Hobey Baker Award Watch: Week 5

Story posted November 8, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Nathan Pullen

Now that the 2018-19 college hockey season is five weeks old, it’s becoming more and more clear who the season’s standout players and teams are. One name that has been left off of our list for the past two weeks is the NCAA’s points leader Johnny Walker, a Sophomore at Arizona State. Minnesota State’s Parker Tuomie also joins the list while early candidate Max Johnson of the University of Massachusetts has kept up his play in the past weeks, keeping him high on our watch list.

Parker Tuomie, F, Minnesota State

The Mavericks’ forward is currently tied for third in the points scoring race in the NCAA with four goals and nine assists. The junior hails from Hassfurt, Germany, where he played for the German U18 team before coming to the United States and played in both the NAHL and the USHL.

The German phenom has totaled 38 points in his sophomore campeign thus far and is on track to shatter that personal record if he keeps his production up. Currently, he is on pace for just under 65 points.

Minnesota State has a bye this weekend, so Tuomie will see his next action on Nov. 16 against Ferris State.

Max Johnson, F, Bowling Green

Johnson, also totaling 13 points (six goals and seven assists) so far this season, is part of Bowling Green’s power line alongside Brandon Kruse and Cameron Wright. The trio has totaled for 12 goals and 32 points.

The sophomore had a good freshman season with 30 points, but he also is on pace for an above 60 point season if he can keep these numbers up.

This year, to go along with his astounding point totals, Johnson also netted a hat trick against Ohio State in an 8-2 rout and scored the game-winning goal in a 4-1 game against Western Michigan.

Bowling Green will be on the road this weekend for a WCHA matchup against a one-win Alaska-Anchorage team.

Johnny Walker, F, Arizona State

How could a man with 11 goals and seven assists through 10 games possibly be left out of the conversation for the best player in college hockey?

The Arizona native is living the dream down in sunny Tempe, Arizona, and he’s making the most of it. He leads the NCAA in both goals and total points.

The sophomore has three multi-goal games and four goals in a single game against Omaha. Most recently, Walker scored the overtime game-winner against a then sixth-ranked Penn State team.

Coming up this weekend, Arizona will face another Big Ten team at home when they host a 4-2-0 Michigan State team.

 

 

Nathan Pullen is a journalism major. To contact him, email him nap236@psu.edu.