We've known today's announcement would come for months now, but on Friday, the voters made it official: Johnny Gaudreau has won the Hobey Baker Award, beating out St. Cloud's Nic Dowd and St. Lawrence's Greg Carey for the award, the other Hat Trick finalists. Johnny Hockey joins David Emma and Mike Mottau as the only winners to come from Boston College.
The Hobey Baker Award is given annually to the most outstanding collegiate men’s ice hockey player, and this season, the vote was an absolute runaway.
Gaudreau's consistency was remarkable. From November 1st through March 15th, Gaudreau was on the scoresheet for every single game, a span of 31 contests, tying the Hockey East record. He effectively locked up the award long before the season ended. His torrid pace to start the season never slowed down, and he kept a roughly 2 point per game pace from start to finish.
By the time all was said and done, Johnny Gaudreau had put up a monster season, putting up an incredible 35-42--77 line by the time voting concluded after the regionals, and finishing up with 36-44--80. He had 15 points more than second place -- his own teammate, Kevin Hayes -- and 23 more the next Hobey Hat Trick finalist, Greg Carey.
It's pretty hard to find an offensive category that Gaudreau did not lead. Consider:
--1st in goals scored (36)
--1st in assists (44)
--1st in points (80)
--1st in goals per game (0.90)
--1st in assists per game (1.10)
--1st in points per game (2.00)
--1st in game-winning goals (7)
And since his detractors like to complain that Gaudreau must not play defense to have those numbers:
--2nd in +/- (+42 -- and he was 1st when the voting concluded after the regionals)
To be fair -- it's pretty hard to play defense when you're in the offensive zone the whole time. Not to mention that Jerry York makes sure to have Johnny Gaudreau on the ice in the waning moments of a close game.
Congratulations to Johnny Gaudreau, and best of luck in Calgary!