|
January 30, 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
BIG BOARD |
|
1. David Brown
Notre Dame
Senior | Goalie |
Last
Week: Stopped 50 of 53 shots in a win and
a tie against Miami.
The Buzz: Brown, who benefited
from his teammates staking him a 4-0 lead against
the RedHawks Friday, almost singlehandedly earned
a point for the Irish in Saturday's 2-2 draw. Notre
Dame was uncharacteristically sloppy in the first
two periods of that game, and would have never escaped
with a tie without Brown to repeatedly bail them
out. |
| 
2.
Nathan Davis
Miami
Junior | Forward |
Last
Week: 0-1—1 in the RedHawks' loss
and tie against Notre Dame.
The Buzz: Davis's lone point was
on Miami's only goal in Friday's 4-1 loss to the
Irish. Notre Dame was effective in limiting the
junior centerman's chances, especially on Saturday,
when he mustered only two shots on goal. The extra
attention, however, opened the door for linemates
Ryan Jones (2-1—3 in the series) and Brian
Kaufman (1-1—2). |
|
3.
Trevor Smith
New Hampshire
Soph. | Forward |
Last
Week: Scoreless in the Wildcats' lone game,
a win against Providence.
The Buzz: Though
Smith has had a fine season, his standing in third
position on the Big Board is tenuous, especially
with guys like North Dakota's Ryan Duncan and Michigan's
T.J. Hensick putting up huge numbers. As we stated
last week, Smith can bolster his status against
Maine this weekend, and UNH still has series with
both BC and BU. |
| |
| BULL
MARKET |
|
Ryan Duncan
North Dakota
Sophomore
Forward
|
We
started building a case for Duncan, who leads the
WCHA with 21 goals and shares the league lead in
scoring with 36 points, after naming him our Player
of the Week for his efforts in the Fighting Sioux's
sweep of Minnesota. Though his play against the
Golden Gophers was particularly impressive, the
diminutive forward (the Calgary native's listed
as 5-foot-6, 158 pounds) has been the one constant
in the lineup for a North Dakota team that's ridden
the roller coaster this season. His more heralded
classmates, T.J. Oshie (4-7—11 in his last
five games) and Jonathan Toews (3-9—12 in
his last six) have started to come around and may
once again dominate the headlines, but Duncan's
the one who's got them to this point. |
| BEAR
MARKET |
Eric
Ehn
Air Force
Junior
Forward |
Yeah, it's
kind of a stretch finding fault with the nation's
leading scorer, a distinction it seems like Ehn
has held the entire season. Still, his production
has tailed off over the last three weeks, with no
goals and six assists in six games. That's still
a point a game, you say, and you're right –
but three weeks ago, Ehn was averaging 1.82 points
per game. He's now averagining 1.64 points a contest.
What's more, Air Force's offensive production has
also dropped. The Falcons have scored a total of
11 goals in their last six games. In 10 games prior
to the current 2-2-2 run, the Zoomies scored 35
goals and posted a 6-2-2 mark. |
| |
HIDDEN
HOBEY |
Jack Johnson
Michigan
Sophomore
Defense
|
If Johnson
could toss out the middle third of his season –
he endured a seven-game pointless stretch from Nov.
24 to Jan. 13 – odds are he'd be one of the
top three on our Big Board. Consider that the hulking
rearguard had at least one point in 11 of the Wolverines'
first 12 games (he registered 6-7—13 during
that span) and has 6-5—11 in his last four
outings. For you stat geeks out there, that's 1.5
points per game, which would put him fourth in the
NCAA in that category behind Ehn and Michigan teammates
Hensick and Kevin Porter. |
|