End Of Season Awards Announced

MEN'S HOCKEY ANNOUNCES YEAR-END AWARDS Croxton and Lange share team's Most Valuable Player honor TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's ice hockey team recently held its' season-ending banquet, where the team's 2005-06 award winners were announced. The men's ice hockey staff handed out five awards. Sharing the team's highest award, the Most Valuable Player, were forward Kevin Croxton and goaltender Mathias Lange. A senior from Calgary, Alb., Croxton led the Engineers in scoring with 14 goals and 25 assists for 39 points in 31 games played. He had two power play goals and two game winning goals as well. Croxton finished his collegiate career with 57 goals and 86 assists for 143 points in a school record 147 games. A USCHO.com Pre-Season All-American Honorable Mention in his junior season and a three-time ECACHL All-Academic, he was the team's leading scorer in three out of his four years at Rensselaer. Lange started 34 games in goal for the Engineers. A freshman from Klagenfurt, Austria, he posted a 13-15-6 overall record with a 2.70 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. He had two shutouts. Lange also set the school record for ties in a season with six and was a unanimous selection for the ECACHL All-Rookie Team. The Engineers' Most Improved Player was junior defenseman Ryan Swanson, who tallied a goal and seven assists for eight points in 35 games. A native of Woodbury, Minn., he had played in 14 games through his first two seasons at Rensselaer, registering one assist. Taking home this year's Coaches Award was senior Keith MCWilliams. The defenseman from Valencia, Calif., tallied nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 34 games. He had three power play goals and one game-winning goal. He finished his collegiate career with 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points in 114 games. In addition to being named to the All-ECACHL Third Team at season's end, MCWilliams was a three-time ECACHL All-Academic. Sophomore Andrew Lord, a forward from West Vancouver, B.C., earned the Scholar-Athlete Award, which is presented to the player with the highest cumulative grade point average over a minimum of three semesters at Rensselaer. On the ice, the management major, who garnered his first ECACHL All-Academic honor this year, played in 32 games, tallying seven goals and six assists for 13 points, including four power play goals, and two game winning goals.