There had to be moments, in the doldrums of October, when Wisconsin was mired in an 0-6-1 start to its season, when Jamie McBain questioned his decision to return for a third season of college hockey. By the time the season was done, his team had clawed its way to four games above .500 and third-place finishes in the WCHA’s regular season and playoffs. McBain had clawed his way to the top of the league individually as well, earning player of the year honors and being singled out as the WCHA’s lone Hobey finalist.
Available ice time was rarely an issue for McBain while he was learning to thrive in the game. His family is part-owner of a private rink in the Minneapolis suburbs, and highly competitive pickup games with other elite players were the common way to spend summer afternoons for McBain and his hometown buddies.
After a successful pre-college run, first with Shattuck St. Mary’s, then with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, McBain chose to stay in Big Ten country, and had come to Madison on the heels of the Badgers’ 2006 NCAA title, eager to play a role in the next Wisconsin crown. He’d shown enough potential while wearing red, white and blue that the Carolina Hurricanes plucked him in the second round of the ‘06 draft, and kept a close eye on his rapid development at Wisconsin.
McBain started relatively quietly, earning his place, and his minutes in the Badgers’ uber-talented blue line crew, but by the end of his second year was making a consistent impact. His third and final season in Madison was impressive in both ends of the rink, as he was the clear leader of an amazing array of defensive talent, and was the most dominant play-controlling blueliner seen in WCHA rinks since Hobey winner Jordan Leopold was skating for rival Minnesota.
McBain led the Badgers offensively from his rearguard post, and put up an amazing 30 assists, which was tied for second in the nation for defensemen (behind the 35 recorded by Greg Flynn of Air Force). It was that work with the puck, and his top-notch work without it, that earns McBain our nod as INCH Defenseman of the Year.
His runner-up: Matt Gilroy, Boston University
- Written by Jess Myers
