The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Tuesday that Boston College junior forward Johnny Gaudreau has won the 62nd Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England.
Gaudreau finished first in the final balloting ahead of teammate Bill Arnold and third-place finisher Steve Weinstein of Bentley.
Leading all of Division I in scoring with 32 goals and 37 assists in 37 games, Gaudreau was recently named Hockey East player of the year for the second consecutive season.
In three seasons at Boston College, Gaudreau has registered 164 points.
Gaudreau is the 24th player from Boston College to win the Walter Brown Award since its inception in 1953 and BC coach Jerry York won the award in 1967, associate coach Greg Brown earned the award in 1990 and assistant coach Mike Ayers received the honor in 2003 while playing for New Hampshire.
The 2013 Walter Brown Award winner was BC’s Steven Whitney.
“Johnny is one of those few players in college hockey who brings the crowd to their feet whenever he has the puck,” said York in a news release. “They’re on their feet in anticipation of something special happening.”
“As usual, we had a great field of candidates for the Walter Brown Award, but unlike most years when the balloting for the winner is quite close, this season there was very little debate as to who had turned in the best performance in New England – and in fact, in the country,” added award committee chairman Tim Costello. “That player was Johnny Gaudreau.”
Gaudreau will be formally presented the award at the New England College Hockey Writers’ Dinner on April 16 in Saugus, Mass.
