Gostisbehere finalist for Hobey Baker Award

by Ryan Fay

Union junior defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey’s top player.

Gostisbehere

Gostisbehere, a third-round draft pick of the Philadaelphia Flyers in 2012, is the only defenseman among the finalists. He's the first Union player to be named a finalist since goaltender Troy Grosenick in 2011-2012, the season which Union made its first NCAA Frozen Four appearance.

The 20-year-old has eight goals and 20 assists in 36 games this season, good enough to rank 10th nationally in defensemen scoring at 0.78 points per game. Gostisbehere ranks first in the country among defensemen with 141 shots on goal, which also set a single-season program record.

He is tied for fifth in the country among defensemen with a plus-minus rating of plus-22 and is a finalist for ECAC Hockey's Best Defensive Defenseman honor.

In November, Rensselaer head coach Seth Appert said "Gostisbehere is the best player in the country" before adding "he's fast, tenacious, tough. He's fantastic."

Gostisbehere, a native of Margate, Florida, won the first phase of the Hobey Baker fan vote after collecting 24,608 votes. Phase two of the fan vote has started at HobeyBaker.com and runs through March 30. The fan vote is counted toward one percent of the overall vote.

The other finalists are Nebraska-Omaha junior forward Josh Archibald, St. Lawrence senior forward Greg Carey, St. Cloud State senior forward Nic Dowd, Ohio State junior forward Ryan Dzingel, Boston College junior forward Johnny Gaudreau and senior forward Kevin Hayes, Ferris State junior goalie CJ Motte, Wisconsin junior goalie Joel Rumpel and Minnesota sophomore goalie Adam Wilcox.

The Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be announced April 2. The winner will be selected April 11 at the NCAA Frozen Four in Philadelphia.

Follow @UnionHockeyBlog