Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

[ColSkate65]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

This is obviously a case of Colgate not making it into the tournament-bias. Austin Smith: leading goal scorer; lead nation in SHGs; second in total points; among the leaders in assists. What's not to like? It is obvious that an eastern college player cannot win this award, given the politics involved.

The voting should have gone like this: 1. Austin Smith, 2. Abbott, 3. Connolly. Jack's a great player and deserving of recognition, just not the Hobey Baker Award this season.

[TripleE]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Character and Academics play a role, sure, but you're not going to be a Top 10 or Top 3 finalist if you aren't adequate or better in each criteria.

Strictly going by on ice performance, Connolly got the bronze out of those 3. Yet he won the thing, making it the 8th time in the last 11 years its been given to a WCHA player.

Was his community service donating a kidney or something?

[huskyfan]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Congrats to Connolly and the Bulldogs!! well played, indeed.

[The Rube]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Yeah, but even with him MEg and RwD's fantasy team still sucked.

I can't believe all the "my guy deserved it more" rah rah. You could make a case for 3 to 5 guys every year. It doesn't matter how many goalies in one conference were in the top in GAA or sv%, usually the best individual leaders in those are from AHA or ECAC bc its easier to put up numbers there, so your argument could be turned against you.

I can't stand tUMD but congratulate the guy and move on or keep quiet and move on.

Oh... and Harty was STILL robbed!

One could also argue that a player who plays for the EZAC or AHA aren't WCHA/HE/CCHA caliber in the first place, so they are playing at their level of competition.

[Happy]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Character and Academics play a role, sure, but you're not going to be a Top 10 or Top 3 finalist if you aren't adequate or better in each criteria.

Strictly going by on ice performance, Connolly got the bronze out of those 3. Yet he won the thing, making it the 8th time in the last 11 years its been given to a WCHA player.

Was his community service donating a kidney or something?

He did something those other two didn't, he came back for his Senior year after winning the Championship. Neither of those other two come close to that for off ice criteria.

[UMDBulldogHockeyIsKing]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

This is obviously a case of Colgate not making it into the tournament-bias. Austin Smith: leading goal scorer; lead nation in SHGs; second in total points; among the leaders in assists. What's not to like? It is obvious that an eastern college player cannot win this award, given the politics involved.

The voting should have gone like this: 1. Austin Smith, 2. Abbott, 3. Connolly. Jack's a great player and deserving of recognition, just not the Hobey Baker Award this season.

You are either insane or a moron because Smith couldn't lead Colgate ot of the weakest of the big 4. Sorry ECAC fans, your league is not as strong as the other 3. And team results are a factor. I'm sure Smith is a nice kid and he really had a great year but simply scoring more goals than anyone else does not justify winning this award.

[UMDbulldogs#1]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

This is obviously a case of Colgate not making it into the tournament-bias. Austin Smith: leading goal scorer; lead nation in SHGs; second in total points; among the leaders in assists. What's not to like? It is obvious that an eastern college player cannot win this award, given the politics involved.

Chris Marinucci (30 G, 31 A, 61 pts) won the Hobey in 1994 and UMD wasn't even close to 0.500 that season. So, lack of post season play doesn't necessarily mean you won't or can't win the Hobey Baker.

[Caustic Undertow]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Chris Marinucci (30 G, 31 A, 61 pts) won the Hobey in 1994 and UMD wasn't even close to 0.500 that season. So, lack of post season play doesn't necessarily mean you won't or can't win the Hobey Baker.

It's been 18 years since then, it's possible that people value postseason performance more now.

Connolly had a great year, and not to be disrespectful (living in Duluth, I've seen him far more than the other two) but this year's award has a whiff of "settling" to it. Voting is not completed until after the first two rounds of the tournament; none of the serious Hobey contenders were still playing by that point. Not even making the tournament hurts in a big way, because media members who watch the games don't even see you play, and thus forget you exist.

