Will Butcher, senior captain of the DU hockey team became the second Pioneer in program history to earn college hockey’s most prestigious award on April 7.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, this team has been amazing this year,” Butcher said. “The guys that we have in this locker room have been able to give me the support and also help me get to where I am so I have to give them almost all the credit because without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
The Hobey Baker Award is presented to the NCAA’s top college hockey player displaying outstanding skills, sportsmanship, character on and off the ice and scholastic achievement. The award is annual and was distributed for the 37th time.
The initial top ten candidates were reduced to-three by a 27-member Selection and an input of online fan balloting. Butcher, Northeastern University senior forward Zach Aston-Reese and Union College senior forward Mike Vecchione were the final nominees.
During his senior campaign, Butcher led the Pioneers to their 16th Frozen Four, the second in his career (2016). The Sun, Prairie Wisconsin native amassed seven goals and 29 assists and plus/minus of +25 in his 41 appearances.
With Butcher’s presence, Denver’s blueline is the best in the nation relinquishing just 1.83 goals per game.
Throughout the regular season, Butcher was nominated National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Defensive Player of the Week six times, as well as NCHC Player of the Year and Offensive Defenseman of the Year.
The award is in memorial to Hobart Amory Hare Baker, a World War I veteran that picked up the sport at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H. and continued to excel playing at Princeton University. Baker passed away at the age of 26, test-piloting a plane.
Matt Carle, the older brother to Denver’s current assistant coach David Carle, won the award for the Pioneers in 2006 before forgoing his senior season to play professionally. Carle remains the only junior defenseman to have received the honors to-date.
Butcher notes that he knew this year would be special dating back to the Pioneers’ devastating loss in Tampa’s Frozen Four last season, fueling this season’s vengeance.
“At Denver we talk about following the process and to never focus on the results,” Butcher said. “My four years at Denver have been a…process. Playing college hockey with such great teammates has been the highlight of my career.”
Butcher is the most-recent player to have won the Hobey Baker while contending for the national championship since Matt Gilroy of Boston University did so in 2009.
While the honors of receiving college hockey’s most prestigious individual award are flattering, the lingering possibility of being crowned national champions in 24 hours is still a possibility for Butcher in his final collegiate game. For now, the celebrations will postpone.
“I’m just going to go back, get a meal with the guys,” Butcher said. “Keep things normal, get some sleep and stick my routine.”
