Senior Paul Rodrigues of Oswego State has been voted as the USCHO D-III Player of the Year for 2012-2013. Rodrigues beat out UW-Eau Claire goalie Brandon Stephenson and teammate Luke Moodie for the award.
Rodrigues becomes the first forward to win the award since 2009-2010, after goalies Jonathan La Rose and B.J. O'Brien claimed it the previous two years.
Rodrigues finished second in the nation in scoring this year with 16 goals and 30 assists in 30 games to average 1.53 points per game. His 30 assists tied with Joseph Caveney for tops in the country. He nabbed one game-winning goal all year, but it was a huge one, as it came at 13:32 of overtime against Adrian in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. On the season, Rodrigues had 12 multi-point games, and was only held without a point in four games. For his career, Rodrigues tallied 50 goals and 83 assists for 133 points in 112 games, a 1.19 points per game average.
Rodrigues also won the Sid Watson Award as the ACHA Player of the Year, the 2013 SUNYAC Herb Hammond Most Valuable Player Award, and also earned All-America East First Team honors from the ACHA.
In a news release after Rodrigues won the Sid Watson Award, his coach, Ed Gosek, said, "His speed has allowed him to wreak havoc on the forecheck, make goalies think twice about playing the puck behind the net and torment the opposition's defenders from the first puck drop to the final horn. His unselfishness and skill set make him a top scoring option on one of the most lethal power-play units in Division III. Paul's determination and tenacity also makes him a critical member of the penalty-kill unit, as well as one of Oswego's top faceoff players in its defensive zone."
USCHO's D-III awards are voted on by the Division III columnists and editor.
