The ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, honoring the nation’s top college hockey player, were announced last Thursday and among the field is former New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs defenseman Brian Dumoulin.

The ten finalists were selected by voting from all 58 NCAA Division One head coaches as well as online fan balloting. Criteria for the award include displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship, and scholastic achievement.

Dumoulin played for the Monarchs in the 2008-09 season and was named the EJHL’s Defensive Player of the Year. He led the Monarchs to a runner-up finish and placed fourth among defensemen in scoring with 30 points (7 goals, 23 assists). After the season, he was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the 51^stpick (second round) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

At Boston College, he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team as a freshman and took home the award for Hockey East’s Best Defensive Defenseman in each of the past two seasons. He also collected First Team All-American honors as a sophomore. This season he led all Hockey East Defensemen in scoring with six goals and 20 assists (26 points).

He was a member of the USA Select-18 team that played in the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Slovakia and played for Team USA in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships in Buffalo, NY.

Dumoulin is the seventh EJHL alumnus to be named a Hobey Baker Finalist and the fourth in as many seasons. Previous finalists were Paul Thompson (2011, University of New Hampshire/ Monarchs), Bobby Butler (2010, UNH/ Junior Bruins), Matt Gilroy (2009, Boston University/ South Shore Kings), Jim Fahey (2002, Northeastern University/ South Shore), Douglas Murray (2002, Cornell University/ New York Apple Core), and Eric Healy (1998, RPI/ South Shore). Matt Gilroy won the award in 2009.

The Hobey Hat Trick will be announced on March 29 and the winner will be announced on April 6^that MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, during the Frozen Four.

Congratulations to Brian Dumoulin and the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs.

-Mike Klein, 20 March 2012