Junior Lessard Named Winner Of 2004 Hobey Baker Memorial Award
Junior Lessard is the WCHA's 10th Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner. |
 |
April 9, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Boston, Mass. University of Minnesota Duluth senior forward Junior Lessard, the WCHA Player of the Year and a First Team JOFA All-American, was today (April 9) announced as the winner of the 2004 Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey's top Division 1 player. Lessard was honored in ceremonies Friday afternoon at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.
The top scorer in NCAA Division 1 hockey in 2003-04 with 32 goals and 31 assists for 63 points in 45 games played, Lessard becomes the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's 10th Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner overall since the award's founding in 1980-81, the WCHA's third straight winner, and his school's fourth. Lessard joins previous WCHA winners Neal Broten of Minnesota (1981), Tom Kurvers of Minnesota Duluth (1984), Bill Watson of Minnesota Duluth (1985), Tony Hrkac of North Dakota (1987), Robb Stauber of Minnesota (1988), Chris Marinucci of Minnesota Duluth (1994), Brian Bonin of Minnesota (1996), Jordan Leopold of Minnesota (2002) and Peter Sejna of Colorado College (2003).
Named after his father, Lucien, but commonly known as Junior, Lessard completed his outstanding collegiate career here at the 2004 NCAA Frozen Four, where he scored two goals in Minnesota Duluth's 5-3 loss to fellow WCHA-member University of Denver in one of two national semi-finals on Thursday (April 8) evening at FleetCenter. During UMD's impressive eight-game post-season run, Lessard produced nine goals, six assists and 15 points and fashioned a season-ending nine-game scoring streak. In addition to earning WCHA Player of the Year honors, the Bulldogs' alternate team captain was an All-WCHA First Team honoree this season and shared the conference scoring championship (based on 28 league games) with Brandon Bochenski of North Dakota with 39 scoring points each.
"If you look at what Junior has done and what he has meant to our team," said Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin, "he was an obvious choice as a finalist. And that he ultimately won the award is a fitting and distinguished honor for one of the hardest-working, most talented players I've every coached."
A 6-0, 195-pounder from St. Joseph deBeauce, Quebec, Lessard is the sole remaining member of former UMD head coach Mike Sertich's final recruiting class and helped the Bulldogs to a second place finish in the WCHA regular season and to a 28-13-4 overall record in 2003-04. The Bulldogs were in the hunt for the conference championship and MacNaughton Cup until the final weekend of the regular season. In addition to his 63 scoring points this season, Lessard produced three three-goal hat tricks and was a three-time recipient of the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honor. Over his 160 game collegiate career at UMD, Lessard scored 74 goals, assisted on 68 and amassed 142 total points.
Suffering a knee injury in the third period of the third place game at the 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five on March 20 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., Lessard returned to the UMD lineup after six days off to score two goals in the Bulldogs' 5-0 NCAA Midwest Regional victory over Michigan State on March 27 and also helped his team to a 3-1 regional win over WCHA-rival Minnesota on March 28 that launched his club on to the program's first Frozen Four appearance since 1985. For his efforts in Grand Rapids, Mich., Lessard was named to the NCAA Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team.
All the honors he has garnered this season seem to be just frosting on the cake for Lessard, however, who almost lost his hockey career and life last summer while swimming off Duluth's Park Point in Lake Superior. While swimming with teammate Evan Schwabe and their girl friends, the group was drawn away from the beach by a powerful riptide current. Then David Israel came to the rescue.
"I was in big danger," recalled Lessard. "I didn't want to think about what might happen. I was just hoping someone would come.
"It was like slow motion. I was thinking about everything... my family, my hockey..."
Finally, Israel arrived with a boogie board that he used first to save the girls. Lessard grabbed on and hung on for dear life as he was towed to the shore where he collapsed throwing up blood. He was then taken to St. Mary's Hospital and treated for four hours before being released. It took him more than three weeks before he regained his strength.
Now, he says, little things don't bother him any more. "I just go to practice and I'm happy to be there. After the lake incident, you realize what a great opportunity you have."
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award annually honors the top Division 1 college hockey player in the U.S. The first round of balloting, done by all 58 Division 1 head coaches and a fan ballot, determined the top 10 finalists. Those 10 names are then advanced to the Selection Committee, a geographically balanced group of 25 members made up of media, NHL scouts, college hockey coaches and supervisors of officials. Additionally, a fan vote conducted on-line allows college hockey fans a 1% vote in each round of the balloting.
On March 31, the Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists was announced. In addition to Lessard, the group included University of North Dakota sophomore forward Zach Parise and Brown University senior goaltender Yann Danis.
For more information on the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, please visit: www.hobeybaker.com. And special thanks to the Hobey Baker Memorial Award for information contained in this release.
|
|
 |
