The tournament Most Outstanding Player is an annual award given out at the conclusion of the NCAA men's ice hockey championship to the player to be judged the most outstanding. The award has been in effect since the adoption of a national championship tournament for the 1947–48 season.
History In recent years the award has usually gone to the most outstanding player of the team that won the Division I NCAA Tournament. During the first five years of the tournament the most outstanding player did not come from the winning squad, but since 1953 the MOP has not been on the victorious team in only three years (1955, 1960 and 1985). Only two players have been named MOP more than once (Lou Angotti and Marc Behrend), but neither was able to do so in consecutive years. In 1960 the MOP was awarded to multiple players for the first time when it was awarded to three separate people, none of whom played for the National Champion. It has not been awarded to more than one player in a single year since.
The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result no tournament Most Outstanding Player was awarded.
Award winners
Year Winner Position School 1948 Joe Riley* Forward 1949 Dick Desmond* Goaltender 1950 Ralph Bevins* Goaltender 1951 Donald Whiston* Goaltender 1952 Ken Kinsley* Goaltender 1953 John Matchefts Center 1954 Abbie Moore Center 1955 Phil Hilton* Defenceman 1956 Lorne Howes Goaltender 1957 Bob McCusker Left wing 1958 Murray Massier Center 1959 Reg Morelli Forward 1960 Lou Angotti* Right wing Bob Marquis* Center Barry Urbanski* Goaltender 1961 Bill Masterton Center 1962 Lou Angotti Right wing 1963 Al McLean Center 1964 Bob Gray Goaltender 1965 Gary Milroy Center 1966 Gaye Cooley Goaltender 1967 Skip Stanowski Defenceman 1968 Gerry Powers Goaltender 1969 Keith Magnuson Defenceman 1970 Dan Lodboa Defenceman 1971 Dan Brady Goaltender 1972 Tim Regan Goaltender Note: * Recipient did not play for the National Champion
Year Winner Position School 1973 Dean Talafous Right wing 1974 Brad Shelstad Goaltender 1975 Jim Warden Goaltender 1976 Tom Vannelli Center 1977 Julian Baretta Goaltender 1978 Jack O'Callahan Defenceman 1979 Steve Janaszak Goaltender 1980 Doug Smail Right wing 1981 Marc Behrend Goaltender 1982 Phil Sykes Left wing 1983 Marc Behrend Goaltender 1984 Gary Kruzich Goaltender 1985 Chris Terreri* Goaltender 1986 Mike Donnelly Left wing 1987 Tony Hrkac Center 1988 Bruce Hoffort Goaltender 1989 Ted Donato Left wing 1990 Chris Tancill Right wing 1991 Scott Beattie Center 1992 Paul Constantin Left wing 1993 Jim Montgomery Center 1994 Sean Tallaire Right wing 1995 Chris O'Sullivan Forward 1996 Brendan Morrison Center 1997 Matt Henderson Left wing 1998 Marty Turco Goaltender 1999 Alfie Michaud Goaltender
Year Winner Position School 2000 Lee Goren Right wing 2001 Chuck Kobasew Right wing 2002 Grant Potulny Center 2003 Thomas Vanek Right wing 2004 Adam Berkhoel Goaltender 2005 Peter Mannino Goaltender 2006 Robbie Earl Left wing 2007 Justin Abdelkader Left wing 2008 Nathan Gerbe Left wing 2009 Colby Cohen Defenceman 2010 Ben Smith Right wing 2011 J. T. Brown Right wing 2012 Parker Milner Goaltender 2013 Andrew Miller Center 2014 Shayne Gostisbehere Defenceman 2015 Jon Gillies Goaltender 2016 Drake Caggiula Forward 2017 Jarid Lukosevicius Right wing 2018 Karson Kuhlman Center 2019 Parker Mackay Right wing 2020 Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic 2021 Bobby Trivigno Forward 2022 Michael Benning Defenceman 2023 Jacob Quillan Forward 2024 Matt Davis Goaltender 2025 Owen Michaels Forward 2026 Johnny Hicks Goaltender
Award breakdown
+Winners by schoolSchoolWinnersDenver 10Boston University 8North Dakota 8Wisconsin 6Michigan 5Minnesota 5Boston College 4Michigan Tech 4Colorado College 3Lake Superior State 3Michigan State 3Minnesota–Duluth 3Cornell 2Dartmouth 2Maine 2Providence 2Bowling Green 1Brown 1Harvard 1Massachusetts 1Northern Michigan 1Quinnipiac 1Rensselaer 1Union 1Western Michigan 1Yale 1
+Winners by positionPositionWinners Center 15 Right wing 13 Left wing 9 Forward 7 Defenceman 8 Goaltender 28
References