Race for Brimsek Award
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We recently released our updated race and favorites for the Mr. Hockey award. It only makes sense to go ahead and update the race for the Brimsek award with a couple of weeks left of the season. Here are the…
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Continue ReadingWe recently released our updated race and favorites for the Mr. Hockey award. It only makes sense to go ahead and update the race for the Brimsek award with a couple of weeks left of the season. Here are the Prep Hockey updated favorites for the 2022 Brimsek Award.
1. Ben Dardis Ben Dardis 5'10" | Goalie Mahtomedi | 2022 State MN | Mahtomedi | 5’10 Goalie | #6 Ranked in the class of 2022 (70 Percent chance)
Dardis is has been a very hot commodity during his time in high school. He has proven to be one of the best goalies of all time for the Zephyrs over the last three seasons. As I am writing this article, Dardis just broke the state record for the number of career shutouts, with 18. Which is a very huge feat for the Mahtomedi goaltender. This year in his senior season, Dardis has his best save percentage at .937, which is good for #2 in the state. There would have to be a lot that goes wrong over the next couple of weeks for Dardis to not win this award. He is in the lead currently with a Prep Hockey 70 percent chance odds to win. Dardis is a close lock for this award in any other year, but Belak is trailing just behind him.
2. Marko Belak Marko Belak 6'1" | Goalie Cretin-Derham Hall | 2022 State MN | Cretin Derham-Hall | 6’1 Goalie | #15 Ranked in the class of 2022
Belak’s career has been all about improvement, He went for his GAA from 2.17 in his Sophomore year to 1.78 in his Junior year. And now this year, he improves that even further this year up to 1.71 in his senior season 2021-2022 year. His save percentages have also increased every year, as a Sophomore, Belak posted a save percentage of .906, which then jumped u to .926 in his junior year. Currently, Belak is just behind Dardis in save percentage, at number three in the state. Belak currently has a save percentage of .932 with two shutouts. Belak has something to prove when it comes to the postseason. Dardis has a state title to his name, while Belak doesn’t. Although the voters figure out this award before the tourney, Belak has been the main reason CDH has been at #1 in AA close to the whole year. He is definitely the top AA goalie in the state this year and has a very good chance at leading his team to a title.
Dark Horse
Austin Brauns (Andover)- Worthy of mention, but with two weeks left of the regular season he likely doesn’t have the stats it takes to win this award. Also very tough when you have Dardis and Belak in front of you. Brauns is having a senior season to remember though: he has a SV PCT of .927 and a GAA of 1.74.
Final thoughts
This award should be pretty secure to Dardis, but the fact that Belak has a similar save percentage and better GAA while playing tougher competition could make things more interesting. For the voters, Dardis is the very safe pick, but they will definitely give it some second thoughts with Belak and possibly Brauns. This is definitely Dardis’ award to lose over the next two weeks, but breaking the shutout record tonight most definitely helps his case.