Vote For the Hobey Baker

Two members of the American International College ice hockey team were nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given to the nation's top male college hockey player, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee announced on Wednesday, January 16, with junior forward Blake Christensen and sophomore defenseman Brennan Kapcheck each earning nominations for the Yellow Jackets. Fans can vote for Christensen and Kapcheck on the Hobey Baker website.

ABOUT THE PLAYERS:

• Hailing from Coral Springs, Florida, Christensen, a business major with a finance minor, serves as an alternate captain and is AIC's leading scorer with eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 22 games. He is presently on a five-game point streak, with two goals and four assists for six points in those five games, and has scored at least one point in 18 of AIC's 22 games.
• Christensen led the team in points as a freshman and in goals last season, and earned the College's Lt. Alvin J. Carocari Award for outstanding contributions to intercollegiate athletics at AIC. Among the biggest moments of that second season for Christensen was his double-overtime winner to knock Niagara University out of the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament in the team's first-ever home playoff series.
• Kapcheck, a native of Mount Prospect, Illinois, who is majoring in finance, is the team's second-leading scorer with three goals and 14 assists for 17 points. Like Christensen, he is presently on a hot streak, having registered two goals and four assists for six points in a four-game stretch.
• Last season, Kapcheck led the team in points with 26 on seven goals and 19 assists, breaking the team's record for points in a season by a defenseman and earning the program's first-ever Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year award, along with being named a Walter Brown Award semifinalist and a Hobey Baker nominee.
• Both players rank in the top ten in assists in the league, with Christensen tied for third and Kapcheck tied for seventh; Christensen is also in third in the conference in points.

QUOTE HIVE:

• Both Christensen and Kapcheck deflected the praise for their success to their teammates.
• "It means a lot to be nominated for an award like this. However, it wouldn't be possible without the help from my teammates. We have a good thing going right now and hopefully we can continue that success here in the second half," Christensen said of the nomination.
• "It is a very humbling nomination that I would not have received if it weren't for my teammates. Nonetheless, it's important that we keep moving forward and playing good hockey so that we can get recognition as a team when the time comes," Kapcheck said of the honor.
• Head coach Eric Lang had plenty of credit to give to both players.
• "Christensen has evolved into a prolific scoring threat in Atlantic Hockey this season. He is as gifted as any player in this league, a player that can take over a game at any instant because of his high-end skill set. Beyond all of that, he is as competitive a player I have ever been around, and he helps drive our culture," Lang said of his junior forward.
• "Kapcheck has consistently been one of the best players on the ice for either team in every game we have played in this season. He is electric with the puck, makes his teammates better, and is a determined winner. He is unbelievably coachable and is destined for greatness," Lang said of the sophomore defenseman.

HIGHLIGHT REEL PLAYS:

• Both of the nominees have been involved in a significant portion of the offense, and unsurprisingly, both have made some breathtaking plays.
• Against The College of the Holy Cross on December 1, Christensen had the game on his stick with just under 90 seconds left in regulation, and he did not disappoint, notching the deciding goal from his backside after being brought down from behind on a breakaway.
• Kapcheck's back-to-back goals have both garnered significant attention of late; his drive and wraparound against RIT on January 12 was named one of the NCAA Ice Hockey Plays of the Week, and he followed that up by scoring a goal from his knees that held up as the game winner against Sacred Heart University on January 15.

ABOUT THE HOBEY BAKER MEMORIAL AWARD:

• First given in 1981, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award honors the most outstanding NCAA Division I men's ice hockey player. It is given specifically to a player who displays "strength of character, on and off the ice...contribution to the integrity of the team and outstanding skills in all phases of the game..." and "...scholastic achievement and sportsmanship."
• The Award is named in honor of Hobart "Hobey" Baker, a two-sport star who played football and ice hockey at Princeton in 1914, winning ice hockey national titles in 1912 and 1914, and is considered college hockey's first star player. Baker was killed at the end of the First World War when a plane he was test piloting crashed, but his legacy lived on, first in his induction of the inaugural Hockey Hall of Fame class of 1945 and then with the creation of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
• The Inaugural winner was Neal Broten of Minnesota, a sophomore who was a member of the famed 1980 United States Olympic team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid, New York in the "Miracle On Ice." Subsequent winners include Paul Kariya, who won in 1993 while at Maine and scored 989 points in 989 NHL games, Michigan State's Ryan Miller in 2001, a goalkeeper who would go on to be Olympic MVP for Team USA in 2010, Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College in 2014 and Jack Eichel of Boston University in 2015, both currently among the NHL's scoring leaders.
• The most recent winner is Adam Gaudette of Northeastern, who is currently with the Vancouver Canucks.

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates about the AIC ice hockey team, follow @AIC_Hockey on Twitter and Instagram, and likeAmerican International College Ice HockeyonFacebook. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow @AICAthleticson Twitterand Instagram, and likeAIC Yellow JacketsonFacebook.