Minnesota Hockey: Casey Mittelstadt Named USA Today All-USA Male Athlete of the Year

We all know Casey Mittelstadt is a great hockey player. The Eden Prairie native and incoming Minnesota Golden Gophers freshman was selected with the 8th overall pick in the NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres in June. Now, thanks to a fan vote, you can call him the USA TODAY All-USA Male High School Athlete of the Year.

Mittelstadt has been awarded the USA TODAY Male High School Hockey National Player of the Year Award the last two seasons. USA TODAY took Mittelstadt and the winner of the nine other sports male athletes of the year and created an online poll for fans to select the American Family Insurance ALL-USA Boys Athlete of the Year. With 32.14% of the vote, Mittelstadt takes home the award. (We will overlook the fact it only took 369 votes to garner him over 32% of the vote).

Despite the lower vote totals, Mittelstadt did beat out some very high end talent for the award. Finishing in fourth place was Seattle basketball player Michael Porter Jr, who will be a freshman for the Missouri Tigers in the fall. Coming in third was Las Vegas QB and now Ohio State Buckeyes freshman Tate Martell. And coming in second place?

That would be Apple Valley junior and Gopher wrestling commit Gable Steveson! Not too shabby for a couple of future Minnesota Gophers. Congrats to Casey and Gable!