Vote for Hobey

The online fan vote for the Hobey Baker Award began last week without a lot of fanfare. The past few years, the fan vote has been plagued by automated voting giving certain players a bazillion votes. This year, the Hobey committee offers this stern warning:

"Automated or programmed voting is not allowed. In the spirit of Hobey Baker himself, all voting should be conducted in an honest and ethical manner. If further automated voting is evidenced, then the fan vote will not be included in this year’s selection process. We thank all college hockey fans for participating in this year’s Vote For Hobey."

OK, first off...in the spirit of Hobey Baker himself? Back before the delightful Fire Joe Morgan gave up blogging to focus on a new TV show starring Amy Poehler (*shudder*), they had an interesting observation on the evolution of video technology in baseball:

"If you could go back in time and take Nap Lajoie into a room after Rube Waddell K'd him on three pitches and show him a glowing box with a video replay of the at bat, he would call you a demon, slit your throat, tear out his eyes, and generally freak the f--- out."

I feel pretty much the same way re: Hobey Baker and computer voting fraud.

Second, is there an emptier threat than saying you're going to cut the fan vote out of the award? The fan vote counts for 1% of the final vote total, making it essentially meaningless already. Has the fan vote ever made a difference in the voting? It seems that most years, the recipient of the fan vote doesn't even make the top ten. Would anything really change if they stopped bothering with the fan vote?

Of course one thing that amuses me in all this is that they supposedly picked the 50 top players in college hockey this year. The most notable omission from that list of 50 is the guy that was allegedly the best player in college hockey two years ago. Either college hockey has come a long way over the past two years, or the committee's mistake in 2007 is becoming more apparent. Maybe they would be better off giving the fans more power.

Hobey Watch: Dynamic Duos

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.

Hobey Watch

Eliot Olshansky wrote his own Hobey Watch for USCHO, which this week, discusses Jeff Lerg and how he might have the intangibles to make a serious run at the Hobey.

Here's my top 3 for the Hobey after a couple games played...

1. Ryan Stoa, Minnesota

Minnesota has played three pretty tough series so far--early returns on St. Cloud and Wisconsin aside, they've got some talent--and he's been pretty close to dominant in all three. Stoa has a goal in every game except one so far, and is a huge reason for Minnesota's turnaround. It helps having perhaps the country's best playmaker on your line. Last year I argued that Minnesota's lack of success would kill Blake Wheeler, but this year, Minnesota's impressive record should boost Stoa.

2. Richard Bachman, Colorado College
Bachman's exclusion as a Hobey finalist last year was a bit of a joke. He was named the WCHA's best player and should make a run at this award again. Last weekend was his first huge test against a highly-ranked Denver team, and he ended up playing well enough to earn conference player of the week honors.

3. Aaron Palushaj, Michigan

Michigan is really missing Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik, as shown by their struggles on the powerplay, but Palushaj has taken a big step forward and become an excellent scorer.

Porter Wins the Hobey

Michigan's Kevin Porter won the Hobey Baker Award yesterday. Porter had been the prohibitive favorite for much of the year. He's the second Wolverine to win the award, after Brendan Morrison won the award in 1997.

Michigan News

It's probably time to start writing about the Frozen Four this week. We'll start with some stuff on Michigan.

The Ann Arbor News' Antoine Pitts had an article on Red Berenson's coaching future. The article had the alluring headline of "Berenson has no plans to step down" though the meat of the article seems to convey a different message:

"I'm getting a lot closer, I'm sure," Berenson said. "It might be. I can't say it is. I've got another year on my contract, and I intend to coach next year. But you never know.

Berenson is 68-years-old(though probably the most in-shape 68-year-old ever), and the question of how long he'll keep coaching is always going to be an issue.

I've heard the idea floated out that Berenson may want to "go out on top" if he wins a national title this year. I think it may be the opposite though. Berenson was much closer to retiring after last season than a lot of people realized. I think he'll coach as long as he still has the energy and passion to do so, and I think year's like this one really restore those fires.

Speaking of the Ann Arbor News, remember their article on independent studies courses for athletes, which featured Michigan's Chad Kolarik, that some people thought would win awards for their hard-hitting serious journalism. Yeah, probably not so much(link via MGoBlog).

