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This year’s “Hobey Hat Trick”, the three finalists for this year’s Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s top individual honor, have been announced.
The three finalists are Union senior forward Mike Vecchione, Northeastern senior forward Zach Aston-Reese, and Denver senior defenseman Will Butcher.
Vecchione and Aston-Reese finished tied with New Hampshire’s Tyler Kelleher for the lead in the national scoring race with 63 points each.
Butcher ranks tied for second nationally in scoring by a defenseman, and is a driving force on the blue line for the top ranked Pioneers.
Aston-Reese has already signed a professional contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, while Vecchione is still mulling over multiple offers from NHL teams. Butcher’s NHL rights are held by the Colorado Avalanche, and they are expected to offer him a contract once his season is completed(thanks to a change in management and organizational philosophy in the past year).
Vecchione is likely a slight favorite to take home the award after passing up NHL offers in each of the past three seasons to play his four years at Union, always a heavy consideration from Hobey voters. Butcher would be the first defenseman to take home the award since Matt Gilroy in 2009.