HeidiSioux on the Hobey Hat Trick.

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING
I have been harping all year that Nathan Gerbe didn’t deserve to be a Hobey finalist because of his on ice dirty play and was all ready to blast the world if he was included. I swallowed my tongue when the committee included TJ and figured if the committee could include TJ despite his off ice incident, then I would overlook Gerbe’s suspension from his league. After Gerbe was included in the Hobey Hat Trick yesterday and JPL was excluded I threw up my tongue.

On the banner of the (Hobey Baker website) it says “Character Builds Excellence” and the (criteria) for the award is as follows:

Hobey Baker Memorial Award Criteria
1. Candidates must exhibit strength of character both on and off the ice.
2. Candidates must contribute to the integrity of the team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game.
3. Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.
4. Candidates must comply with all NCAA rules: be full time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; and complete 50% or more of the season.

Gerbe was suspended by the commissioner of his league, Joe Bertagna, for an on ice incident during a game with Merrimack. Commissioner Bertagna is quoted as saying:

“"While a suspension might not have been forthcoming on last night's actions alone, this is not the first time this season that I have been made aware of inappropriate behavior from Nathan," said Bertagna.”Given the fact that he had already been put on notice, I felt that supplemental discipline was in order in this instance."

After reading this statement by Gerbe’s league commissioner I truly have to wonder if Gerbe meets the criteria of “Integrity”, “Strength of Character ON the ice” and “Sportsmanship” spelled out on the website. This was not a one time deal – the suspension came because of a pattern of behavior, not a single lapse in judgment.

Gerbe is a good player, probably one of the best in the country and has good numbers (I would still take TJ over him though). However, to include him and to exclude Lammy in the hat trick is outrageous. While I didn’t expect TJ to be in the hat trick, I certainly thought that JPL would. Lammy is every bit the player that Gerbe is. Not only did he lead the country in goals against (1.6424), save percentage (.936) and shutouts (6), he played the toughest schedule in the country and allowed 2 or fewer goals in 30 of the 41 games he played this year. To cap off his spectacular season numbers he had an outstanding regional tournament holding the two opponents to 3 goals total and a save percentage of .963 on 82 shots. He also single handedly kept the Sioux in the game vs. Wisconsin until they could find their scoring touch. Oh yeah, he doesn’t have any off OR on ice incidents to knock him out.

I am also not real high on Ryan Jones. He has good numbers, but I have never gotten the feeling that he can completely take over and control a game’s outcome like Porter and Lammy can (and maybe Gerbe – that hurts to say) and like Duncan could last year. But Jones being included does not turn my stomach the way Gerbe does.

For the life of me I can’t find any logical reasoning for leaving JPL out of the hat trick. As I don’t think this was an anti-UND or anti-WCHA choice the only thing I can come up with is it was just stupidity.