Knight, Bobcat teammates named Hobey Baker candidates
Darien’s Spencer Knight and Quinnipiac standouts Odeen Tufto and Keith Petruzzelli were among the 10 candidates announced Wednesday for the Hobey Baker Award, presented to college hockey’s top player.
The list will be cut to three on April 1 with the winner announced April 9.
Knight, a Boston College sophomore, was named Hockey East Player of the Year on Tuesday. He is 16-2-1 for the Eagles with a .937 save percentage, and in the middle of the season he joined the United States junior national team to help win gold at the World Junior Championship. Florida selected Knight in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft.
Petruzzelli, a third-round pick of Detroit in 2017, has a .929 save percentage for the Bobcats in his senior year. He has made 61 straight starts for Quinnipiac, which will play for the ECAC championship on Saturday, and he has a 1.78 goals-against average this season.
Senior forward Tufto leads all NCAA players with 38 assists, and his 44 points are second to Wisconsin sophomore Cole Caufield’s 49. He has also won 63.1 percent of his faceoffs.
Only two other Bobcats, both defensemen, had made the top 10: current Dartmouth coach Reid Cashman in 2005, and Chase Priskie, who’s now in the Florida Panthers organization, in 2019.
This year’s other finalists are Caufield, Boston College sophomore forward Matt Boldy, Boston University senior defenseman David Farrance, Wisconsin sophomore forward Dylan Holloway, Minnesota senior goalie Jack LaFontaine, North Dakota sophomore forward Shane Pinto and Minnesota State junior goalie Dryden McKay. McKay and Tufto are the only two undrafted players of the 10.
The ECAC meanwhile announced that Quinnipiac freshman Ty Smilanic is one of the forwards on its all-rookie team. Smilanic leads NCAA freshmen with 14 goals; he added six assists. Tufto and Petruzzelli were chosen first-team All-ECAC, joined by junior Zach Metsa; no NCAA defenseman has more than Metsa’s 25 points this year.