Athletes among nominees for national hockey awards

Submitted by Carla Browning
Phone: 907-474-7778
01/22/08

Juniors Tyler Eckford and Trevor Hyatt have been named to the list of nominees for two of college hockey’s most prestigious honors, the Hobey Baker and the Hockey Humanitarian awards, respectively.

Eckford is one of 101 NCAA Division I college hockey players who have been nominated for the Hobey Baker award to be presented on Friday, April 11, 2008 during the NCAA Frozen Four Championships in Denver, Colo. The 28th annual award announcement honoring college hockey’s top player will be televised live during prime time on ESPNU.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 220-pound rearguard, is tied for the team lead in scoring with six goals and a team-best 16 assists good for 22 points in 22 games. His 1.0 points-per-game average is the best amongst the nation’s defenseman.

The highly popular fan-voting phase is now open at the Hobey Baker website: hobeybaker.com. Fans can click on the Vote for Hobey Baker icon and follow the prompts to make a selection from this year’s outstanding crop of college hockey players. This first phase of fan balloting will run now through March 9, 2008. Phase two of fan balloting will then begin on March 20 from the list of Top Ten Hobey Baker finalists. The fans’ vote accounts for a full 1 percent of the total ballot in each phase in selecting this year’s award recipient. The Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists will be announced on April 2.

A 5-9, 182-pound left wing, Hyatt is one of just 22 college hockey players nominated for the Hockey Humanitarian award, presented to college hockey’s finest citizen. Finalists for the award will be announced on the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation website at www.hockeyhumanitarian.org in Jan. 28.

A civil engineering major from Anchorage, Alaska, Hyatt has been recognized for his excellence at the local and national level. With a perfect 4.0 grade point average, he was Alaska’s CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the year last year and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Sophomore Engineering Student of the Year. Hyatt has participated in several community events with the team, including helping build houses with Habitat for Humanity and participating in "Bigs For A Day" with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Fairbanks.

The 13th recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award will be selected from the group of finalists and named in a ceremony held in conjunction with the NCAA Skills Competition and Hobey Baker Award on Friday, April 11 during the 2008 NCAA Frozen Four.

Former Nanook defenseman Ryan Reinheller (1998-2001) was a three-time finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian award from 1999-2001.