Sunday, April 12, 2020

Perunovich Wins 40th Hobey Baker Award, Swayman Earns Richter Award


Scott Perunovich (Minnesota-Duluth) has been named the winner of the 40th annual Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as the top player in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey.

Perunovich, 21, from Hibbing, Minn., recorded a career-high 34 assists and 40 points this season in 34 games, and was also named the 2019-20 NCHC Player of the Year. The junior defenseman finished his collegiate career with 20 goals and 95 assists for 105 points in 115 career outings with the Bulldogs, whom he helped to two straight NCAA national titles (2018, 2019), plus a top five national ranking this year. A shot at a third straight NCAA crown was derailed last month by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has canceled almost all major sport seasons.

Perunovich becomes the sixth UMD Bulldog to win the Hobey Baker Award, following Tom Kurvers (1984), Bill Watson (1985), Chris Marinucci (1994), Junior Lessard (2004) and Jack Connolly (2012).

Jeremy Swayman (Maine) was named the winner of the 2019-20 Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey. The junior from Anchorage, Alaska fashioned an 18-10-5 record for the Black Bears this past season with a 2.07 goals-against average and .939 save percentage, along with three shutouts, in backstopping them to a top 20 national ranking. In three seasons in Orono, Swayman, 21, went 47-40-12 in 100 career appearances (2.51, .927, 4 ShO). He was also a finalist for this year's Hobey Baker Award.

Both awards were revealed late Saturday night on ESPN, on an evening when the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey national title game was to have been played in Detroit. Both Perunovich and Swayman have bypassed their senior seasons to sign professional contracts with the NHL clubs that drafted them, Perunovich with the St. Louis Blues and Swayman with the Boston Bruins.

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