a senior right wing at Northeastern, has been the best player I've seen live this year since the first day of the season, and leads the country in points with 62 in 36 games. He leads the nation in goals (30) and is tied for sixth in assists. He has more shots on goal than all but three players in the nation. He leads the nation in unassisted goals and shorthanded goals, and he's tied for fifth in goals at 5-on-5. Only one of his 30 goals was scored into an empty net.