Inside College Hockey | Hobey Tracker

November 13, 2007

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is presented to a deserving recipient on the day before the last college hockey game of the season. But that doesn’t mean that college hockey fans, players and media members don’t think about it all season. Inside College Hockey's Hobey Tracker looks at the top three candidates for the award, those whose stock is rising or falling, and other players worthy of consideration.

The Hobey Tracker will be updated every other Wednesday morning during the first half of the season, and every Wedneday morning during the second half of the season.

THE BIG BOARD
1. Kevin Porter Michigan Senior \| Forward	To Date: 9-3—12, 5 PPG, +5 The Buzz: Pardon us if we continue to be impressed with the impact Porter and classmate/linemate/fellow Phoenix draft pick Chad Kolarik have had on a team so young it has to think twice about going to an “R” movie as a group. Porter shares the national lead in goals and ranks tied for second in power-play goals, centers the top line for a team that boasts the country’s third-best scoring offense and is tied for ninth in scoring defense, and spearheads one of the NCAA’s top power plays. And we didn’t even mention Porter’s eight-game point streak that ended Saturday against Alaska, or the Lady Byng-esque one minor penalty he’s been assessed thus far.
2. Tim Kennedy Michigan State Junior \| Forward	To Date: 9-5—14, 7 PPG, 4 GWG, +5 The Buzz: Kennedy has used the national stage to make an impression, with strong performances at the NCAA Regional as a freshman and again last year in Michigan State's national-title run. This year he's making an impression on the opposition's netminders, with goals in seven straight contests. He also has recorded multiple points in his last four games and five of his last six. While Michigan State's schedule hasn't been especially difficult thus far, he'll get a chance to showcase his Hobey Campaign this week against Miami in a pivotal CCHA series between two of the nation's outstanding teams.
3. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux North Dakota Senior \| Goalie	To Date: 5-3-1, 1.29 GAA, .948 save pct., 4 SHO The Buzz: He’s cooled off a bit over the last two weeks, but Lamoureux’s goals against average ranks second in the country to Harvard’s Kyle Richter (who’s made four starts to Lamoureux's nine) and he's fifth nationally with a .948 save percentage. There’s also the matter of his five shutouts, and that he’s been the most consistent player on a team that’s been ranked in the top five in the country all season long — he’ll have to be with Aaron Walski the only other goalie on the roster since Anthony Grieco left for the major junior ranks earlier this month.


BULL MARKET
Ryan Lasch St. Cloud State Sophomore Forward	Lasch, who enters the week sharing the distinction as the nation’s leading scorer with linemate Garrett Roe, is poised to obliterate the impressive totals he posted last season (39 points in 40 games) en route to a spot on the WCHA’s all-rookie team. His 17 points in 10 games and nine contests with at least one point are certainly notable. More indicative of his dominance, however, are his current streaks — five games with at least one goal, six games with at least one point, and five straight multi-point games. Expecting Lasch to maintain his torrid pace is probably unrealistic, but if he can continue to produce during the Huskies' murderous schedule over the next two months (series with Clarkson, Wisconsin, Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota, and Minnesota, and Miami and either Harvard or Ohio State at the Ohio Hockey Classic) he’ll be solidly entrenched among the Hobey favorites.
BEAR MARKET
Ben Bishop Maine Junior Goalie	The lanky goalie's numbers through nine games (2.16 GAA, .931 save pct.) appear strong. Upon further review, however, the junior netminder has a few factors working against his candidacy. First, one could argue that his best outings are been a pair of losses — a 46-save effort in a 2-0 loss at Denver to open the season and a 33-save outing in a 1-0 loss to Providence last weekend. Second, included in his four wins are two utilitarian starts in a sweep of Mercyhurst and a couple of solid outings in a sweep at Northeastern. Third, Bishop has yet to post a shutout this season. Finally, there’s last Friday’s forgettable home loss (four goals allowed on 28 shots in a little more than 46 minutes) to a mediocre Providence team that was drubbed by Holy Cross less than a month earlier.

HIDDEN HOBEY
J.T. Wyman Dartmouth Senior Forward	When Dartmouth lost four of its top six scorers from the 2006-07 season due to graduation, or professional or major junior signings, people wondered what the Big Green would do for scoring offense. Senior forward Nick Johnson was the easy answer, after establishing himself as a proven scorer in ECAC Hockey over his first three seasons. Fellow senior J.T. Wyman didn't receive as much attention, but he's showing now that he deserves it. Wyman has recorded multiple points in four of Dartmouth's first five games (5-4—9), and the only game in which he didn't score was a 4-0 win over Union.