It's interesting that the inscription on the plate on the front of the Hobey Baker trophy claims that the award is "given annually to the outstanding collegiate hockey player in the United States". To me, this implies that the award goes to the best player in the country. It does not imply that anything other than on-ice performance plays a role in who wins the award. Has the best player always won it? We could debate that forever. Certainly some excellent players/students/people have won it and that makes a great award for college hockey. I think you can always argue FOR another player winning it, but I don't believe you could argue AGAINST any of those who did win it. Justin Doherty