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November 28, 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 |
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1.
Kevin Porter
Michigan
Senior | Forward |
To
Date: 16-8—24, 8 PPG, +10
The Buzz: Since our last Hobey
Tracker, Porter's gone from steady performer to
explosive force, posting 7-5—12 and a +5
plus-minus rating in the Wolverines' last four
games and doing everything other than leading
the school's search for a successor to Lloyd Carr.
He's now the nation's leader in points, goals,
and power-play goals and — oh, by the way
— still has just one minor penalty to his
credit through 14 games this season.
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2.
Ryan Lasch
St. Cloud State
Soph. | Forward |
To
Date: 10-10—20, 5 PPG
The Buzz: Lasch is one of three
players tied for second nationally in scoring
with 20 points (Michigan's Chad Kolarik and Lasch's
freshman linemate, Garrett Roe, are the others.)
As we mentioned in the Bull Market portion of
our last Hobey Tracker, what sets Lasch apart
is his consistency. His goal-scoring streak ended
at six games when Clarkson muzzled him in its
3-2 win over the Huskies Saturday, but he did
record an assist to extend his point-streak to
eight in a row.
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3.
Tim Kennedy
Michigan State
Junior | Forward |
To
Date: 11-5—16, 7 PPG, 4 GWG, +4
The Buzz: We tinkered with the
notion of dropping Kennedy from the top three altogether,
but chose instead to slide him down one spot to
no. 3. Keeping him on the Big Board is his status
among the national leaders in goals (tied for fourth),
game-winning goals (tied for first), and power-play
goals (tied for second). He falls a rung based on
his relative silence — just two goals —
in the Spartans' last four games, a stretch that
included two losses to top-ranked Miami and ties
with Minnesota and Wisconsin. |
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| BULL
MARKET |
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Joe Vitale
Northeastern
Sophomore
Forward
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Vitale
is only tied for seventh in scoring among Hockey
East skaters with 5-8—13 in 11 games, but
his production over the last month has propelled
the upstart Huskies to the top of the conference
standings. The St. Louis native has at least one
point in seven of his team's last eight games; Northeastern
is 5-2-1 during that span. Vitale also has a signature
moment on which to pin his possible Hobey candidacy.
Last Friday in Chestnut Hill, he scored a goal and
three assists, including the set-up on the game-winning
score with four seconds remaining in overtime, as
the Huskies rallied from a 2-0 first-period deficit
to down Boston College, 4-3. |
| BEAR
MARKET |
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Jean-Philippe
Lamoureux
North Dakota
Senior
Goaltender
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On the
surface, Lamoureux appears to be Hobey worthy, owning
the nation's fifth-best goals against average and
12th-best save percentage, not to mention his NCAA-leading
four shutouts. But in the Fighting Sioux's last
five games, the Grand Forks native has been abysmal,
posting a 2-3-0 record and a 2.65 GAA while stopping
96 of the 109 shots he's faced — that's a
.881 save percentage for those of you scoring at
home. |
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HIDDEN
HOBEY |
| Luke
Flicek
Bryce Hollweg
Owen Meyer
Army
Forwards
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Air Force's
Eric Ehn proved last season that a player from a
service academy could garner support for the Hobey,
so why can't a member of the high-scoring trio from
West Point do the same this season? All three are
among the country's top 20 scorers — Flicek
and Meyer are tied for sixth nationally with 18
points, and Hollweg is in a tie for 15th place with
15 points. Flicek, a senior from Burnsville, Minn.,
might be the most viable canndidate. Though he doesn't
have a five-point game to his credit (both Hollweg
and Meyer achieved the feat in a win over Bentley
earlier this month) he does have consistency working
in his favor. Flicek has had multiple points in
six of Army's last 10 games, and has at least one
point in all but two contests over that stretch. |
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