The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Monday the 16 semifinalists for the 62nd Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born Division I men’s college hockey player in New England.
Eleven teams are represented in the candidates, including eight players from Hockey East, six from ECAC Hockey and two from Atlantic Hockey. The list is made up of 13 forwards, two goalies and one defenseman.
Boston College has three nominees, while Yale, Quinnipiac and Bentley have two apiece.
“The number of high-quality Division I hockey programs in New England has been growing for the past ten years or so,” said Gridiron Club Hockey Awards Committee chairman Tim Costello in a statement. “That has made it much more challenging than it used to be to select a roster of semifinalists for the Walter Brown Award. As usual, many players from all three leagues whose names do not appear here have played well enough to merit consideration.”
The award is the oldest nationally-recognized college hockey honor and was established in 1953 by the members of the 1933 Massachusetts Rangers, the first American team to win the World Championship Tournament. Brown coached the Rangers to the title that year in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with a 2-1 overtime win in the title game over Canada.
The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and winner of the 62nd Walter Brown Award in March, following league playoffs and before the start of the NCAA tournament. The award will be formally presented to the winner at the New England College Hockey Writers’ Dinner in April.
Boston College forward Steven Whitney won the award in 2013.
