Miller Named Junior Player of Year

Photo by Jeff Krich

Andrew Miller (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), a member of Yale Hockey's class of 2013, has been named the Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year by USA Hockey.

The Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year Award is presented annually to the outstanding American-born player in junior hockey who played for a team based in the United States. The award is determined by a panel of junior hockey coaches and administrators.

USA Hockey will present the award on June 3 at its Night of Tribute at the Colorado Springs' Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Miller led the United States Hockey League (USHL) in scoring in 2008-09 and was the B2 Networks USHL Player of the Year and the CCM USHL Forward of the Year skating for Chicago Steel as its assistant captain.

"It is a great honor to receive such a prestigious award after playing for the Chicago Steel in the USHL. I look forward to becoming a part of the storied Yale hockey program that accomplished great things last year and will hopefully continue down the same path in the near future," said Miller.

Miller is just the third USHL player in the past six seasons to reach the 80-point plateau. Playing his second USHL season, he doubled the point production of 41 points (14g, 37a) from his rookie campaign.

Miller began the season on an eight-game point streak, registered a point in 15 of the first 16 games, and put together a season-high nine-game point streak from Dec. 5 to Jan. 3. He registered his first USHL hat trick last New Year's Eve at Waterloo, but tallied four points in a game twice last winter: Dec. 6 in a 4-1 win against Des Moines and April 4 in a 6-4 win vs. Indiana.

He recorded 27 multi-point games during the 2008-09 season while tying for the USHL lead in shootout goals, scoring on four of his five attempts.

"It's an honor not only for Andrew Miller, but for the Chicago Steel and the entire USHL, to see the award for USA Hockey's best junior player go to Andrew," said USHL Commissioner Skip Prince in an oursportscentral.com story. "That 82-point performance was the result of a gifted player working hard every shift of every game - and nobody did it better."

Miller is the seventh consecutive USHL player and 13th overall to capture the honor named after Dave Tyler, who served on USA Hockey's board of directors for 32 years and played an instrumental role in the development and growth of junior hockey in the United States. This is the 16th year USA Hockey has handed out the award and at least four of the recipients have gone on to play in the National Hockey League.

The current recipient is a two-time first-team all-state pick and league MVP his senior year at Cranbrook Kingswood, where he led the state in scoring his senior year with 82 points. Michigan's High School Mr. Hockey in 2007, Miller was on the Michigan High School Dream Team in 2007 while helping the school win state championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Miller was also an All-American lacrosse player who was a three-time all-state pick and led Michigan in scoring with 94 points his junior year.