The nation’s scoring leader, the nation’s goals leader and the captain of one of the teams at the Frozen Four are the final three standing for the 2010 Hobey Baker Award.
New Hampshire’s Bobby Butler, Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion and Maine’s Gustav Nyquist — all forwards — were announced as the Hobey Hat Trick finalists on Wednesday.
The award will be presented on April 9 at Detroit’s Ford Field, site of the Frozen Four.
Butler, a senior, leads the country with 29 goals. Also a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, he was the winner of the Walter Brown Award as the top American-born player in New England and was Hockey East’s player of the year.
At 53 points, he ranks behind only Nyquist on the national scoring list. He recently signed a free-agent contract with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.
Geoffrion, one of three captains at Wisconsin, leads the Badgers with 27 goals. The senior was named the most valuable player at the West Regional after posting two goals and five points in victories over Vermont and St. Cloud State.
A Nashville draft pick, he ranks 12th nationally in points per game at 1.26 (48 points), and his goals total is tied for second nationally behind Butler.
Nyquist, a sophomore, is the national scoring leader with 61 points on 19 goals and 42 assists in 39 games.
The Detroit draft pick was held without a point in consecutive games only once this season, and he had six games with three or more points.
The finalists were selected by a 24-member selection committee and online fan voting.
The list of 10 finalists released March 18 also included Northern Michigan forward Mark Olver, Rensselaer forward Chase Polacek, Denver forward Rhett Rakhshani, Wisconsin defenseman Brendan Smith, Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie, Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens and Miami goaltender Cody Reichard.
