Philadelphia– The 2014 Hobey Baker award winner was announced here at the Frozen Four festivities at the Loews Hotel. Johnny Gaudreau finished his Boston College junior season culminated with college hockey’s highest individual honor. Gaudreau became the third Eagle in program history to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The Hobey Baker award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding Division-I men’s college hockey player. Greg Carey of St. Lawrence University and Nic Dowd of St. Cloud State were runners-up.
Gaudreau, the high scoring forward, from Carneys Point, New Jersey led the nation in scoring. The 5-foot-7, 150-pounder had 36 goals and 44 assists. He’s the first player to reach 80 points since Colorado College’s Peter Sejna had 82 in 2002-03.
The Hockey East scoring champion was named the conference Player of the Year. A communications major, he was also awarded the Walter Brown Award as the best American born player in New England. At the NCAA Northeast Regional, he scored 3 goals and 3 assists in the Eagles 6-2 win over Denver, and added 2 more assists on the first two goals of the 4-3 win over Lowell in the regional final.
The award is named after the legendary Hobey Baker who excelled at Princeton and was killed during World War I on December 21, 1918. He was commander of the 141st Aero Squadron in France and perished in an aviation accident. Baker was known for his extraordinary ice hockey and collegiate football skills and his outstanding sportsmanship.
The 2014 NCAA men’s ice hockey championship is sold out for the championship at the Wells Fargo Arena. Union (N.Y.) beat Boston College 5-4 to advance to the title game. The Dutchmen will face Minnesota on Saturday evening (7:30 p.m. ET). The contest will pit the speed and scoring strength of the Gophers against Union’s solid defense.
In the semi-finals, Union, 31-6-4, came from behind as Dan Ciampini had a hat trick including an empty netter. Shayne Gostisbehere set up the winner.
Minnesota senior defenseman Justin Holl scored his first goal of the season with 0.6 seconds left against North Dakota to give the Gophers a dramatic 2-1 win over their longtime rival. The Gophers took a penalty with less than two minutes to play, and were seemingly playing for overtime. From the top of the left slot, Holl surprised everyone by going for the goal amid traffic and a screen.
Terrific goaltending from North Dakota’s Zane Gothberg and Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox highlighted the game. The Gophers now stand at 28-6-6. Yale won the championship last year.