Erie Community College, State University of New York

The Erie Community College ice hockey team brought home a pair of awards from the inaugural Buffalo Fan Awards held Thursday evening at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

Erie’s hockey team was recognized as the College Team of the Year and Head Coach Gary Rost was named the College Coach of the Year. The Kats won its first Region III championship in 15 years in 2008-09 and finished the year with an 18-4-2 record. Erie eventually fell in the NJCAA title game.

The hockey team was selected over the University of Buffalo’s football team, Canisius College’s women’s basketball team and Niagara University’s men’s basketball team, and Coach Rost was chosen over the coaches of those teams.

In its first year, the Buffalo Fan Awards is run by a group headed by Ahmad Rashad and recognized several outstanding performances in high school, college and professional athletics in Western New York. The winners were chosen by the fans through online balloting.