Adam Fantilli named to Hobey Hat Trick
For the unfamiliar, this is essentially the Heisman finalists of college hockey. Fantilli is joined by both Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies, both of Minnesota and somewhat controversially not Lane Hutson.
Fantill is at minimum the best forward in college hockey and thus should win this award, but the selection criteria for the Hobey is sufficiently vague enough that it's not at all uncommon for the committee to make odd choices and treat it like a lifetime achievement award. Like Vesey winning over Kyle Connor or Dryden McKay's selection last year or perhaps Knies inclusion at all this year.
Would not shock me if the pearl clutchers on the committee passed over Fantilli because he got in a 'fight' earlier this season or because he has a healthy amount of PIM. We'll see.
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee is pleased to announce the three Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists for the 2023 award, honoring college hockey’s top player. Alphabetically, they are: Logan Cooley, a freshman forward from the University of Minnesota; https://t.co/0Wyth7htuI… pic.twitter.com/q77cHp81L0
— Hobey Baker Award (@HobeyBakerAward) March 30, 2023
Would bet on Knies because of "intangibles" or some nonsense. Dude has 41 points, barely 1 per game. And yet.
Yeah the inclusion of Knies makes me highly suspicious that theyre gonna give it to him for some intangible nonsense
Would be a really big surprise. I question him making the list, esp over Hutson. Cooley, while not at Fantilli’s level, is much more in Fantilli’s zone.
With Hutson out (exceptionally odd; he seems clearly the second-best player in the country), Fantilli should be the clear choice here. Agree with OP that doesn’t always carry the day.
I have not watched Hutson a ton but I am curious how you can say he's clearly better than Cooley for example (or even Luke Hughes for that matter). I am not arguing for Hughes as a finalist but they have very similar numbers - maybe Hutson is much better defensively but I have not seen enough of him to know.
If it was based solely on production, I think Fantilli is the clear choice.
Fantilli Fan!
If there's one thing the Hobey is good for, it's giving superfans of perhaps the least refined sport on the planet the opportunity to moralize about things like fighting and swearing and being "too full of himself." It's almost always fans of the old WCHA, and like clockwork, they've been working that angle on Fantilli for weeks now.
And then those same folks then log off to go duke it out at their local beer league.
Yeah, for example how they passed over TJ Hensick in 2007 because he took a 10 minute major late in the season. Complete bullshit...
That's prime example #1. Thin-skinned ECAC official (IIRC) got overwhelmed in an intense game, cost Hensick the Hobey, because apparently that's a thing that matters?
If Matty Beniers couldn't crack the top 3, then anything can happen. Especially the way the college hockey establishment drools over the Golden Gophers. I'd have to put my money on Knies because why else would he be there.
I think putting two Gophers on there is just the consolation prize and a nod to them being the #1 team because Fantilli's clearly the best player there.
Annual reminder that they once gave the Hobey to the guy that played on a line with Jonathan Toews and TJ Oshie, as opposed to say, Toews or Oshie. It didn't make any more sense then than it does now.
They'd never fully admit it, but the committee clearly favors guys who have put in a few years in college hockey and who they can give the trophy to as a tacit career achievement award. I think it's another area where the bulk of DI hockey is resistant toward the 'big schools' way of doing things with high end NHL talent that's only in town for a year or two and they prefer to reward guys doing it 'the right way'. They don't want to give it to freshmen if they can find some hoity toity reason to avoid it like talking about 'leadership' and 'their impact on the ice' which - while perhaps valid on some level - are impossible to quantify and thus apparently immune to criticism because if you do criticize it you apparently are a hockey simpleton because you can't comprehend the depth and impressiveness of their intangibles
They do admit it. The official Hobey Baker site clearly states that it is awarded not just for on ice performance, but also sportsmanship, academics, leadership, and other intangibles. The Heisman is actually supposed to be the same way but is almost exclusively stat-based in modern times.
The annoying thing is its applied willy nilly. Some years it seems to matter some, some years its this massive tie breaker, other times guys are given a big boost bc they have long sportsmanlike careers like Vesey and Mckay
The inconsistency is frustrating since they clearly have a type they like and apply it as needed to favor that type. I can play the same leadership and intangibles things with Fantilli considering he basically willed the OT win, but they don’t really want Fantilli to win so everyones just focusing on penalty minutes
Alex and Dave spend the last 20 minutes of their recent podcast summarizing why the Hockey Establishment in the NCAA despises B1G hockey and Michigan in particular. Nothing those ossified blowhards do surprises me.
upvote for the term ossified blowhard.
Incorporating that into my vernacular.
Maple Leafs' fans are talking excitedly about Knies joining the team for the playoffs. I think they may have overrated him.
Just like they overrate their team, only to then watch the Maple Leafs crash and burn in the playoffs year after year after year after...
He's a good player and probably a serviceable third line guy in the NHL right now. But he's not going to transform the squad.
In years gone by I could accurately opine about the viability of someone with such a statistically flimsy case for the Hobey as Matthew Knies. He's not one of the top scorers in the country; Mack Samoskevich is a good player nobody thinks is a Hobey candidate and he is equal or better than Knies statistically and has produced a much more important clutch moment. Both Luke Hughes and Lane Hutson have more points from the defensive position than Knies does as a forward on what Minnesota calls the "best line in the country," which it may be but being the boat anchor in scoring when you have Cooley and Snuggerud on your line doesn't seem to speak well to you.
But that was years gone by when I watched a lot of non-Michigan hockey. I just don't watch enough anymore.
Maybe he does all the little things and is a brilliant defensive forward; I'm open to that argument, but he's not the only guy who does that.
I used to be the sort to say "surely there's a reason beyond stats that makes him a clear choice for this as well as B1G player of the year" but after Vesey inherited a Hobey he didn't deserve I no longer offer that benefit of the doubt.
The fact that two Minnesota guys are there: maaaaybe there's some vote splitting, and that might be in Fantilli's favor. We'll find out a week from Friday.