Former University of Maine goaltender Jeremy Swayman and Head Coach Red Gendron gained end of the season Hockey East Awards the league announced on Thursday.
Swayman, who just signed an entry level contract with the Boston Bruins, and also recently won the 2020 Walter Brown Award given to the top American born hockey player in New England was named the Player of the Year in Hockey East. The league also announced Alex Newhook from Boston College as Rookie of the Year. Swayman is the first goalie from Maine to win such honor, and the first player from Maine to win it since 2011-12 when Spencer Abbot did so. He is the first goalie in the league to win the award outright since 2008-09 when Brad Thiessen from Northeastern took the award. The now former goalie at Maine from Anchorage, Alaska has also recently been named as one of the top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award given to the top college hockey player in the country. He joins three other Hockey East players in that top 10, in Jack Dugan from Providence, David Farrance from Boston University, and John Leonard from UMass.
Gendron wins his first Bob Kullen Award as Bauer Hockey East Coach of the Year and led his Maine Black Bears to a 18-11-5 overall record and a 12-9-3 Hockey East mark. The team was picked eighth in the preseason poll and finished fourth, their best league finish since the 2011-12 season. Maine was scheduled to host their first Hockey East playoff series at home since 2012.
