BOSTON—Alex Biega was named the Harvard hockey
team's 2008-09 most valuable player and its 2009-10 team
captain at the Crimson's annual awards banquet Monday night
at the Harvard Club of Boston.
Biega was the
recipient of the John Tudor Memorial Cup as team MVP, while senior
Jimmy Fraser, sophomore Ryan Carroll, freshman Daniel Moriarty and junior varsity MVP
Mark Rinaldi were also honored
with awards. The banquet also served as a last chance for the
program to honor seniors Fraser, Nick
Coskren, Brian McCafferty,
Steve Rolecek, Bill Keenan and Chris Kelley.
The event was
emceed by Bright Hockey Center public address announcer John Dolan.
The festivities included video retrospectives on the season and the
history of Harvard hockey as well as words from Robert D. Ziff Head
Coach of Harvard Men's Ice Hockey Ted
Donato and his staff and each of the seniors.
Biega, who was an
assistant captain this season, is the 116th captain of Harvard
men's hockey. It will be the seventh straight season that a
defenseman has served as captain, including each of the past two
seasons, when a forward and defenseman shared duties as
co-captains.
The Montreal
native was named to the New England Division I All-Star team,
All-Ivy League second team, All-ECAC Hockey third team and ECAC
Hockey All-Academic team as a junior. He led the Crimson with 16
assists and ranked second on the team with 20 points this season,
skating in power-play, shorthanded and even-strength situations.
Biega has skated
in all 98 of Harvard's games since his arrival in Cambridge,
registering 13 goals and 47 assists for 60 career points.
Assistant coach
Sean McCann presented Fraser, who
captained this season's Crimson alongside McCafferty, with
the Ralph “Cooney” Weiland Award. The trophy, named in
honor of the former Harvard coach and Hockey Hall of Fame member,
goes to the player or players whose devotion to the game has
repeatedly been evidenced by aggressive and spirited play and by
selfless contribution to the total team effort representative of
“Cooney's type of hockey player.”
Fraser skated in
128 career games for the Crimson, missing just one game due to
injury and four in order to participate in the 2007 World Junior
Championship in Sweden. He played through injury throughout the
stretch run of this season, leading Harvard to a 4-0-2 record down
the stretch of the regular season. He logged four goals and five
assists while matching up as a defensive forward against opposing
teams' top players.
Carroll received
the Donald Angier Hockey Trophy as Harvard's most improved
player from assistant coach Patrick
Foley. Carroll played in just one game as a freshman in
2007-08, missing much of the year due to injury, but started the
Crimson's final nine games this year. He finished with a
4-3-2 record, .933 save percentage and 2.31 goals-against average.
Foley also
presented Moriarty with the George Percy Award, given annually to
Harvard's top rookie. Moriarty recorded six goals and seven
assists for 13 points. He owned a plus or even rating in 19 of his
25 games and was a key cog in the Crimson's league-leading
power play. He scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to
help the Crimson defeat rival Cornell at home Feb. 14.
Before the
evening closed with Donato announcing Biega as the winner of the
team's vote for captain, each of the seniors had a turn to
address and thank the teammates, coaches, parents and support staff
in attendance. The seniors were part of the 2006 Ivy and ECAC
champion Crimson team and posted a 39-19-2 home record in their
careers. Kelley, former Crimson defenseman, served as an
administrative volunteer in 2008-09.