College Hockey:
Finalists for 2012 Hobey Baker Award unveiled

USCHO Staff Report • March 15, 2012

The top 10 candidates for the 2012 Hobey Baker Memorial Award were announced Thursday night.

The 10 finalists were selected by voting from all 58 Division I college hockey head coaches and by online fan balloting at www.hobeybakeraward.com.

Next, the 23-member selection committee and an additional round of fan balloting (at www.hobeybakeraward.com from March 16 to 25) will determine this year’s Hobey Baker winner.

The Hobey Hat Trick will be announced on March 29 and the winner will be announced Friday, April 6 from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., during the Frozen Four.

2012 Hobey Baker Award Top Ten Finalists

Player	Position	Class	School	Noteworthy
Spencer Abbott	F	Sr.	Maine	Leads nation in scoring (20-39-59)
Jack Connolly	F	Sr.	Minnesota-Duluth	Repeat nominee, never missed a college game (161 straight)
Brian Dumoulin	D	Jr.	Boston College	Leads all Hockey East defensemen in scoring (6-20-26)
Troy Grosenick	G	So.	Union	First Hobey candidate from Union
Shawn Hunwick	G	Sr.	Michigan	Tied for second in nation with 23 wins
Tim Kirby	D	Sr.	Air Force	Lone AHA rep, league MVP, best defenseman
Torey Krug	D	Jr.	Michigan State	Averages 29 mins/game, tied for lead in CCHA scoring
Justin Schultz	D	Jr.	Wisconsin	Repeat nominee, led nation in 'D' scoring with 44 points
Austin Smith	F	Sr.	Colgate	Leads nation with 36 goals and six shorthanded goals
Reilly Smith	F	Jr.	Miami	Second in NCAA with 27 goals and eight game winners lead nation

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bluetell
I thought Riley Nelson and Connor Knapp were better than Hunwick though. I’m so confused!
- MiamiU2010
  The CCHA thinks so. Knapp won CCHA goalie of the year.
  - bluetell
    Right, and let me tell you why that is insane:
    Knapp played 22 games, Hunwick played 37
    Hunwick logged nearly twice the minutes of Knapp (2200 to 1250)
    Hunwick made over twice the saves of Knapp (1014 to 492)
    and Hunwick’s save percentage is only .07 lower (with 15 more games played)
    It’s really great that Knapp allowed 1 goal to Notre Dame, OSU and UAH but Knapp also avoided getting blown up 2 nights in a row in Ann Arbor by not starting Friday night and still ended up giving up 4 goals on the weekend
    As far as competition in the CCHA, Knapp played Ferris 0 times, Michigan once, and Western twice. Otherwise, almost all of his wins are from #5 and below in conference.
    If they gave out half-season awards though, I’d definitely give it to Knapp
    - MiamiU2010
      Jeez. Do we really have to go over this again? Now these are like-teams in the 2nd half of the season.
      Knapp v. ND: 1 goal
      Hunwick v. ND: 2 goals in playoffs, 4 when they played them at the beginning of the second half
      Knapp v. OSU: 1 goal
      Hunwick v OSU: 1 goal
      Alright…we’re even here.
      Knapp v. MSU (playoffs): 1 goal
      Hunwick v. MSU: 5 goals
      And there’s no telling what Knapp would’ve done if Rico had chosen to go with him the entire 2nd series in Ann Arbor. So assuming he would’ve been “blown up” is pretty silly. Cody was playing with a hot hand up until that point.
      - JS
        You’re throwing out stats for games against teams finishing 5th, 8th, and 9th. Meanwhile, Hunwick was 8-3-2 against the other teams in the top 6 in the league this year, something Knapp can’t come close to mostly because he avoided them by playing “end of the bench” for half the series.
      - MiamiU2010
        I’m replying to his point on saying that “oh Knapp only shut out these three teams”, when it was apparently something Hunwick couldn’t even do. I would be careful to “knock” a team’s goalie for shutting down the “bottom” teams when Hunwick can’t. Miami is a two goalie team, they’ve been that way four the last four seasons. They’re going to go with the hot hand, and for the first half, it was mostly Cody. Now it’s Knapp.
        If you really want to knock Knapp, guess we’ll find out this weekend if his stats really do hold true.
      - bluetell
        I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I don’t think Knapp is good. I just think he’s the CCHA goalie of the half-year. Hunwick is the CCHA goalie of the year
      - JS
        That’s all I’m saying bluetell. Half a year does not a year make.
      - MiamiU2010
        That’s fine. Appreciate the Knapp love. But just to throw in this last thing…apparently Knapp’s sv% is 5th in CCHA all time. And career shutouts, i believe, is 2nd…only to ryan miller. Following in Miller’s footsteps? Maybe. :)
  - After Further Review
    Congrats to Knapp. I don’t follow Miami all that much, but since they were freshman, it was always Knapp that struggled a little down the stretch and Reichard became the hot goalie. I am glad he is getting his chance and hope he keeps up the solid play!
- CCHAW
  No knocks on Hunwick, but Knapp is the hottest goalie in the country right now
  - Jimmy
    I’m sure you already know this, but it’s not about now, it’s about the season.
MiamiU2010
Congratulations to Reilly Smith!
nairbk8302
Congrats to Troy Grosenick! Had a Hell of a season for the Dutchmen!
- After Further Review
  And all they could say was “first Hobey candidate from Union.” He did have a great year, how about a quick stat like they did for everyone else?
Tom
Congrats to the top 10!
CollegeHockeyFan
Congrats to Spencer Abbott!
- blackbear19
  I think he has the outside edge…just by a little bit! : )
  But, glad he got into the top 10, reguardless, Maine wouldnt be anyplace without him this year!
Lukes423
tim kirbys schlong hangs to the floor!
Longhorn1220
how in the frik is Bjugstad not on this list?
- GoSiouxGo
  Bjugstad really doesn’t deserve to be on this list. He is a great player. Probably a top ten in the nation I’d say. He’s been cold as of late and I believe it hurt him. Plus as good of a season as he’s had you could make legitimate cases that these ten had better. I’m a Sioux fan and ask why isn’t Nelson on this list? Well same goes there except Nelson has been better than Bjugstad down the stretch. Not saying Nelson is the better or more talented player I’m just saying Nelson is one of those who had as good of a season as Bjugstad and they both aren’t in this list.
  Now lets take it further. How many other players are as deserving? If you look around the WCHA alone you’ll find Schwartz, Zengerle, Oleksuk, Patterson and maybe even a JT Brown? All had solid seasons and production. All meant a lot to their own teams.
  Bjugstad is good and might even be the most NHL ready out of those snubbed but I don’t see how you could argue that he is more deserving than those that made the top 10
- GoSiouxGo
  Oh yeah, and those Denver players in the WCHA…..they’re pretty good too. Shore, Zucker, and Laleggia
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WEX6U4YC32QLNJBJUTGGJXG2PE K
Spencer Abbott does NOT “Leads nation in scoring”… that honor belongs to Austin Smith of Colgate. Abbott has most points in an otherwise weak league. But as this article fails to point out is criteria for the Hobey. Nearly every reporter cites scoring or league MVP to be a candidate. Will someone include Hobey details so bickering on blog sites ceases over scoring leader or best save %, league MVP in a lame division, repeat nominee… seems if didn’t win the first time, they deserve it this year?

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