It's still very early, and the race for the Hobey is still wide open. A lot of the top candidates can be expressed as pairs, so this week, the Hobey Watch will be looking at players in groups of two.
1. Ryan Stoa and Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota
The fact that he is playing with a near equally talented senior in Ryan Stoa practically eliminates Jordan Schroeder from having any hope of winning the Hobey as a freshman, but I'm not totally convinced that he doesn't belong in the discussion.
Somewhere along the way last season, I put forth the theory that Minnesota had a ton of big goalscorers, but lacked a dynamic playmaker to set up those goalscorers. Schroeder has been that guy. Perhaps Jay Barriball just had an off year last season, and was bound to return to normal, and perhaps Ryan Stoa learned a lot while sitting out last year with a knee injury, but both are likely going to have career years, and have really helped carry Minnesota's team this year. I think Schroeder deserves a ton of credit for that.
2. Chad Rau and Eric Walsky, Colorado College
It helps having arguably the best goalie in the country, but Colorado College has had a ton of success this season, despite being pretty much a one line team. Rau and Walsky have combined to score 18 goals this year. Linemate Billy Sweatt has 5. The rest of the team has just 16 goals. I really don't think Colorado College, even with Bachman in net, would be any good without those two.
3. Brock Bradford and Colin Wilson, Boston College and Boston University
We'll pair up the crosstown rivals. Both have a lot of points on very good teams. Bradford is a senior, while Wilson is pretty obviously in his last year of NCAA hockey. New Hampshire's James van Riemsdyk could just as easily go in this category.
4. Jacques Lamoureux and Brent Olson, Air Force
The AFA duo is still atop the NCAA scoring table, though they've cooled their jets(Har!) as of late. Olson has "only" a single point in each of his last four games, while Lamoureux put up three bagels in a row, before picking up two assists in his last game. Air Force has proven that they're dominant over AHA competition. This weekend's games against CC and Denver will be one of the only real measuring sticks as to how "for real" these guys are.
Bonus!
Because Thanksgiving weekend is all about pure gluttony...
Ben Scrivens, Cornell-It looks like Cornell is returning to the Leneveu-McKee years with another goalie that has freakish stats. I've never actually been to an ECAC game, but I imagine the players being too busy standing around discussing semiotics to score goals.
Aaron Palushaj, Michigan-Michigan is 0-4 when Palushaj doesn't score, and 8-2 when he does.
Tommy Grant, Alaska-Anchorage-UAA looks respectable this year, in large part because they have legitimate scoring threats, including the deadly Grant.
Kurt Davis, Minnesota State-Davis has a point in every game his team has played this year.
Carter Camper, Miami-Miami lost a lot of talent after last season, but Camper has filled in very nicely.
Tyler Bozak, Denver-One of the most talented players in the NCAA. If his numbers go up a little bit, he could definitely be in the Hobey discussion.
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8 comments:
what about Grant and Crowder combined 35 points as a pair of your Dynamic Duos.
Deserve consideration
Grant has been fun to watch this year. He's won WCHA player of the week twice in November. His shorty against CC was a thing of beauty.
Crowder and Grant are becoming a deadly duo. On Friday against CC, Crowder scored a short handed goal, on a pass from Grant. Saturday it was reversed, Grant scored short handed on a pass from Crowder. A great duo and Grant is only a sophmore!
Ryan Stoa will win Hobey!!!
Don't... SCSU fans... just don't. The bait just isn't that tasty.
What about Ryan Lasch?
While Ryan Stoa almost certainly will be playing in the NHL next season, he is still a junior, eligibility-wise.
Forget Lasch what about Roe from SCSU, He only leads the country in scoring
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