It turns out the Ann Arbor News lied to their interviewees, saying they were writing a tribute article on the professor in question. Aside from being lied to, Kolarik was also unhappy that his private academic information was published without his consent.

Kolarik was a senior on the top team in the country, the nation's leader in goals per game, he was in the top five in points per game and points. And yet wasn't one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. Maybe I'm crazy, but I can't imagine that this story coming out right before Hobey voting helped his chances. I doubt Kolarik cares since he's been Kevin Porter's biggest supporter all year, and his presence may have only taken away votes from Porter, but he was definitely one of the top ten players in the country this year, and it's a shame to see him lose out on that honor over this.

Of course the one thing that didn't hurt Kolarik's Hobey chances was the one-game suspension he received for his dirty play since, as I've been told, every player does incredibly dirty things like that, and only the really good players get caught because they're watched more closely. Same goes for Kevin Porter and his suspension. And Ryan Jones too. There's really an epidemic in college hockey of so many good players getting suspended by their league for consistent dirty play.

More Hobey Stuff

I realized that I never said what my top three would have been, but I would have picked Kevin Porter, Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, and Ryan Jones, in that order. Lamoreux probably deserved to be in the top three, but he had no real hope of winning, and the difference between finishing second and fourth isn't really that big of a deal.

Nate Gerbe is a finalist, which doesn't sit well with me, but I guess I can understand it. He was one of the most dynamic players in college hockey this year. INCH said "Residue of Gerbe's flash and enthusiasm is that some people take it the wrong way". I wonder if butt-ending someone is considered flash or enthusiasm? I consider it a pretty dangerous play.

Elliot Olshansky also made a case for Gerbe over Lamoureux in the final three. He says Gerbe's suspension is a dead issue because Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna said it shouldn't affect his candidacy. I still think Bertagna had no choice but to say that. This was a terrible year for Hockey East. They only had two teams make the national tournament, and after Gerbe, there were no really legitimate Hobey candidates from that league. Kevin Reagan was the only other Hockey East player to make the top ten, and I think it's pretty safe to say that Richard Bachman would have been in the top ten over Reagan if Reagan had also played in the west. Two NCAA bids and a token Hobey candidate make Hockey East more like the ECAC without the education than one of college hockey's premier conferences. So Hockey East really needed Gerbe to be one of the finalists for the award.

Hobey Hat Trick Announced

The Hobey Baker committee announced the three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award.

Michigan's Kevin Porter, Boston College's Nate Gerbe, and Miami's Ryan Jones were the three finalists named. Porter is considered the very heavy favorite to win the award.

North Dakota's Jean-Philippe Lamoureux was omitted from the final three, but I'm sure North Dakota fans will take that news with their usual grace and aplomb, and we'll hear very little whining about it.

Hobey Finalists Named

The Hobey Baker committee released their list of the ten finalists for the award today.

Here are the finalists:

Nate Gerbe, Boston College
Ryan Jones, Miami
Lee Jubinville, Princeton
Simon Lambert, RIT
Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, North Dakota
Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud
Jeff Lerg, Michigan State
T.J. Oshie, North Dakota
Kevin Porter, Michigan
Kevin Regan, New Hampshire

I'm not sure what to say, other than that they must have had a really tough time coming up with ten names for this.

I understand that Jeff Lerg has name recognition, and does tremendously well in the character aspects of the awards. But he's only 11th in the country in save percentage and 17th in goals against average. There were only 66 goalies that played at least one-third of their team's minutes this year. That puts Lerg in about the 74th percentile among goalies in terms of GAA. Somebody who isn't in top quarter of goalies in a major statistic probably shouldn't be listed as one of the ten best players in the country. I know character plays a huge part of the award, but I don't care if Richard Bachman steals teddy bears from sick children, he should be in the top ten over Lerg.

T.J. Oshie is a great player, but did he really have a Hobey-caliber year? He's tied for 25th in the country with 39 points in 37 games. It's a nice season, but there are quite a few guys ahead of him on the list that had just as good, if not better, seasons. Plus, he's got the same problem as Nate Gerbe in that he spent a game in the stands for some poor behavior, and the award criteria is pretty explicit about candidates showing strength of character on and off the ice.

