University of Maine senior defenseman Brandon Holt and junior right wing Josh Nadeau were named to the All-Hockey East first team, as chosen by the league’s coaches.
It is the first time since 1998-99, UMaine’s second and last national championship season, that two Black Bears were chosen to the first team.
Earlier this week, co-captain Holt was named the league’s best defensive defenseman and senior left wing Owen Fowler shared best defensive forward honors with UConn’s Tabor Heaslip.
Holt and Nadeau are the only two Black Bears chosen to the first, second or third teams.
In 1998-99, winger Barrett Heisten and defenseman Peter Metcalf were UMaine’s first team selections.
Holt was a third team selection a year ago and Nadeau was a third-teamer two seasons ago.
Joining Nadeau and Holt on the first team were UMass junior goaltender Michael Hrabal, the only unanimous selection; Boston University sophomore defenseman Cole Hutson, Boston College sophomore right wing James Hagens and Northeastern junior right wing Dylan Hryckokwian.
The 5-foot-11, 181-pound Holt, a native of Grand Forks, North Dakota, has not only been an exceptional defender, he also leads the Black Bears in total point scoring and is the league’s top point-producing defenseman with 32 points on six goals and 26 assists in 34 overall games.
He has had 10 multi-point games and heads into Friday night’s Hockey East quarterfinal at Boston College with one goal and nine assists in his previous six games.
He had a goal and nine assists on the power play and had a game-winning goal and two game-winning assists.
He finished the regular season as the league’s third-leading point-producer among all skaters in conference games with 23 points on five goals and 18 assists in 24 contests.
He is a top-notch penalty killer and a workhorse who averages over 21 minutes of playing time per game.
He rarely gets beat one-on-one, he makes precise breakout passes, he plays much bigger than his size, he can carry the puck out of the defensive zone on his own and he is tied for second on the team in plus-minus at plus-15.
Players receive a plus-one if their team scores an even-strength goal or a shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores one.
Holt has had 13 games in the plus column and only seven in the minus column.
He has blocked 45 shots, second most on the team behind junior defenseman Frank Djurasevic’s 61.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr called Holt the “most underrated defenseman” he’s ever coached.
“He leads our team in scoring and is the best defenseman in the league. Don’t know how you could be better than that,” Barr said. “He is also an unreal person and leader.”
Nadeau is second on the team in points (30), goals (17) and assists (13) in 29 games. He is tied for second in assists.
He led Hockey East in goals in conference games with 15 in 21 games, and he was also tops in points per game with 1.19. He was second in points in conference games with 25 as he had 10 assists to go with his 15 goals.
Hagens led with 28 points on 13 goals and 15 assists in 24 conference contests.
Nadeau has had seven multi-point games and five multi-goal games.
Nadeau missed three conference games due to illness after missing a two-game, non-conference series against Colgate early in the season due to a lower body injury.
He is plus-seven in his 29 games and is one of the top producers on the power play with five goals and eight assists.
Nadeau also has two shorthanded goals, tying him with Fowler for most in that category. He has a shorthanded assist to go with it.
He has two game-winning assists.
The fleet-footed and highly-skilled Nadeau, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound native of St.-Francois-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick who has exceptional ice vision and a high hockey IQ, has been on a tear of late since being put on a line with Fowler and junior center Sully Scholle.
He has seven goals and six assists over his last five games.
“Josh has had a great season and really become an assertive player in the second half,” Barr said. “He’s always had a lot of skill and compete but he has taken a step in driving the play the right way the second half of the season.
“I’m happy for both of those guys,” Barr added.
