Hobey Watch

Normally this season, when I go to see a Hobey Baker candidate, he’s held off the scoresheet, but his team wins. This weekend, I got the opposite. Jacques Lamoureux’s candidacy for the Hobey Baker Award last season was one of the bigger stories of the year in the Hobey race (next to, of course, the … Read more

Happy Hockeydays, everybody! If you follow this blog, you know I’m a big fan of the holiday tournaments as an opportunity for Hobey candidates to make their case. Not only is it non-conference competition (which gives candidates exposure to coaches in other conferences, who vote for the Hobey finalists), but it captures the finalists at … Read more

Well, I gave it a try. Sunday afternoon, with my beloved New York Jets having already conducted their business for the week, I sat down on the couch with a clipboard and three pens to watch ESPNU’s broadcast of New Hampshire and Vermont from Gutterson Field House. After my blog post last week about how … Read more

Topics included in this blog post include Cornell, goaltending, and the Hobey Baker Award. But we won’t be discussing Cornell goaltending. Now there’s a surprise. This isn’t a knock on Ben Scrivens – who’s been very solid this season with a .925 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average – but rather, a return to our … Read more

Every now and then, when I sit down to write a blog entry for the Hobey Watch, I can’t help but think, “isn’t it a bit early for this?” Granted, those thoughts are on their last legs at this point in the season – one more month, and it’s no longer too early for anything, … Read more

So, I suppose the best way for me to start would be by answering that nagging question…why haven’t I written anything substantial about Chay Genoway of North Dakota? Clearly, it’s because of my malicious East Coast bias, isn’t it? In all seriousness, I haven’t had a chance to get a good look at Genoway, but … Read more

It’s hard to believe – especially if you’re a fan of an Ivy League team whose season just began, but an entire month of the 2009-10 college hockey season is in the books. We’re now past the point of using last year to try to project what might happen this year, and that is especially … Read more

Yeah, I know, I’m a bit late to the party this year, but better late than never. Welcome back to the Hobey Watch blog, where I, your humble correspondent, analyze the race for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, and attempt to predict the finalists and winner for college’s top individual honor. Now, I’m pleased to … Read more

Matt Gilroy, welcome to the club. No, not the Hobey Baker winners. This group is even more elusive than that one. In the first 28 years of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, only four players have won the Hobey and the NCAA title in the same season: Tony Hrkac at North Dakota in 1987, Lane MacDonald … Read more

Matt Gilroy. You’ll note by the way, that I didn’t say, “And the winner is…” Brad Thiessen and Colin Wilson are certainly winners, too, in their own right – thanks, Oscar – but this is certainly one of the special stories I’ve had the privlege of covering in my time as part of the college hockey community, and listening … Read more

Well, Colin Wilson finally got a couple of those goals I kept saying he needed. Too bad the Hobey vote was last week. In all seriousness, Colin Wilson certainly had the look of a Hobey Baker winner on Thursday night, scoring two goals and adding an assist in BU’s 5-4 win over Vermont to advance … Read more

So, we have our Hobey Hat Trick, and I successfully named two out of three members of the 2009 group. But come on…I got all three last year. This is a step backwards for your humble correspondent. In my defense, I will say that I didn’t see nearly as much college hockey this season as … Read more

OK, folks, this is it. We’re two days away from finding out which three players will be at the Verizon Center on Friday night for the presentation of the 2009 Hobey Baker Award. This would roughly be the part where I take my shot at who those three players will be. Where we last left … Read more

The “Jacques Lamoureux for Hobey” campaign took another step forward on Friday in Bridgeport. For starters, as I expected, Air Force’s promotional flyers had made their way onto the media tables on Friday, joining the flyers and DVDs for Vermont’s Viktor Stålberg. I mention that because the flyer for Lamoureux is about as effective as … Read more

Hello from Bridgeport, where I’ll be covering my seventh NCAA regional this weekend, and I certainly feel like seven is a lucky number for me in my capacity as your Hobey Watch blogger. Of the four regionals, the one with the most Hobey Baker finalists happens to be the one I’m at, as Air Force’s … Read more

I got an e-mail early this morning congratulating me on correctly picking seven of the 10 Hobey Baker finalists, more than any other media commentator. While I’m grateful for the attention and kind words, it’s still a bit odd to be congratulated for that sort of thing. I can tell you that when I brought home a quiz on … Read more

So, here we are, a little more than a day away from knowing who the 10 finalists are for the Hobey Baker Award. To me, this is the fun part. After all, picking the Hobey winner can be very easy sometimes, as it was last year, when Kevin Porter had it locked up early. Picking … Read more