I'm sure a lot of people will complain about Lee Jubinville and Simon Lambert making the list as token conference representatives. I don't have much of a problem with Lambert. He's a senior that had great statistics. There's a pretty strong argument for him. Jubinville is a little tougher. He's even farther down the scoring list than Oshie, though he did help lead his team to a pretty nice year. Ultimately, I can live with each conference getting some representation. It's similar to the NCAA tournament auto-bids. There may be slightly candidates out there, but they're probably not taking a spot away from anyone who has a real chance at winning the award.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3

1. Kevin Porter
2. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux
3. Richard Bachman

Same as last week. This really gets less exciting as the year goes on.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

Ryan Jones takes the third spot away from Nate Gerbe.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3

1. Kevin Porter
2. J-P Lamoureux
3. Richard Bachmann.

Porter is still pretty clearly the number one choice. Lamoureux has played exceptionally well at the right time. Since January 11th, he has only given up more than one goal in a game twice. Bachmann probably hasn't gotten the credit he deserves here. CC had a huge question mark in goal coming into this season, and if Bachmann hadn't stepped up the way he did, I'm not sure they would have even been a tournament team.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

INCH finally joined everyone else around the country in conceding that the race is Porter's to lose. In their podcast this week, there was some Hobey discussion about how there were so many goalies that were possible candidates and so few players. I guess my question is, at what point do we change the standards for what is considered exceptional for a goalie and for a player?

For example, Mark Dekanich is mentioned as a Hobey candidate for having great stats. He's got a .924 save percentage and a 2.10 goals against average, which normally I'd consider great stats, but he's only tied for 12th in the country in save percentage and 10th in GAA. That's like barely in the top 20% of all starting goalies.

Then again, maybe with the downturn in scoring over the past decade or so, you could make the argument that college hockey really is becoming a goalie's game, and a good goalie really is that much more valuable than a good skater. This isn't a perfect analogy, but you could make the comparison to quarterbacks and running backs always winning the Heisman Trophy because they have the most individual control over a game and get the most attention.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3
1. Kevin Porter
2. Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux
3. Ryan Cruthers

I'll come clean. I have no clue who Ryan Cruthers is. I've never seen him play. I hadn't even heard of him until a couple weeks ago. But he's a senior with 44 points and nobody else seems to be making much of a case for themselves. Richard Bachman very easily also could have been in the top 3 as well.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

Last week, INCH ran a big feature on Nate Gerbe's Hobey campaign in their Hockey East notebook.

Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna said he didn't think Gerbe's transgressions should be held against him, but really, what was Bertagna supposed to say? If Bertagna didn't show support for Gerbe, that basically would kill whatever chance he has at the award, and after Gerbe, who is the next best Hobey candidate in Hockey East? Matt Fornataro and Mike Radja? Would either of those guys even make the top 10?

Hobey Watch

My Top 3

1. Kevin Porter
2. Bryan Marshall
3. J-P Lamoureux

It was really hard to come up with three names this week. Chad Kolarik would have made an appearance in the top 3, but since he'll be out the rest of the regular season with an injury, all Hobey hopes are gone for him. That's probably fine by him too, since he's done everything he can to promote Kevin Porter any chance he gets.

Bryan Marshall also didn't play last weekend, so his spot is a bit precarious. INCH says he's expected to be back next weekend against Northern Michigan, but I'm not so confident. This weekend is UNO's last regular season series, and they already have home ice clinched(though South Bend would be a more favorable second-round destination than Ann Arbor or Oxford). After that, they have a meaningless non-conference game against Minnesota State, and then an exhibition against the NTDP. So I could see UNO being cautious with Marshall. They need to win the CCHA playoff title to make the NCAA tournament, and they'll need a healthy Bryan Marshall to have any hope of that.

