The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced today the 20 semifinalists for the 67th Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England.
The nation’s oldest nationally-recognized college hockey honor, the Walter Brown Award was established in 1953 by the members of the 1933 Massachusetts Rangers, the first American team ever to win the World Championship Tournament. Brown coached the Rangers to the title in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where the team defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime in the championship game.
Three of the 2019 nominees were semifinalists a year ago: Harvard defenseman Adam Fox, Yale forward Joe Snively and Quinnipiac forward Odeen Tufto.
| Player's Name | Class | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Chaffee | So. | F | Massachusetts |
| Blake Christensen | Jr. | F | American International |
| David Cotton | Jr. | F | Boston College |
| Joel Farabee | Fr. | F | Boston University |
| Adam Fox | Jr. | D | Harvard |
| Hayden Hawkey | Sr. | G | Providence |
| Brennan Kapcheck | So. | D | American International |
| Charlie Kelleher | So. | F | New Hampshire |
| Michael Lackey | Sr. | G | Harvard |
| Stefanos Lekkas | Jr. | G | Vermont |
| John Leonard | So. | F | Massachusetts |
| Ryan Lohin | Jr. | F | UMass Lowell |
| Tyler Madden | Fr. | F | Northeastern |
| Chase Priskie | Sr. | D | Quinnipiac |
| Jacob Pritchard | Sr. | F | Massachusetts |
| Mike Robinson | So. | G | New Hampshire |
| Andrew Shortridge | Jr. | G | Quinnipiac |
| Joe Snively | Sr. | F | Yale |
| Odeen Tufto | So. | F | Quinnipiac |
| Josh Wilkins | Jr. | F | Providence |
“This number of semifinalists is slightly more than last year, when we had 16 candidates in the running,” said Gridiron Club hockey awards chairman Tim Costello in a statement. “As of press time, three of the semifinalists – Odeen Tufto, Chase Priskie and Blake Christensen – were among the nation’s top ten in points scored. Two of the goalie nominees – Andrew Shortridge and Hayden Hawkey – were in the top ten in goals-against average.
“But there’s a full month and nearly one third of the regular season league games yet to play, so a lot can change between now and the final balloting.”
The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and winner of the 67th Walter Brown Award in March, following league playoffs and before the start of NCAA tournament play. The award will be presented to the winner at the New England College Hockey Writers’ Dinner in April.
The 2018 honoree was Northeastern forward Adam Gaudette.
