Brian Sprague writes:
[I wrote]
>> ...the Hobey Baker Award *weekend* actually takes place after
>> the season is over.  The announcement is what takes place at the final
>> four; the actual awarding of the trophy and honoring of the winner
>> happens in Minnesota a week or two later.
>
>If my memory as a 12-year devotee of Maine hockey serves me correctly, Paul
>Kariya was awarded the actual Hobey Baker trophy the day before the 1993
>final.
 
That's correct; I was there too and my wife took a nice picture of the
two of them holding the trophy.  But that was just the *announcement*.
There is an event known as Hobey weekend which takes place after the
season is over, and that is the weekend that the trophy is really
given away.  There is a dinner at which the winner is honored.  This
is the weekend referred to when it was said that the Shrine Classic
would be played on Hobey weekend.
 
So, the announcement is made between days of the final four, at the
site of the final four.  The trophy is "officially" awarded at the
dinner honoring the winner, held the following weekend or so in
Minnesota, home of the trophy (I always forget the name of the
Athletic Club that awards it, I think it's in Bloomington).
 
It was not always done this way.  The announcement used to be made the
night of the championship game.  But in 1991, BC's David Emma was
forced to wait by himself in a back room as BU and NMU played their
classic 3 OT finale.  Organizers did not want the word that Emma had
won to get out.  Unfortunately, the game was such a great one that it
overshadowed Emma's honor and he was all but ignored - and was the
only one in the Civic Center not to see the game.  Even in Boston,
newspaper and tv stories that Emma had won the Hobey seemed like an
afterthought or addendum to the remarkable game BU had been involved
in.  After that debacle, it was decided to move the announcement to
the off day between the semifinals and final so that the winner could
receive the recognition he deserved.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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