Seems as if our friend Elliot Olshansky is a little shocked about Oshie being selected for the Hobey Baker. While I do think Oshie is a good candidates I think the Hobey Baker committee has no intentions of giving the award to a North Dakota player this season. It wouldn't matter if Oshie had 50 goals or Jean-Philippe Lamoureux had 10 shut outs the award is going to go to a player from the CCHA or Hockey East.
T.J. Oshie, North Dakota: Is anyone else amused that after all the hand-wringing over whether Nathan Gerbe should be considered for the award after his one-game suspension in the fall for an on-ice incident, he’s joined among the finalists by a player who was arrested this season? There’s no denying that Oshie is a great player, but if I’m a Michigan fan, I am livid right now, because this looks - shall we say, “interesting?” - in the wake of last season’s T.J. Hensick saga, not to mention the fact that Oshie beat out a very worthy Chad Kolarik, among others, for this spot. Is anyone else amused that after all the hand-wringing over whether Nathan Gerbe should be considered for the award after his one-game suspension in the fall for an on-ice incident, he’s joined among the finalists by a player who was arrested this season? There’s no denying that Oshie is a great player, but if I’m a Michigan fan, I am livid right now, because this looks - shall we say, “interesting?” - in the wake of last season’s T.J. Hensick saga, not to mention the fact that Oshie beat out a very worthy Chad Kolarik, among others, for this spot.
OK, enough of the controversy, although I maintain that I’m very surprised by the pick. Oshie is a great player at both ends of the ice, a player whose worth isn’t truly captured by his healthy numbers, and one of the biggest reasons that the Fighting Sioux are where they are right now. Not only that, he was part of the celebrated pact in the offseason that brought Oshie, 2007 Hobey winner Ryan Duncan, Joe Finley and Taylor Chorney back to Grand Forks. In this era of widespread early NHL signings, the sort of commitment that those players showed and the follow-through that Oshie and his mates have delivered deserve to be rewarded.
Apparently T.J. Oshie is involved in 'Many charitable causes' which outweigh his two arrests. The NCAA needs to have a few more people who pay a bunch of money for trophies for guys who put the puck in the net a bunch and get back to giving the Hobey Baker to someone who has both character and skill, instead of just skill on its own. There are plenty of douchebags in this world who can do stuff really good, but there aren't as many who can do something like play hockey really well and still be a really good person.
ReplyDeleteLike i said as a Sioux fan with green goggles I think both are great candidates. That being said, the committee is not going to have a WCHA player as a winner this season. Mark my words...
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame Boosh for thinking "non-douchebag/great players" are rare. He goes/went to Tech, where every hockey player is a douchebag AND sucks at hockey.
ReplyDeleteI actually like Tech's whole, "we suck so bad it's kinda cool and funny" thing. but, when you imply that Oshie is a "douchebag", I have to respond.