Kero Named WCHA Player of the Year; Five Others Named All-WCHA

EDINA, Minn. – Michigan Tech's Tanner Kero was named the WCHA Player of the Year the conference announced on Thursday (March 12). The league's scoring champion was also named the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year and to the All-WCHA First Team.

Goaltender Jamie Phillips joined Kero on the First Team while forwards Alex Petan and Malcolm Gould earned All-WCHA Second Team honors. Representing the Huskies on the Third Team were defenseman Shane Hanna and forward Blake Pietila. Eleven Huskies were named to the WCHA All-Academic Team.

Kero a senior forward from Hancock, Michigan, led all WCHA players in overall points (18-25=43) and conference-only points (13-21=34). The senior co-captain had 11 multiple-point games, including a four-point outburst against Alabama Huntsville (Jan. 31) to notch his 100th career point. He had two six-game point streaks with 10 points in each run. Kero is a Hobey Baker candidate and finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, maintaining a 3.72 grade point average in mathematics with a concentration in actuarial science. In 148 career games, he has 108 points on 53 goals and 55 assists to rank 51st in Tech history.

Phillips, a junior from Caledonia, Ontario, is tied for the nation's lead with 25 wins and is one of only two netminders in the country that has started every game of the 2014-15 season. The Winnipeg Jets draft pick ranks third nationally in goals against average (1.76) and fourth in save percentage (93.5). He tied a Michigan Tech record with four shutouts this season and stopped over 30 shots 11 times, including a career-high 43 saves at Minnesota State (Feb. 27). He is also a candidate for the Hobey Baker and Mike Richter awards.

Petan is second to Kero in WCHA overall scoring (14-24=38) and fourth in conference-only scoring (12-19=31). The junior from Delta, British Columbia, has seven game-winning goals on the year, ranking him third in the country, and has also assisted on seven game winners. Petan ranks third in the WCHA in power-play points (18) and notched his 100th career point on Feb. 14 at Alaska. He also had nine multiple-point games, including seven games recording three points.

Gould had a breakout season during his junior campaign. The native of North Vancouver, British Columbia, is tied for second on the team with 14 goals. He also has 17 assists and ranks fifth in conference-only points (10-17=27). Gould had a stretch of recording a point in 9-of-11 games. He scored twice at Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 14) and had eight games with multiple points. Six of Gould's 14 goals have been scored in the third period.

Hanna earned All-WCHA honors for the second year in a row after being named to the All-Rookie Team in 2013-14. The Salmon Arm, British Columbia, native was named Preseason All-WCHA before the 2014-15 season and finished the regular season third in the country with a plus-minus rating of +28. The sophomore led a defensive corps that finished the regular season second in the country in goals allowed per game (1.78). He is seventh in the WCHA among defensemen in overall points (6-12=18) and 10th in the league with 60 blocked shots. Hanna recorded at least two points in five games and scored twice at Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 13).

Pietila finished fourth on the team with 28 points on 13 goals and 15 assists, ranking him 10th in the WCHA in overall scoring. The team co-captain from Brighton, Michigan, went on a six-game point streak from Jan. 16-31 where he tallied five goals and six assists, including an overtime game winner against Alaska (Jan. 23). The New Jersey Devils draft pick had multiple points in seven games and three games where he scored two goals. He tallied his 100th career point against Alabama Huntsville on Jan. 31 and ranks 57th all-time in scoring at Tech with 104 points (45G-59A). Pietila leads the WCHA in faceoff percentage (.602) and is fourth in power-play points (15).

NOTES: Kero is the third WCHA Player of the Year from Michigan Tech…Mike Zuke (1976) and Rob Murray (1971) also received the honor…Geoff Sarjeant (1991-92) and Eli Vlaisavljevich (2009-10) were the only other Huskies to be named WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year.

Full WCHA Release

2014-15 WCHA AWARDS

WCHA Player of the Year
Tanner Kero • Senior, Forward • Michigan Tech

WCHA Oustanding Student-Athlete of the Year
Tanner Kero • Senior, Forward • Michigan Tech

WCHA Defensive Player of the Year
Colton Parayko • Junior, Defenseman • Alaska

WCHA Rookie of the Year
Michael Bitzer • Freshman, Goaltender • Bemidji State

WCHA Scoring Champion
Tanner Kero • Senior, Forward • Michigan Tech

WCHA Goaltending Champion
Jamie Phillips • Junior, Goaltender • Michigan Tech

WCHA Coach of the Year
Mike Hastings • Minnesota State

2014-15 All-WCHA FIRST TEAM

2014-15 All-WCHA SECOND TEAM

2014-15 All-WCHA THIRD TEAM

2014-15 WCHA ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

2014-15 WCHA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

• Patrick Anderson
• Brent Baltus
• CJ Eick
• Blake Hietala
• Tanner Kero
• Chris Leibinger
• Alex Petan
• Jamie Phillips
• Blake Pietila
• Reid Sturos
• Cliff Watson