Irish goaltender Ryan Bischel named one of three finalists
by wearendhockey (2023-03-09 10:40:40)
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for Big Ten Player of the Year. Michigan's Luke Hughes and Minnesota's Matthew Knies are the other two.

Knies has had a great year but frankly I think his linemate Logan Cooley has been even better. Knies probably has a little more well-rounded game though.

Bischel is also a finalist for the conference goaltender of the year, along with Minnetota's Justen Close and Ohio State's Jacob Dobeš.

I will give Justen Close his due, and would not feel that bad if he got the nod over Bischel, but it shouldn't be a contest between Bischel and Dobeš. The OSU netminder has a better GAA than Bischel (2.25 versus 2.39) but Bischel has a better save % (.931 versus .920). My guess is Dobeš would have fared a lot worse with the Irish skaters in front of him than he did with Ohio State's. Bischel made about 10 games worth of saves more than Dobeš.

Oddly, I think Bischel might have a bigger claim to player of the year than goalie of the year. I think Michigan minus Luke Hughes would still be OK, still would have had a good claim on second place. Ditto for Minnesota if you swapped out Knies for, say, Justin Janicke. We might have finished behind Wisconsin if it hadn't been for Bischel, and we clearly would have been no better than a distant 6th.



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