Jean-Philippe Lamoureux returns back to the top 3, despite a pretty rough outing on Friday night. It's been a strong year for goalies, and one of them will likely make it pretty far. It might as well be the one with the best stats.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

INCH points out that Gerbe took a pretty critical 10-minute misconduct last Friday against Lowell. In itself, it's not the worst transgression, but given his past history, it's not going to help his case.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3
1. Kevin Porter
2. Bryan Marshall
3. Ryan Jones

After a big weekend with lots of room for potential shifting, my top 3 remains the same. Porter stayed at the top with a great weekend. Jeff Zatkoff had a rough weekend, keeping him off the list. One interesting note is that a tough weekend for Zatkoff allowed North Dakota's J-P Lamoureux to become the top goalie statistically. When he's playing well, Lamoureux is probably one of the best goalies in the country, even if some of his theatrics in net are a bit distasteful.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

Kevin Porter regains the top spot from Nathan Gerbe. INCH had a podcast this week in which they talk up Gerbe in the first half, and bemoan players who take cheap shots without facing consequences in the second half.

CSTV didn't do a Hobey Tracker this week, but they did have a chat in which they discussed Hobey candidates.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3
1. Kevin Porter
2. Bryan Marshall
3. Ryan Jones

I moved Marshall up after a nice 3-point weekend back in his home state. I think everyone acknowledges that you have to be on a successful team to have a shot at this award, but the question is, just how successful does your team have to be? UNO is probably looking at a 5th or 6th place finish in the CCHA, depending on how they do when they host Bowling Green in two weeks. The Mavericks currently sit just outside the TUC bubble at 28th in the RPI ratings. They only have one game against a TUC left on their schedule, so they won't get a lot of help in terms of strength of schedule, but if they could boost their record(currently 12-13-3), they could maybe make it into the top 20. They won't be in the discussion for an at-large tourney bid, which may turn some people off, but I think playing on a team in the top 25 in the RPI should at least get him mentioned in the discussion.

Technically Jones dropped after a bye week, but I don't feel too bad since he'll have the opportunity to make a big move up this weekend. You could very easily switch Jones with teammate Jeff Zatkoff for that third spot. Perhaps it's unfair of me to downgrade Zatkoff for this, but he's playing on a team that scores over 4 goals per game, so he's not exactly walking a tightrope by only allowing 1.50 goals per game. But again, the same goes that he could move way up with a big weekend.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

Pretty much the same as last week. Jeff Zatkoff could move up if he plays well this weekend. Kevin Porter could move up if he transfers to a different school.

CSTV Hobey Watch

I can't get this week's big board, but there's an article discussing it here.

Porter is back as the unanimous number one, probably not so much for what he did, but because Jeff Lerg had a shaky weekend. I thought Lerg had a chance of sneaking back into the race if he played phenomenal hockey down the stretch, but Friday's game against UNO probably killed what tiny bit of hope there was.

Towards the bottom of the list, Peter Mannino and Ryan Lasch are just barely hanging on, while Billy Sauer was dropped completely.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3
1. Kevin Porter
2. Ryan Jones
3. Bryan Marshall

Bryan Marshall hasn't gotten much attention, but he hasn't been held off the scoreboard since December 1st, and has 7 multi-point games over that 13 game stretch. He's a huge reason why UNO is in position to finish 5th in the CCHA despite questionable defense and goaltending.

I feel bad dropping Ryan Lasch off my top 3 this week. He got hit harder than I've ever seen a hockey player get hit and was knocked unconscious for a while on Friday night. He came back and not only played Saturday, but also scored goal when, 22 hours earlier, it looked like he'd be spending his Saturday eating his dinner through a straw and trying to re-learn the date of his birthday. That's some pretty impressive toughness on his part.

Still, his Hobey candidacy is starting to look like Ryan Duncan Redux. This is more a matter of personal opinion, but when I think of a Hobey Baker candidate, I think of a guy that is the most dangerous player on the ice; a guy that you're always keeping an eye on when they are out on the ice. I never felt that way about Ryan Duncan, and I don't really feel that way about Lasch. From the viewpoint of an opposing fan, I always felt Jonathan Toews and T.J. Oshie were much more dangerous than Duncan was. Same goes for Lasch. When watching St. Cloud, I feel like Garrett Roe and Andreas Nodl are the most serious threats. It's up for debate whether Lasch is even on St. Cloud's top forward line.

