UMD AND THE HOBEY BAKER MEMORIAL AWARD 48
2011-12 Center Duluth, Minn.
Junior Lessard
2003-04 Right Wing St. Joseph deBeauce, Quebec
Chris Marinucci
On April 6, 2012, Jack Connolly put an exclamation point -- a huge exclamation point -- on the most decorated playing career in UMD hockey history when he was bestowed with the 2011-12 Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
Twenty years after Tom Kurvers walked off with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s initial Hobey Baker Memorial Award, another remarkably gifted athlete who also sported the familiar No. 22 Bulldog sweater followed suit.
He was certainly no flash in the pan, but then again, he’ll be the first to admit that he was no flash, either.
All-American. NCAA champion. Hometown hero. And now this.
Indeed, on April 9, 2004, Junior Lessard, who was born and raised in the Frenchspeaking quarters of Quebec, capped off a memorable senior season by being bestowed with college hockey’s highest honor. Lessard’s list of accomplishments during his final collegiate go-around would certainly do any of the previous 23 Hobey Baker Memorial winners proud. The fiery redhead topped the NCAA in scoring (63), goals (32), and power play tallies while helping lead the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Frozen Four appearance in nearly a generation and a 28-13-4 overall record. Besides being selected as both the uscho.com and insidecollegehockey. com national Player of the Year, Lessard also was an American Hockey Coaches Association All-American first team honoree and a member of the all-tournament team at the NCAA Frozen Four as well as at the NCAA Midwest Regional. A little less than two weeks after his college play days were over, Lessard signed a free agent contract with the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.
Jack Connolly
“I think Jack epitomizes what the award is about,” said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin after his prized pupil became the program’s fifth hobey baker winner. “Obviously, he was tremendous leader and an offensive catalyst for our team since his arrival here. He had a remarkable career and an even more remarkable seniors season. But most of all, Jack has always represented our program in a first-class way -- on the rink, in the classroom and in the community.” The first Bulldog to ever be named a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 Finalist twice and the first to earn All-WCHA first team status on three occasions, Connolly ranked second in the nation in both scoring (a career-high 60 points -- the most by any Bulldog in eight years) and assists (40) during his farewell collegiate go-around. For his efforts, he attained All-American recognition for a third time, something only one other Bulldog -- defenseman Norm Maciver (1983-86) had ever done before. The 2011-12 WCHA Player of the Year and this year’s recipient of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award that same season, Connolly missed nary a shift during his four years with the Bulldogs, skating in a school-record 166 consecutive games. In 2011-12, he captained UMD to a 25-10-6 overall record, a second-place WCHA finish and its third NCAA tournament berth in the past four years. He served as an assistant team captain with the Bulldogs in 2010-11 when they skated away with the program’s first national championship.
But despite all of his on-ice successes, the one achievement that Lessard, UMD’s Outstanding Male Senior Athlete for 200304, takes perhaps the most pride in was realized on May 15, 2004 when he officially received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UMD in, of all areas of study, English.
1993-94 Left Wing/Center Grand Rapids, Minn.
“I’ve never considered myself to be a particularly electrifying type of player,” said Chris Marinucci upon receiving the 1994 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. “When people look back at my career at UMD, I guess I would just like to be remembered as a guy who went out everyday and just worked hard. That’s the kind of hockey player I always strived to be.” Marinucci, the first -- and only -- Hobey Baker Memorial Award recipient to skate on a sub-.500 team (the Bulldogs were 14-21-3 overall that winter and placed seventh in the 10-team WCHA), was showered with a host of other prominent honors as a senior in 1993-94. He was named the College Player of the Year by USA Hockey and the WCHA Player of the Year in addition to earning NCAA I All-American first team acclaim. Over his final two years of competition, Marinucci scored more points (138) than any other skater in the country while becoming just the fourth Bulldog to post backto-back 30-goal seasons. In 1993-94 as a UMD team captain, he finished first in the WCHA scoring race and racked up a team-leading 61 points overall. That spring, Marinucci earned UMD’s Outstanding Male Senior Athlete award and soon after began a lengthy professional playing career which included National Hockey League stints with the New York Islanders and Los Angeles Kings.