For the second year in a row, former Merritt Centennial Wade MacLeod, 24, has been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, the highest individual honor in NCAA Division I hockey. MacLeod’s name is among fifty that will be whittled down to ten and then to a final three prior to the announcement of a winner on April 8 at the Frozen Four Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota.
MacLeod, originally from Coquitlam, B.C., played almost two full seasons for the Merritt Centennials. His second campaign, 2006-7, was a break-out one, as the talented forward amassed 51 goals and 54 assists for 105 points while playing alongside first-round NHL draft pick Casey Pierro-Zabotel. MacLeod stands eighth in all-time Cents’ scoring with 65 goals and 81 assists for 146 points in just 101 career games.
For the past four seasons, MacLeod has played on a hockey scholarship at Northeastern University in Boston, Massechusetts. In 133 games for the Huskies, he has garnered 50 goals and 64 assists for 114 points.
MacLeod is one of six former BCHL players on this year’s list of 50 candidates for the Hobey Baker Award. Also nominated are Tyler McNeely (Burnaby Express), Chris Rawlings (Cowichan Valley Capitals), Kyle MacKinnon (Langley Chiefs), Justin Schultz (Westside Warriors) and Chad Genoway (Vernon Vipers).
The Hobey Baker Award is named after an American WWII flying ace who was also one of the nation’s best amateur athletes of the day. Candidates must exhibit strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of their team, demonstrate scholastic achievement and sportsmanship and comply with all NCAA rules.
The Hobey Baker was first awarded in 1981. The winner was Neal Broten, who went on to play 17 NHL seasons with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings. Perhaps most famously, Broten was a member of the United States ‘Miracle on Ice’ hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Other notable recipients of the Hobey Baker Award over the years include NHLers Chris Drury, Ryan Miller and Matt Carle and former BCHL stars Brendan Morrison and Paul Kariya.
The 2010 winner of the Hobey Baker was Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion, grandson of the legendary Montreal Canadien Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion.