Ever since the hockey season came to a close, junior goaltender Ryan Miller has been swamped with awards and honors, and the end is not yet in sight.
Miller, who already won the 2001 Hobey Baker Award, was named USA Hockey’s Player of the Year on Monday, and will be recognized during the organization’s annual banquet in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday.
Miller finished the year with a record of 31-5-4, 1.32 goals against average, a .950 save percentage and 10 of his NCAA-record 18 career shutouts. He finished his All-American sophomore season with an appearance in the Frozen Four. Miller is only the second Spartan to earn USA Hockey’s College Player of the Year, two years after MSU center Mike York did it.
This is just one of the many accolades earned by Miller this season. Recently, city officials declared April 17 to be “Ryan Miller Day.”
Miller also was a member of the U.S. Men’s National Hockey Team, which competed at the World Championship in Germany in April and May.
Men’s golf
On Monday, a couple of Spartan golfers had the opportunity to play two rounds with some of the best competition in the world, trying to qualify for the U.S. Open.
Senior Brent Goik and sophomore John Koskinen played in the sectional qualifying tournaments for the 2001 U.S. Open, but both failed to qualify for the tournament.
Koskinen and Goik finished first and tied for second, respectively, in the local qualifying tournament held at Hunter’s Ridge in Howell, Mich., last month.
Goik shot a 72-78, for a combined 150 in Westerville, Ohio. The score was the sixth-best by an amateur on the day, but wasn’t enough to place among the top 26 golfers who go on to the Open.
Koskinen was vying for one of the three available spots to the 40 competitors at his Wheaton, Ill., sectional, but was disqualified after he failed to turn in his first-round scorecard.
Baseball
The Major League Baseball Draft began at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and the decisions made in New York could soon reverberate at MSU.
The 50-round, three-day event involves the selection of eligible high school and college players, including some current players on MSU’s baseball team as well as one of its top recruits.
Brian Miller, a strong right-handed pitcher from Charlotte, was chosen by the Chicago White Sox with the 613th pick Tuesday evening. The recent high school graduate has also signed a National Letter of Intent to play for MSU.
It’s not clear whether Miller will forego his collegiate career, but the decision probably rests heavily on his feelings on where in the draft he was selected.
A few Spartans may also hear their names called in the later rounds of the draft, with junior pitcher Patrick Gill and senior hurler Dylan Putnam and senior first baseman Kyle Geswein among the leading prospects.
