Adventures of a Sports Dad

The Hobey Baker Award is given to the top NCAA men's hockey player each year. It is named for Hobey Baker, a Princeton alum considered "one of the best early American hockey players." Baker served in World War I, but was killed in a plane crash in 1918.  The Edmonton Oilers just acquired Isaac Howard , the 2025 Hobey Baker Award Winner, from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for fellow prospect Sam O'Reilly. It got me wondering how often these top collegiate hockey players pan out. Let's look at the last 20 just for fun. 2006 - Matt Carle (University of Denver) - Carle made his NHL debut with the Sharks during the 2005-06 season. He played 730 NHL games in his career over 12 seasons. He was a member of the NHL All-Rookie Team in 2006-07 when he posted career highs in goals (11) and points (42).  2007 - Ryan Duncan (University of North Dakota) - Despite winning the Hobey Baker Award, Duncan wasn't drafted. While he had a couple stints in the AHL with Bridgepo...

So during our recent trip to Maine we took in a Portland Sea Dogs game. The Sea Dogs wore their alternate jerseys, complete with alternate team name, and for the night were the Maine Red Snappers. I love minor league games, especially with four little kids. You get affordable seats, entertainment between innings, and then we had hot dogs and French fries and popcorn and ice cream and baseball cards and Sweet Caroline... The only thing we didn't get was a ball which was devastating for 6 year old P who hasn't figured out that getting a ball isn't normal.  The game featured a number of top prospects in both the Red Sox and Blue Jays organizations. Here's how they fared: Boston #9 - David Sandlin - RHP - Sandlin pitched four innings in relief and was tagged with the loss after surrendering a trio of solo home runs (one in the 8th and two in the 9th). He did touch 97 on the radar gun though and finished the game with five strike outs.  Boston #12 - Mikey Romero - SS/2B - Ro...