In reality, this pick was a no-brainer. Without junior goaltender Brian Elliott, the national champion men's hockey team looked merely mediocre. The epitome of a most valuable player, Elliott led the Badgers to a 30-10-3 record on the season with a 27-5-3 record, eight shutouts, a 1.55 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage, absolutely gaudy numbers.
One need only to look at what happened to the Badgers without him to see the impact Elliott had on the team. On Jan. 14, Wisconsin stomped Colorado College 9-1 to improve its record to 18-2-2, extending their lead in the Big Ten to a seemingly insurmountable eight points. That week in practice, Elliott injured his knee and ended up missing the next eight games.
Freshman goalie Shane Connelly put in a yeoman's effort filling in some huge skates, but the Badgers lost their next four games, and consequently their entire eight-point lead in the standings. In the 11 games without Elliott at full strength (the first three games he played, he allowed 15 goals), Wisconsin went 3-7-1 and appeared to be free-falling heading into the playoffs. However, Elliott regained his form again in the last weekend against St. Cloud State, yielding only one goal and beginning one of the most impressive stretches in the history of college hockey.
The turning point was a Feb. 25 matchup with Minnesota State, in which Elliott allowed five goals on 12 shots and was pulled from the game. Over the next 10 games, Elliott went 9-1, allowing only nine goals on 275 shots for a miniscule 0.83 GAA and an unheard- of .967 save percentage. The accolades followed, as he was a Hobey Baker finalist, was awarded the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Midwest Regional and was named the National College Hockey Player of the Month for the most important last month of the season.
The pinnacle of his season came in the stretch of three games beginning against Minnesota in the third-place game of the WCHA tournament. He reeled off three straight shutouts, blanking Minnesota, Bemidji State and Cornell. His 269:52 without allowing a goal is easily the WCHA record and included an amazing performance against Cornell in which he played 111 minutes and let nothing into his net. Forty shots came his way, but he stood his ground in one of the best college playoff games of all time, coming out on top. The clutch play of Elliott will live on for years in the minds of Badger fans and male athletes may have to wait another two years to even get a crack at this award because Elliott still has his senior year ahead of him.
Honorable Mention: Simon Bairu
Very quietly, Simon Bairu has become one of the best athletes to ever don the cardinal and white. Although his campaign as a Badger is now done, he certainly left his mark with the cross country and track teams. The list of the awards he's won over his long and distinguished career is lengthy, and he finished his stay on top with an individual NCAA championship (his second in a row) and more importantly to him, an NCAA championship as a team in cross country. Bairu also won his third-straight individual Big Ten title while helping UW to its seventh-straight Big Ten title. The senior ends his reign with three All-American selections in both track and cross-country, three Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year awards and two USTCA Cross Country Athlete of the Year awards.