That's not to say Lasch isn't a good player, because he is, but I don't know that I'd quite put him among the best players in the country.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

INCH also dropped Lasch off their list, though they cite his +/- rating, which hasn't been great over the past 15 games, though I think that illustrates one of the reasons I hate the +/-. If a guy is on the ice for 2 powerplay goals for and one even strength goal against, technically he's a -1, but his team is still +1 on the scoreboard. There's a number of games over that stretch where Lasch has at least broke even in terms of raw goals, but came out with a negative rating on the night since he does most of his scoring on the powerplay.

CSTV Hobey Watch

Is here.

Jeff Lerg steals a first place from Kevin Porter. Porter showed the first signs of a flaw in his candidacy with a rough week in a big series against Michigan State. Porter may need a big, or least decent showing when Michigan takes on Miami in The Single Most Important Sporting Event in History two weeks from now in Oxford to maintain his status as the obvious choice. If not, somebody from Miami, or one of about eight goaltenders could jump up and steal the award.

Lerg getting a first place vote is interesting. He showed last weekend how Michigan State was able to steal an NCAA title last season, and why they could be one of the most dangerous teams to play in the postseason. State does a great job of locking down defensively and not giving up many quality chances, and I think there's a good chance of them upsetting some teams in the NCAA tournament again.

That said, has Jeff Lerg had the best season of any player in college hockey? I doubt it. In any year, it's incredibly difficult for a goalie to win the Hobey, and I think it might be even tougher this year with so many goalies boasting quality numbers. It's just hard to justify giving the award to a goalie that is 16th in the country in goals against and 13th in save percentage, and plays for a team that isn't in the top 5 in the country.

Hobey Watch

My Top 3
1. Kevin Porter
2. Ryan Jones
3. Ryan Lasch

Mannino drops off my list after a rough weekend. I still don't feel like there's a solid number 2 candidate in the field.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

1. Gerbe
2. Porter
3. Lasch

CSTV Hobey Tracker

Is here.

1. Porter
2. Gerbe
3. Jones

Porter is still the unanimous choice. Jones is closing in on Gerbe for second.

Elliot Olshansky made a case last week in favor of Nate Gerbe being a candidate. In my mind, it's not an issue of not liking Gerbe, or thinking he doesn't live up to the tradition of the award. Gerbe shouldn't be a Hobey candidate for the same reason he can't be in the Daughters of the American Revolution. He doesn't meet the criteria for the award. It's as simple as that.

On a very different note, I received an email question from a reader in Canada who questioned whether the award hurt college hockey's image, since past award winners have been kind of hit-or-miss at the NHL level(Sejna, Lessard, Krog, etc.). He asked if it would be better if the Hobey Baker, or a similar MVP-type award, went to younger players that looked primed for great NHL careers(Statsny, Toews, Kessel, etc.).

My response was that I think it would be hard to justify giving an award to players like that because even though they have blossomed since leaving college, they weren't the best players on the ice while in college. But I don't think that hurts college hockey's image, so much as it helps it.

If there seems to be one hard and fast rule in hockey development, it's that it is always better to play against older, stronger competition than it is to dominate against kids your own age. Even the OHL acknowledges this fact. A big reason that John Tavares was granted "exceptional player status," and allowed to enter the OHL a year early, while John McFarland, who also applied, did not was because Tavares had played up a year against older competition, while McFarland did not. They determined Tavares was more ready for the next level of competition because of it.

That's what the NCAA provides to top prospects. They're not able to dominate right away because they're going up against bigger, faster competition, but it has certainly served many of them well at the next level.

Hobey Watch

My Vote
1. Kevin Porter
2. Peter Mannino
3. Ryan Jones

The award is still Porter's to lose, in my mind. His schedule gets considerably tougher over the next couple weeks, so everyone will be watching him closely, but I can't imagine much of a drop. Mannino had a rough weekend against Wisconsin, but I'd still take him over any other goalie, and nobody else really stood out in second place. Jones is still a little streaky for my tastes, but deserves to be up there for helping lead Miami to the season they're having.

