John H writes,
 
>Shields has nice numbers (15-1-1, 2.50, 89.4), but
>IMHO isn't playing as well as he did last year (30-6-2,
>2.22, 90.9) when I felt he should have been nominated.
>However, it seems unlikely that three players from
>the same team will be nominated.
 
Well, Shields was Michigan's only nominee last year (a question
 of semantics here; any school can "nominate" players, but the
 committee's top 10 are deemed "finalists"), and I thought they
 had several skaters more deserving of the consideration (Neaton,
 Roberts, Ouimet, etc.)
 
Unless Shields completely tanks the remainder of the season,
Michigan will nominate him for Hobey. The standard criticism of
 Shields his last three seasons was that he was an overrated
goalie playing behind a brilliantly gifted team that made him look
 good.  With that incredibly talented defense gone, this was
(actually, still is) Shields' chance to silence his critics. While
 the award is *supposed* to go to *the year's* top player,
there is a possibility his total career, most notably the 100-plus
 wins he'll likely get, will be taken into consideration.
 
Wondering if a Wisconsin team will *ever* beat a Minnesota
team in any major sport, college or pro, this year (Wolves/Bucks
don't count),
 
Greg