Two former Kingston Voyageurs are among the 61 players nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, presented annually to the outstanding college hockey player in the U.S.
Goaltender Charlie Finn, now a sophomore at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., played three years with the Voyageurs from 2010-13; Brett Seney, in his freshman season at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., was with the Vees for two seasons, 2012-14.
Finn and Seney are among those nominated by the nation’s Division I coaches as being among the top three players in their respective leagues. In the first of three phases of voting that leads to the selection of the award winner, fans can vote online at http://www.hobeybaker.com/awards/the-hobey-baker-memorial-award/vote.
The top 10 players, as selected by the fan vote, will advance to the next round of the selection process, for consideration by a committee comprised of media, coaches and National Hockey League scouts who will select three finalists, from among whom the winner will be chosen.
Finn, who turns 22 Friday, has started all 19 of his team’s games this year and is 13-5-1 with a 1.88 goals-against average—third best in the league—and a .933 save percentage. He has three shutouts, including back-to-back blankings of Northeastern, the first time a Colgate goaltender has had consecutive shutouts since 2008.
Hockey Commissioners Association player of the month for October, Finn has twice been Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference goaltender of the week and he was ECAC goaltender of the month for October. He’s helped the Big Red to a 5-2-1 record in conference play, third-best in the ECAC.
With the Voyageurs, Finn, from North Vancouver, B.C., was twice the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s outstanding goaltender.
As of 5 p.m. Jan. 12, Finn had received 303 votes.
Seney, an 18-year-old sports management major from London, Ont., leads Merrimack in scoring with seven goals and 19 points in 17 games, numbers that place him second in scoring among the conference’s rookies. He also leads the team with a plus-minus statistic of plus-8.
At 11-6-2 overall, the Warriors are 4-4-1 in conference play, good for eighth place in the 12-team Hockey East.
With the Voyageurs a year ago, Seney led the team with 26 goals and 69 points.
As of 5 p.m. Jan. 12, he had 400 votes.
Two Michigan Tech players lead the early balloting. Jamie Phillips, with 41,976 votes, leads teammate Tanner Kero by 1,100 votes. Zach Hyman of Michigan stands third with 17,167 fan votes.
The Baker award is named for Hobart Baker, who played hockey and football at Princeton University and was considered one of the premier amateur hockey players in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th Century. He served as a pilot in the Great War and received the French Croix de Guerre for exceptional valour under fire, and a posthumous citation from U.S. Gen. John J. Pershing after he died in a plane crash shortly after the armistice, at the age of 26.
Baker was among the first Americans elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, in 1945, and he was a charter member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame when it opened in 1973.
Four criteria are considered for the award: strength of character, on and off the ice; contribution to the integrity of the team and outstanding skill; scholastic achievement and sportsmanship, and participation in at least 50 per cent of his team’s games.
First presented in 1980, the award was won last year by Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College. Past winners include Neal Broten, Paul Kariya, Ryan Miller, Jordan Leopold and Matt Carle.