If Abbott had made it to the Frozen Four, I believe he would have won. If some dark horse like Shawn Hunwick or Torey Krug had made it, that at least would have upset the voting a bit; as it was nobody really provided a Hobey-type performance when it mattered. Voters were left with their basic regular-season impressions of the top players to choose from, and while Abbott and Smith had great seasons, Connolly was the key player with a huge scoring streak when UMD was winning everything right at the point of the season when everybody is really focusing on the nationwide picture. I think that, in the absence of other loud performances, won him the title. For good or for ill.

I do have to say that I have found the Hobey to be unsatisfying in many of the years it is awarded, especially recently with the lower scoring totals typically put up by top players. Plus even when there are dominant players, they don't always get recognition (Kevin Porter was a great player, but we all remember what Nate Gerbe did that year, and Ryan Duncan was a pathetic awardee in a year where TJ Hensick was far and away the best player in the sport).

Whither Hobey Baker.

[TripleE]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

He did something those other two didn't, he came back for his Senior year after winning the Championship. Neither of those other two come close to that for off ice criteria.

So, his returning was an act of altruism?

And how can you measure someone on an uneven playing field? Who is to judge or say that Austin Smith or Spencer Abbott wouldn't have stayed if given the chance to be in the same shoes? I mean, they both came back for their senior years after I'm sure garnering plenty of offseason interest last year as well, right?

If all else is the same, you're pretty much telling me that if the season went exactly as it did this year, but Maine won the NC last year, Abbott would be Hobey Baker because the other two wouldn't come close to the off ice credentials of returning the year after a championship.

Explain to me how I'm off, if not.

[Eaglefan06]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

So, his returning was an act of altruism?

And how can you measure someone on an uneven playing field? Who is to judge or say that Austin Smith or Spencer Abbott wouldn't have stayed if given the chance to be in the same shoes? I mean, they both came back for their senior years after I'm sure garnering plenty of offseason interest last year as well, right?

If all else is the same, you're pretty much telling me that if the season went exactly as it did this year, but Maine won the NC last year, Abbott would be Hobey Baker because the other two wouldn't come close to the off ice credentials of returning the year after a championship.

Explain to me how I'm off, if not.

Your not. That is a ridiculous argument to try to make.

Austin Smith got screwed, period.

[Caustic Undertow]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Until someone wrote it, I hadn't really thought about the number "8 out of the last 11" for the WCHA.

That really does sound ridiculous. I'm a bit biased toward Connolly since, unlike the other two candidates, I saw him play quite a bit, but I'm willing to recognize that inferior statistics and the lack of a standout postseason performance suggest that this one smells a bit. What, of the other 7 winners, is the "smell-test" verdict?

2002: Jordan Leopold, D, Minnesota
The highest scoring player in the country was not Leopold, obviously. It was... his teammate John Pohl. Darren Haydar was the only legitimate scoring candidate from a non-WCHA team (UNH) and Michigan State's Ryan Miller was in play though not having quite as stellar a season as the year before. I saw Leopold a lot in '02, and he was brilliant; a deserving winner on a championship team.

2003: Peter Sejna, F, CC
Peter Sejna was brilliant in '03, and put up a number (82 points) that we have not seen since. Ferris' Chris Kunitz hung a 79, and Cornell's David Leneveau (G) got a token look, but Sejna was dominant. Legitimate win.

2004: Junior Lessard, F, UMD
Weird year. Lessard won on the strength of winning the scoring title with 63 points in a year where the WCHA had 5 of the top 6 scorers, including guys named Parise and Vanek. Jimmy Howard was putting up mind-blowing goaltending numbers but only split time in goal; Hockey East's top scoring candidate was the magnificent Steve Saviano, but he only had 49 points. BC's Ben Eaves was an awesome player, but didn't play a full season. The CCHA didn't have anyone who was Hobey material at all. Not sure that Lessard was the best winner ever, but all the other potential winners were WCHA guys, too. Clean WCHA win.

