Massachusetts defenceman Cale Makar has won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as U.S. college hockey’s top player.
Makar is completing his second season and played a key role in helping the Minutemen advance to their first Frozen Four championship game. College hockey’s awards were announced Friday a day before UMass faces defending champion Minnesota Duluth in the final.
Makar beat out Harvard’s Adam Fox and St. Cloud State’s Jimmy Schuldt in the first time the award’s three finalists were defencemen.
READ MORE: Brooks Bandits’ Cale Makar has chance to make history
Watch below: (From January 2017) A Brooks Bandits defenceman is generating a huge level of interest from NHL scouts. The offensively gifted Cale Makar has the chance to be the highest drafted AJHL player in history, and the only Brooks Bandit to be directly drafted into the NHL.
From Calgary, Makar has 49 points in 40 games and is two points from becoming the first defenceman to lead the nation in points. He was selected by Colorado with the fourth pick in the 2016 draft.
The Mike Richter award for top goalie went to Northeastern sophomore Cayden Primeau. He finished 25-9-1 and ranked second in the nation with a .933 save percentage. He’s the son of former NHLer Keith Primeau and signed an entry level contract with Montreal last month.
Wisconsin defenceman Jake Bunz earned the Hockey Humanitarian award for establishing The Fond Blanc Foundation to help orphaned children in Haiti.