Cutter Gauthier, Mitch Benson, and Eamon Powell Earn 2023 Hobey Baker Nominations

On Thursday afternoon, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation announced its 2023 nominees for the Hobey Baker award, annually given to the best men’s NCAA hockey player.

Each NCAA D1 school nominates three of their own players for the award, typically decided by the head coach. From there, votes are tabulated from the general public and the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Selection Committee to determine a top-10, then a winner among the top-3.

Star Boston College forward Cutter Gauthier was an obvious nomination for the Eagles. The freshman leads the Eagles in goals and points and has been the focal point of their offense. BC sits on the NCAA tournament bubble in large part due to his offensive performance. Gauthier’s odds to win the award are slim, but he stands the best chance of any Boston College player.

Starting goalie Mitch Benson earned his nomination by being a steady presence in net after a tumultuous 2021-22 campaign. While his performance hasn’t been extraordinary compared to the rest of the league, it’s been a marked improvement for the team and Greg Brown is giving his vote of confidence in Benson with this nomination.

Defenseman Eamon Powell earned a nomination for Boston College by being one of the strong points in their weak defense this season. Defense is one of Coach Brown’s strengths but one of BC’s biggest roster weaknesses in his first year on the job, so the performance of Powell and a few others has been able to keep the ship afloat. Powell also leads team defensemen in goals with 3.