TNH's annual Wildcat Sports Awards

Team of the Year:

Our choice for the prestigious Team of the Year award was not an easy one, but in the end we decided that the team most deserving was the Wildcat football team. After another strong start to their season, the Wildcats were awarded another trip to the CAA playoffs, where they defeated McNeese State in the first round, but fell short against eventual champion Villanova in the quarterfinals. By far their most exciting game of the year was the Homecoming matchup against Villanova, a game in which UNH won, 28-24. That loss proved to be the only one Nova would suffer in the entirety of the season. 

The Wildcats were a perfect 6-0 at Cowell Stadium in 2009 - a great reason for fans to come out and support the home team week after week. Some of those wins were very one-sided matchups, including at home against Dartmouth (44-14), on the road against Towson (57-7), and again at home against a now non-existent Northeastern team (48-21). But in the wake of multiple well-deserving teams, the 2009 UNH football team gets our vote for Team of the Year. 

Most Valuable Athletes:

Our choice for men's Most Valuable Player was perhaps the easiest selection of all. Senior captain Bobby Butler of the men's hockey team had one of the best seasons in all of college hockey, scoring a nation-best 29 goals and recording 24 assists. He led the Wildcats to the Hockey East regular season title, and a berth in the NCAA regional finals. Along with being named team MVP, Butler was a Hobey Baker "Hat Trick" finalist, Hockey East Player of the Year, Walter Brown Award recipient, and countless other honors. 

Chelsea Steinberg was a pretty easy choice for women's MVP as well, considering her great junior season with the gymnastics team led to an alternate position at the National competition. Steinberg was the only gymnast who competed in the all-around (every event) consistently throughout the season, and frequently recorded team-high scores at competitions. Her score of a 9.80 on the beam tied her for tenth  at the regional competition at Penn State, while her all-around score of 38.875 was good for a fourth-place finish at the meet, earning her an alternate position for nationals.

Rookies of the Year:

Rookie of the Year was a difficult decision, because unlike in years past, rookies played major roles in numerous sports this year. For the men's Rookie of the Year award, we decided on Ferg Myrick of the men's basketball team. Myrick started out slow and not seeing all that much playing time, but turned it up in the last three quarters of the basketball season, and became a constant contributor. He averaged 7.9 points per game in 25 games as a freshman, scoring 189 total points this past season, fourth best on the team. Myrick shot 14 for 39 from beyond the three-point arc, had 13 steals and blocked nine shots. 

On the women's side, we decided to name freshmen Jenny Simpson and Amber Casiano as co-Rookies of the Year. Both members of the postseason-bound women's lacrosse team, Simpson and Casiano have both enjoyed great success in their first collegiate campaigns. Both have been named America East Rookie of the Week three times this season. Simpson has tallied 25 points this season on 18 goals and seven assists, and has recorded a point in 11 of  her 14 games. Casiano has started 11 games for the Wildcats this season, tallying 10 goals and two assists and scoring a goal in five consecutive games.

Game of the Year:

In the final regular season home game, in a matchup of the top two teams in Hockey East, the men's hockey team gave the UNH faithful quite the sendoff. After trailing 3-0 after two periods, the Wildcats did what they do best, rally in the third. John Henrion and Kevin McCarey scored to cut the deficit to one and Blake Kessel netted the equalizer with less than four minutes remaining to send the game into overtime. The game would eventually finish in a 3-3 tie, clinching the regular season title for the Wildcats and letting the 6,501 fans in attendance witness the beautiful sight of the UNH icemen celebrating on the Whittemore Center with the Hockey East trophy. In a year full of great games, this was one UNH fans will not soon forget.

Coach of the Year:

Coach of the Year came down to two very worthy candidates, and both are extremely deserving based on their accomplishments. But ultimately, we could only choose one, and we decided that gymnastics coach Gail Goodspeed is our Coach of the Year. Women's lacrosse head coach Michael Daly was the runner up after leading the lacrosse team to the conference playoffs in his first season, but Goodspeed built her team around experience and team chemistry, and led them to a fourth-place finish at the Regional Meet at Penn State earlier this semester. The Wildcats finished behind some of the nations best teams, and junior all-arounder Chelsea Steinberg earned an alternate spot to compete at the national meet. After a stellar season at the helm of the gymnastics team, Gail Goodspeed was our decision for TNH's Coach of the Year. 

Most Improved:

Devon Jackson of the UNH football team was a pretty obvious choice for the most improved male athlete. As a junior, Jackson helped anchor the middle of the Wildcat defense with senior linebacker Sean Ware. Jackson led the team in tackles this past season with 98, as opposed to his sophomore year when he recorded 58, 40 fewer than the year before. In his 2008 campaign, Jackson had just one sack, but also had an interception and a fumble recovery. This past season, Jackson sacked three opposing quarterbacks, but had no interceptions or fumble recoveries. But it was his leadership role, along with Ware, on the defensive side of the football that made him an obvious choice for the most improved award.