“I think there’ll be some fans who will expect him to be just an absolute superstar from day one,” Colorado College coach Scott Owens told Colorado Springs Gazette columnist David Ramsey in July, three months before Jaden Schwartz played his first game in a Tiger sweater, “but I think the bulk of the people will understand that … he’s an 18-year-old just arriving on campus and playing against a lot of 20-year-olds and 21-year-olds.”

Jaden Schwartz

Safe to say that even Owens couldn’t forsee the success Schwartz enjoyed during his freshman campaign. The Wilcox, Saskatchewan native is arguably the most dynamic freshman we’ve seen in college hockey since Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek debuted in 2002-03, which is why he’s our pick for Inside College Hockey Rookie of the Year.

That said, you won’t see Schwartz’s name among the list of the NCAA’s scoring leaders because he didn’t appear in 75 percent of his team’s games—he missed the better part of two months of the regular season, first absent while playing for Canada in this year’s World Junior Championship and, subsequently, nursing an broken ankle he sustained at the WJC. Don’t let his exclusion from the national statistics alter your view, however. Among the nation’s freshman, Schwartz was second to only Notre Dame’s T.J. Tynan in points. In fact, he led Colorado College in scoring even though he played in 13 fewer games than the team’s second-leading point getter, senior Stephen Schultz.

As good as he was prior to his mid-season hiatus—Schwartz started his Colorado College career with 11-15—26 in his first 17 games—he really ratcheted up his performance after returning from injury. In the Tigers’ last 13 games, Schwartz rattled off eight goals and 21 assists and, perhaps most memorably, the first-round selection of the St. Louis Blues in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft tantalized fans at Scottrade Center with two goals and two assists in CC’s upset of defending national champion Boston College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament West Regional.

In that preseason column mentioned above, Owens admitted Schwartz won’t stick around for four seasons. Based on the show he put on as a freshman, we’ll gladly take another year or two of his excellence at the college level.

His Runner-Up: T.J. Tynan, Notre Dame

• INCH’s year-end awards are decided upon with input from the editorial staff of InsideCollegeHockey.com and in consultation with coaches and other college hockey followers from across the country.