Hobey Watch Week 1

The 27th annual Hobey Baker award ceremony will be held on April 6th, 2007, the night before the National Championship game in St. Louis. But its never to early to do a Hobey watch. Here are my canidates starting with the hat trick and then the rest of the top five and the darkhorse.

The Hat-Trick

G Brian Elliott, Wisconsin (SR):

Elliott has two shutouts in three games for the Badgers this season, including a most recent shutout against a high powered offense in North Dakota. In three games, Elliott has stopped 75 of 78 shots on goal. In 181:28 he has allowed only three goals and has a stingy 0.99 goals against average to go along with a .962 save percentage. A good early spot lands Elliott the top spot this week in the Hobey Watch.

F Brian Boyle, Boston College (SR):

One game, that is all Boyle has played so far and he is already third in Hockey East in scoring with four points (2 g, 2 a). He was dominating against Northeastern as he fought for loose pucks, and outmuscled the competition. Boyle also had a highlight reel goal, as he skated down the ice, carrying a Northeastern player on his back, and scored a shorthanded goal when fellow classmate Joe Rooney passed him the puck. If Boyle plays like this all year, he will be a dominating force for the Eagles.

F Jonathan Toews, North Dakota (SO):

Though Toews did not score a point in the series against Wisconsin over the weekend, Toews still had a solid couple of games. In his previous two games Toews had a hat trick in the 4-2 victory in the second game of the Quinnipiac series, and added an assist. Toews had an assist the first game as well. Toews was the third pick of the 2006 NHL draft, but decided to stay to improve his numbers. Toews will be a solid player in the NHL, but has some business he needs to take care of in North Dakota before anything. With Maine coming into town this weekend, this game could give Toews some more national attention with a good two game series.

The rest of the top five

F T.J. Hensick, Michigan (SR) 2006-2007 stats: 3 g, 2a, 5p

F Ryan Dingle, Denver (JR) 2006- 2007 stats: 2g, 2a, 4p

This week's Darkhorse:

Chad Kolarik, Michigan (JR):

Kolarik had four goals and three assists over the weekend including a hat trick against UCONN, who also added an assist to his four point night on Saturday. If he can get back to scoring goals like he did his Freshman year when he had 18 goals, he will be a Hobey finalist come years end.

You will be getting a Hobey watch each and every week, so if you're favorite player didin't make it in, there is still plenty of time, as things will most likely change throughout the season.