Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee announced today the 2019 recipient of college hockey’s top individual prize is Cale Makar (mah-Car)from the University of Massachusetts. The announcement came during the NCAA Frozen Four championship in a live ceremony held at HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York and televised nationally on NHL Network.

The sophomore defenseman from Calgary, Alberta becomes the first Hobey Baker winner from UMass. Makar’s prowess on the blue line helped guide the Minutemen to three program firsts: a Hockey East regular season championship, their first ever number one national ranking and their first trip to the NCAA Frozen Four. Known as a dynamic player, equally effective at both ends of the ice; he was named Hockey East Player of the Year and First Team all-conference, becoming the circuit’s first defenseman in 20 years to lead Hockey East in scoring.

Makar helped UMass to their first ever national championship game with a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over Denver in Thursday’s NCAA semi-final game. On the season, Makar has 16 goals and 33 assists for 49 points in 40 games played. He is third in the nation in points, tops amongst all defensemen and just one point back of the national lead. An elite skating, offensive-minded blue-liner, he is also third in the nation in assists. His attention to details in all three zones has led to a plus/minus of +33, which is second amongst all college hockey players. The Minuteman assistant captain also contributed 15 points on the power play.

As a freshman, Makar chipped in with 21 points in 34 games making the Hockey East All-Rookie team. He also skated in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship helping Canada to a Gold Medal. This followed a brilliant two-year junior career where he bagged 135 career points in 111 games, helping the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League to a pair of league championships, and he became the first two-time RBC Cup MVP.

Has 16 goals, 32 assists for 48 points in 39 games
A plus-minus of +32 is third in the nation
Assistant captain
Seventh in the nation in pts per game at 1.23
Colorado draft (4th overall)
Gold medalist – 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship
Sport Management major
Active in a variety of UMass community events

Videos on YouTube:

Cale Makar turned around the UMass hockey team
Cale Makar – Highlights
USI Features: Get to Know Cale Makar

The Award: