D1 Insider: Sizing up ECAC, Atlantic award favorites

Mercyhurst's Joseph Duszak (Franklin Square, N.Y.) has been the top Atlantic Hockey blueliner. (Meryhurst)

With only two weeks to play in the Atlantic Hockey and ECAC regular seasons, the race for conference awards continues to heat up right along with the playoff races.

Some candidates became clear right from the start, but now is a great time to look at some of the favorites before winners are announced in the days surrounding both conference championships in about a month. Of course, there will be competition from schools outside of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but we’ll focus on those top choices playing here in the Tri-State area.

There are plenty of possibilities with Tri-State connections. Four of the top six scorers in all of college hockey play in the aforementioned leagues, as do three of the top four offensive defensemen. Note, however, that the winners of official conference awards are judged only on statistics in league games.