St. Paul, Minn/Chilliwack – APRIL 11 UPDATE – North Dakota and former Chilliwack Chief junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi did not make the final cut in his bid for the Hobey Baker Award. The accolade is the US college hockey’s top individual prize.
The winner was is Scott Perunovich from the University of Minnesota Duluth. The presentation was made on US Sports Cable outlet ESPN.
APRIL 2 ORIGINAL STORY – For the first time in National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) history, two NCHC players have been named among the Hat Trick of finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as the Hobey Committee announced the 2020 trio Thursday. North Dakota junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi and Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Scott Perunovich are both among only three players up for the honor of most outstanding player in Division I men’s college hockey in 2019-20.
Kawaguchi and Perunovich are both first-time Hobey Baker Award finalists and mark the sixth and seventh NCHC players ever to be named to the Hobey Hat Trick. The NCHC’s only previous Hobey Baker Award winner is former Denver and current New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher in 2017. This is the fourth straight season and six times in seven years of competition that the NCHC has been home to at least one Hobey Hat Trick finalist.
Kawaguchi is a former players for the BCHL Chilliwack Cheifs.
A First-Team All-NCHC member, Kawaguchi (Abbotsford, B.C.) was already selected 2019-20 Player of the Year by USCHO.com on March 20. The undrafted free agent was also tabbed 2019-20 NCHC Forward of the Year and the co-Three Stars Award winner in the NCHC with Perunovich. He was also tabbed to the All-CHN First Team nationally by College Hockey News, and the All-USCHO First Team, and was the runner-up for NCHC Player of the Year.
Kawaguchi finished second nationally in scoring with 45 points, including 30 assists, which tied for sixth in the country. Five of his 15 goals were game-winners, which tied for fifth nationally, while his 13 game-winning points led the NCAA. He recorded a point in 24 of 33 games played, including 15 multi-point games, which were second nationally. Kawaguchi was a three-time NCHC Player of the Week and two-time NCHC Player of the Month, including National Player of the Month in November. The UND assistant captain finished with a +21 plus/minus, tying for 12th in the NCAA, while averaging 1.36 points per game on the year, which was sixth nationally. Kawaguchi compiled 30 (7g, 23a) of his 45 points in conference play, which was second behind Perunovich, while leading UND to the Penrose Cup as regular-season champions.
