Inside College Hockey | Hobey Tracker

February 7, 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 32 of 35 shots in a pair of wins at Bowling Green. The Buzz: Notre Dame is atop the CCHA standings and national rankings with the best record in the country, but the Irish aren't playing their best hockey right now. If Brown maintains his consistent play when Notre Dame needs him most, it will only help his Hobey candidacy.
2. T.J. Hensick Michigan Senior \| Forward	Last Week: Had four points on two goals and two assists in a 7-4 win at Western Michigan, no points in a 3-1 win against the Broncos at Yost. The Buzz: The nation's leading point producer became the first player this season to reach the 50-point milestone with four points on Friday. Unlike Notre Dame, Michigan is peaking right now, and his team's success will grab the attention of Hobey voters.
3. John Curry Boston University Senior \| Goalie	Last Week: Posted consecutive shutouts, in a tie and a win for the Terriers, and helped BU get to the Beanpot final. The Buzz: Goaltending statistics aren't as glamorous as the ones piled up by scorers, with one exception: shutouts. Curry has six of those this season and leads the nation in that category.


BULL MARKET
Scott Parse Nebraska-Omaha Senior Forward	Parse has posted three-point games in three of the Mavericks' last four outings and moved into the top five among the nation's scoring leaders. Averaging better than two points per game is a great way to get attention, but only if your team is winning. In the game that Parse was blanked, Nebraska-Omaha lost 5-1 to Michigan State.
BEAR MARKET
Nick Dodge Clarkson Junior Forward	It's not that Dodge hasn't been playing well — he's got 17 points in his last 11 games dating back to Dec. 1. It's that he's not playing at all, sidelined by an injury that forced him to miss the Golden Knights' games at Colgate and Cornell last weekend and will likely keep him on the shelf for this weekend's dates with Brown and Yale. There's no telling the kind of boost Dodge's candidacy would have received had he continued his strong play and put Clarkson in the driver's seat for the ECACHL regular-season title.

HIDDEN HOBEY
Jon Quick Massachusetts Sophomore Goalie	Quick's statistics are excellent (2.24 goals-against average, .942 sv. pct.) but he's overshadowed (hidden) by the other outstanding goalies in Hockey East. The likes of Jon Curry, Joe Fallon, Kevin Regan, and Cory Schneider steal the headlines and they're also leading the four teams ahead of UMass in the Hockey East standings.