Hobey Baker Watch: Week 7
We are now almost halfway through the regular season. With that being said, here are my three picks to take home college hockey's most prestigious individual award at the halfway point:
Third Place: Troy Terry, F, Denver
After the reigning Hobey Baker winner Will Butcher left Denver for the NHL, Terry was expected to improve upon his already great numbers from last year.
That is exactly what Terry has done to start this year. He is second in the nation with 23 points with seven goals and 16 assists for the Pioneers.
Last weekend against Minnesota-Duluth, Terry had his nine-game point streak snapped. In that streak, he had multiple points in seven out of nine games. He also scored three points in four of those games with one coming against North Dakota.
Terry is one of the most skilled players in the nation and has produced like one so far this year. He has been great but has not played as complete of a game as some of the other top players in the nation.
Second Place: Henrik Borgström, F, Denver
Another Pioneer is in my top three because of his amazing production so far this season. However, Terry and Borgström both hurt each other’s case for the Hobey Baker Award as a result of being on the same team. What helps each of their cases is that the award is for the top player in college hockey rather than the most valuable.
Borgström has been one of the top players in college hockey this year. The sophomore forward has 13 goals and nine assists in just 13 games this year, leading the nation with 1.69 points per game.
His 22 points are just six points back from the nation’s leading scorer, Jake Evans, and Borgström has played five fewer games.
At his current pace, Borgström will shatter his career high of 43 points. He scores on about 25 percent of the shots he takes and is second in the nation with six power-play goals.
Borgström has a great chance to bring the Hobey Baker back to Denver with a great second half, but he must show he can play well at even strength to make a better case for himself down the stretch.
First Place: Jake Evans, F, Notre Dame
Just about halfway through the season, Evans is the leading scorer in the nation with 28 points. He is on pace to score about 20 points more than his career high of 42 set last year.
Evans has accounted for 48 percent of Notre Dame’s goals this season, with seven goals and 21 assists. He’s been the premier playmaker in the country, leading the nation in assists.
He has multiple points in nine of his 18 games this season. On October 26th against Nebraska-Omaha, Evans put together a four-assist game. The next night he added three more assists.
Evans isn’t just an offensive threat. He is first in the nation among forwards in plus-minus at plus-16 and wins 57.9 percent of the faceoffs he takes. He plays well defensively and is very good in the faceoff circle, which allows him to spend more time in the offensive zone where he drives play well and sets up about half of Notre Dame’s offense.
Evans is the best all-around player so far this year and right now he the favorite to win the Hobey Baker Award.
Josh Starr is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email joshlstarr16@gmail.com.