2005: Marty Sertich, F, CC
I hated this one at the time, partly because Sejna had just won it and Sertich's season was much less impressive, but in retrospect I'm not sure who else you give this to. The second-leading scorer to Sertich was... teammate Brett Sterling. I guess I would have liked it to go to Sterling, but only because I watched him play for the NTDP at the Ice Cube. David McKee was putting up great numbers for Cornell, but by this point everyone knew that with Cornell's system every goaltender was going to put up terrific numbers. The CCHA's best statistical candidates were two Michigan guys, Tambellini and Hensick, and neither were really having superb seasons. I'll give this one a pass, good award.

2006: Matt Carle, D, Denver
I hated this one, too, because I felt that Denver was getting afterglow credit for two straight titles. Maybe they were, but Carle put up 53 points as a defenseman, good for 7th in the country. Ryan Potulny (Minnie) and Chris Collins (BC) led the way in scoring with 63 points each. If you're looking to get out of the WCHA you could call Collins a deserving candidate, and you might be right. Hard to say that Carle wasn't a great player, though. Remember: Through all this the WCHA has completely dominated college hockey. They actually had the best players, so of course they're winning the award. Smell-test: slightly pungent.

2007: Ryan Duncan, F, North Dakota
I was very upset that Hensick did not win and didn't even make the Hat Trick this season. He easily led the nation in scoring with 69 points. Of course, the reason he didn't get in is for the character criteria, and his meltdown in his last game toasted any chance he had for consideration. So, in his absence, the voters gave sophomore Ryan Duncan, the nation's fourth leading scorer (but goal leader with 31) the Hobey Baker.

Duncan was the third best player on his own line (Duncan-Oshie-Teows).

The award would have gone to Eric Ehn of Air Force, second-leading scorer with 64 points. There's no question. Smell test: Stinks to high heaven.

2008-2009: Non WCHA players win! Note, Nathan Gerbe received the same character penalty that Hensick did the previous year.

2010: Blake Geoffrion, F, Wisconsin
11th leading scorer in the nation, not the leading scorer on his own team, leader blahblahblahblah. You know who scored one point less than him that year? Jack Connolly. You know who crushed Wisconsin in the title game? BC, whose Cam Atkinson finished with 53 points and no award. You know who should've won the award? Gustav Nyquist of Maine. Smell test: Stinks to high heaven.

2012: Jack Connolly, F, UMD.
I'll have to let the dust settle on the season to get more perspective. Statistically it's a dead heat.

Verdict: When you say the WCHA has won 8 out of the last 11 Hobey Bakers, it sounds awful. The truth is that most of those awards came in the middle of the last decade when a lot of the best players and teams were in the WCHA. Zach Parise and Tomas Vanek played in the WCHA and never even sniffed the award. There are, in my judgment (and this is only my subjective judgment) only two really smelly WCHA winners.

[UMDbulldogs#1]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Caustic - Parise was a finalist the year Lessard won it.

So he did get a sniff. I think there was something with Parise's character that made the choice for Lessard even easier. Could be wrong on that though.

[gopheritall]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

JC has risen today (to get the Hobey). You can't mess with the almighty JC or you will be stricken down.

Wow, a lot of bitter Betty's following the announcement. Connolly is a class act on and off the ice and excels in all aspects. To say he is undeserving is ridiculous. Saying that the other would have been undeserving if they had won would be equally ridiculous. It is very, very rare to have a clear, absolute best HB nominee.

Congratulations Jack. A great player that had a great year. Good luck in the future.

[dogs2012]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

At the end of the day, this is the first time in a long time that all three candidates were completely deserving of the award. Jack won it, and that's awesome, because he is a great player and a great person, but even as a bulldog fan, if austin or spencer won, i would have tipped my hat to any of them. You're legitimately splitting hairs at the situation. Every candidate deserved the award for various reasons, and Jack just so happened to win it. Like he said himself, he felt like he was in special company just sitting with austin and spencer. They were all great players with great years. Let's just understand that everyone had a great year, and move on from it.

[willythekid]

Re: Jack Connolly wins the Hobey

Your not. That is a ridiculous argument to try to make.

Austin Smith got screwed, period.

Frattin and Panzer got screwed... poor wittle Smith got what he deserved, nothing.