Minnesota Duluth may not have repeated as national champions this season but for one Bulldog the year has ended with the highest individual honor in college hockey.
Senior Jack Connolly was named the 2012 Hobey Baker Award winner Friday at a ceremony inside MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The award is given out annually to the best player in NCAA Division 1 Hockey since 1981 and named after World War 1 veteran Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton.
It is the fifth time a Minnesota Duluth player has been awarded with the Hobey Baker, breaking a tie with Minnesota for the most winners. Tom Kurvers (1984), Bill Watson (1985), Chris Marinucci (1994) and Junior Lessard (2004) are the other UMD winners.
Connolly, a Duluth native, was named the WCHA Player of the Year after being second in the nation with 60 points (20 goals - 40 assists) in 41 games for the Bulldogs. He helped lead Minnesota Duluth to a second place finish in the WCHA regular season and the Northeast Region final where the Bulldogs lost 4-0 to Boston College. Jack currently is a undrafted free agent but will be signing with a team sooner rather than later.
The other two finalists for the award were Maine's Spencer Abbott and Colgate's Austin Smith.
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