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.

Accepting the 2019 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, Cale Maker of UMASS from Tom Hauser the 2018-2019 Committee Chair.

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

What a brilliant career it has been so far for Adam Fox. In his first two years on campus, he was named a First Team All American and has followed that up with another outstanding season. The smooth skating playmaker has piled up the points, currently sitting tied for third in the nation in scoring while topping all players in the country in assists and points per game, averaging almost one and half points per outing. He accumulated 23 power play points while anchoring Harvard’s number one ranked power play. Fox was named ECAC Player of the Year, Ivy League Player of the Year and First Team ECAC.

After earning a Hobey Baker top ten finalist honor last season, Jimmy Schuldt (Shult) could have turned pro, but he wanted to return to the Huskies, becoming a three-time team captain. Schuldt helped St. Cloud to the NCHC regular season title, leading all defensemen in conference scoring. He was named NCHC Player of the Year, Defensive Defenseman of the Year, First Team all-conference and was a finalist for two other conference awards. Very durable, he never missed a game playing in 156 straight college hockey games.

A slick, puck-moving defenseman, Duszak (Dew-zack) had a banner season leading the Atlantic Hockey Conference in scoring. His point production has placed him third overall in the national scoring charts, is tied for third overall in the nation in assists and he leads all blue-liners in points. Duszak was named First Team all-conference after second team honors last year.

As a key cog on the Spartans’ famed KHL line, Taro Hirose (Tar-oh Her-O-see) soared to the top of the national scoring charts in early January and remained there for the rest of his season. A highly skilled passer and skater, the assistant captain claimed the Big Ten conference scoring title, was named First Team all-conference, and culminated with Player of the Year honors.

One of the premier puck moving defensemen in the nation, Hughes’ dashing style made him a constant scoring threat. Leading Michigan in scoring, the speedy defenseman is fifth in the nation in assists by a defenseman. He was named Big Ten First Team all-conference, Defensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for Player of the Year.

Known as a hard-working, 200-foot player, Jobst (yahbst) is the active leading career scorer in the NCAA with 164 points in 149 career games. The two-time team captain topped the Buckeyes in scoring, helping them secure their first Big Ten regular season title. Jobst has been an all-conference player three straight seasons including First Team this year. He was a finalist for Big Ten Player of the Year and has become the conferences’ all-time leading scorer.

For the majority of the new year, St Cloud State has been ranked number one. Leading the way is the NCHC scoring champion, Patrick Newell. He was named First Team all-conference while being a finalist for Forward of the Year. Newell logs plenty of icetime on special teams and has tallied six game winning goals for third in the nation.

A career season has led to Priskie becoming the active career leader amongst NCAA defensemen in goals and points (39 goals, 116 points). His 17 goals on the season tops all defensemen in the country. He is tied for first in the nation with 10 power play tallies and tied for fourth with 23 power play points. Priskie was named to the ECAC First Team and was a finalist for Best Defensive Defenseman.

It has been a banner couple of seasons for Sturm both on and off the ice. Presently tenth in the nation in scoring with 43 points in 38 games, Sturm is one of the elite faceoff artists in the country cracking the top 20 two straight years. For the second straight season, he has been named ECAC Best Defensive Forward as well as earning First Team all-conference honors.