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February 20, 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 |
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1.
John Curry
Boston University
Senior | Goalie |
Last
Week: Stopped 31 shots in BU's 4-2 win
at New Hampshire and made 43 saves in a 3-3 draw
with the Wildcats.
The Buzz: Carp if you must about
his spot atop the Big Board, but all Curry does
is make saves. Lots of 'em. Take Saturday's game
in which Curry gave BU a chance to battle back after
falling behind by three goals early in the second
period. Among his 43 saves that night were seven
in OT. |
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2. David Brown
Notre Dame
Senior | Goalie |
Last
Week: Made 28 saves in a shutout win at
Alaska Friday.
The Buzz: How fitting is it that
the Irish clinch their first conference title of
any kind on the strength of a Brown shutout? More
than half of his saves came in the second period,
when Notre Dame was outshot by a 15-6 margin. He
got Saturday off, and will likely sit out one of
this weekend's games with Ferris State. |
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3.
T.J. Hensick
Michigan
Senior | Forward |
Last
Week: Two goals in the Wolverines' split
with Lake Superior State.
The Buzz: Hensick stays in our
top three after scoring a pair of goals in his
team's 3-1 win against the Lakers at Joe Louis
Arena Sunday. It was a win Michigan needed desperately
after stubbing its toe with losing to Bowling
Green, rallying to tie Michigan State, and losing
to LSSU in its previous three games.
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| BULL
MARKET |
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Ryan Duncan
North Dakota
Sophomore
Forward
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Though
we ignored our e-mailers' protestations of Curry's
lofty status, we're heeding readers' recommendations
regarding Duncan. Duncan, who scored two of North
Dakota's three goals in the Fighting Sioux's win
and tie against visiting Minnesota Duluth last weekend,
continues to lead the WCHA in goals and points.
He enters this week's critical series at Denver
with a seven-game point streak. Incidentally, the
single goals in each game against UMD represented
a bit of a drop-off for Duncan — he came into
the series with a run of five straight multi-point
games. |
| BEAR
MARKET |
Nathan
Davis
Miami
Junior
Forward |
Davis has
found the scoring touch (3-1—4 in the RedHawks'
last four games) he'd been missing during the second
half of the season, but two of his teammates have
been even more prolific. Junior Ryan Jones, who
ranks third in the country in goals, has 6-2—8
in his last four games and has nearly as many markers
(10) as Davis has points (11) since Christmas. Senior
Marty Guerin, meanwhile, has 2-4—6 in his
last four outings and has 7-10—17 since the
holidays. |
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HIDDEN
HOBEY |
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Drew
Bagnall
St. Lawrence
Senior Defense
Kyle Rank
St. Lawrence
Senior Forward
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It's hard
to choose one over the other when it comes to the
impact the senior co-captains have had on the Saints'
season, which has seen them at or near the top of
the ECAC Hockey League standings throughout. Bagnall
leads the defense and logs tons of ice time. Rank
is the team's leading scorer and seems to always
come through in pressure situations. They epitomize
what's different about this year's Saints team --
one that finds a way to succeed in close games rather
than finding ways to lose. |
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