03/24/14 St. Cloud State University senior forward Nic Dowd ’08 has been nominated for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award, which recognizes collegiate hockey’s top player. He is one of 10 finalists announced March 20. The “Hobey Hat Trick,” the top three finalists, will be announced on April 2 and the winner will be announced April 11 during the NCAA Frozen Four tournament.
Dowd is the third Culver Military Academy player to be honored. Jon Michael Liles ’99 was nominated while playing at Michigan State and Blake Geoffrion ’06 won the award in 2010 while playing at Wisconsin.
Renowned as a solid two-way player, Dowd was a big part of St. Cloud State clinching the inaugural National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season title. During the NCHC banquet Thursday night, he was presented with defensive forward and scholar-athlete of the year awards. He was earlier honored as first team all-conference.
Dowd has scored 21 goals, 18 assists for 39 points in 36 games this season. He has a team leading 10 power play goals, which ranks fifth in the nation. Dowd also has a team leading four game winning goals and has posted 12 multi-point games this winter. Over his collegiate career, Dowd ranks 15th in the team records with 120 points (51 goals and 69 assists).
A pre-medicine major, Dowd is a three-time Academic all-conference award winner and a three-time conference scholar-athlete team selection. He is a seventh round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings and the first Hobey Baker finalist from the state of Alabama.
Overall, the Huskies have been ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams throughout the season and have posted a 21-10-5 record. This is the second consecutive season that SCSU has won the NCHC regular season crown. The team reached the Frozen Four in 2013. The 2014 NCAA tournament selections will be announced Sunday, March 23, and regional play begins March 28-30.
Published by Jan Garrison
