The ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award were announced today. They are:

Louie Caporusso, Michigan

Matt Gilroy, Boston University

Chad Johnson, Alaska

Zane Kalmeba, Princeton

Jacques Lamoureux, Air Force

Jamie McBain, Wisconsin

David McIntyre, Colgate

Viktor Stalberg, Vermont

Brad Thiessen, Northeastern

Colin Wilson, Boston University

This year has been kind of uninspiring as far as the Hobey goes, at least out in the West. It's also a sign of the times that Matt Gilroy and Chad Johnson are the only two seniors on the list, while there are three sophomores, and four goalies on the list.

You'd have to think that none of the goalies will win the award based on the precedent that has been set in the past. All are very good, but I don't see any standing out so far above the others to merit winning.

I think the obvious choice has pretty much got to be Colin Wilson. He's the best player on the best team, and while this isn't necessarily one of the criteria, he's someone that will go on to represent college hockey well in the future(yet another reason Duncan over Toews was a bad decision two years ago). Jacques Lamoureux is the darkhorse candidate. His story and his battle to get into Air Force, nevermind the challenge of actually being a member of the Air Force Academy, are remarkable, but I'm not sure his on-ice credentials stack up to Wilson.