CSTV Hobey Watch

Is here. Porter is the unanimous #1 choice. Two of his teammates also make the list. The first is Chad Kolarik, no surprise there, and the second is...wait for it...Billy Sauer, who received a third place vote from Comcast Local's Ben Holden. Holden goes mathematical on our collective asses with this quote, ""Sauer has allowed just two goals in his last four games and two of those games were shutouts." Meaning we know three of them weren't shutouts, and Sauer isn't giving up any pesky half-goals.

You could make a decent argument for everyone on the list, though none, besides Porter, really stand out. Eight of the ten candidates play in the CCHA or WCHA.

INCH Hobey Tracker

Is here.

INCH goes off the beaten path by putting Nathan Gerbe atop their list. It's a nice idea given Gerbe's hot play recently, but really, who are we kidding here? Gerbe has no business being a Hobey Baker candidate. There is other criteria to the Hobey Baker besides just scoring a lot of points and Gerbe comes up way short in those areas.

Gerbe was suspended for one game earlier this year after a game against Merrimack, where he was rumored to butt-end a Merrimack player. Here is what Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna said of the incident:

"While a suspension might not have been forthcoming on [Friday] night's actions alone, this is not the first time this season that I have been made aware of inappropriate behavior from Nathan," Bertagna said in the statement. "Given the fact that he had already been put on notice, I felt that supplemental discipline was in order in this instance."

So Gerbe earned Hockey East Double-Secret Probation and then promptly violated it. And how many players are actually suspended by their own league in a given year? I can't think of more than a handful.

Not to mention that academics come into play with the people deciding the award. Every offseason since Gerbe enrolled at BC, there have been rumors of him signing with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL because he was struggling academically at BC. Obviously that is all hearsay, but I doubt Gerbe started taking rocket science classes this year.

Hobey Watch

Here's this week's installment of the Hobey Watch.

1. Kevin Porter, Michigan

Ok, this is getting kind of boring.

2. Derek Whitmore, Bowling Green

13 goals in 13 games on a team that wasn't supposed to be as good as they are.

3. Mike Zacharias, Minnesota State

Minnesota State is within just four points of third place in the WCHA, despite only averaging 1.67 goals per game in conference, more than half a goal worse than the next lowest team in the league.

4. That Kid

Crazy shootout goal.
If you're curious, that is Max Gerlach off of the Texas Attack '98 team. I'm sure many teams have already offered him a scholarship, and I'm sure Minnesota wasn't one of them.

Hobey Watch

And we come back to college hockey with this week's Hobey Watch.

1. Kevin Porter, Michigan

Porter had a relatively quiet weekend with only one assist in each game, but he's still leading by a lot.

2. Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud

He's looking kind of similar to Ryan Duncan last year. He's not a prototypical Hobey candidate, but he'll hang around as long as he scores points, which he did last weekend in St. Cloud's two losses to Wisconsin.

3. Eric Ehn, Air Force

Ehn has climbed back into the race with 14 points in his last 7 games. Ehn should be helped by the fact that his name was out there all of last year.

4. Chad Rau, Colorado College

Last week, I had Rau 4th, before switching him out at the last minute for teammate Richard Bachman. This week, Rau gets his due. He's in the midst of an 8-game scoring streak.

Hobey Watch

Here is this week's installment of the Hobey Watch.

1. Kevin Porter, Michigan

This is quickly becoming no contest. Porter leads the country in scoring, is excellent defensively, is a senior, and is captain of his team. That's pretty much the quintessential Hobey Baker candidate.

Chad Kolarik, Michigan

Porter and Kolarik are like "Temptation" and the "Hawaiian War Chant". You can't have one without the other. Everything I said about Porter is true for Kolarik, except he's tied for second in the country in scoring, and is an alternate captain.

Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud

It's getting harder and harder to ignore Lasch. He's only been held off the scoreboard in one of St. Cloud's games this season.

Richard Bachman, Colorado College

You could make a decent argument for Colorado College being the best team in the nation. They may not have the record, but they have to have played the toughest schedule in the country so far, and Bachman is a huge reason why they've been so successful. He's put up incredible numbers for a freshman and given CC the goaltending they need to be one of the top teams in the country.