[media-credit name=’AJ Maclean’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]For the second year in a row college hockey fans will have a voice in the selection of college hockey’s most prestigious award, the Hobey Baker Award. The award is given annually to the nation’s top college player as voted on by fans and the Hobey Baker Selection Committee.

Last year’s award went to Minnesota-Duluth forward Junior Lessard.

Fans could start voting for their favorite players Jan. 4th, voting in the nomination phase continued through Jan. 23rd. Fans were allowed to log on to www.voteforhobey.com and nominate as many players as they wish, but may nominate each player only once, to advance to the preliminary voting stage.

All athletes receiving at least 25 nominations by the close of the nomination phase will move on to the preliminary phase. The preliminary phase voting began yesterday, Jan. 24, and will continue through Mar. 6. Fans may cast their vote for first, second and third-place choices once per day during this period. The fan vote will be combined with votes from all 58 Division I college coaches to choose the 10 finalists.

Final voting will occur between March 17 and March 28. Fans again will be able to vote for first, second and third-place candidates once a day. Final fan voting will be combined with the selections of the Hobey Baker Selection Committee to choose the winner.

The winner will be announced April 8th, prior to the championship game of the NCAA Frozen Four. The winner will be celebrated April 9th, in a ceremony in Columbus, Ohio.

As of publication, nine Badgers including freshman forward Joe Pavelski, sophomore forward Ross Carlson, sophomore defenseman Jeff Likens, sophomore forward Jake Dowell, junior forward Adam Burish, junior forward Nick Licari, junior forward Ryan MacMurchy, sophomore forward Robbie Earl and senior goaltender Bernd Bruckler received enough nominations to continue to the preliminary voting stage.

No Badger made it out of the preliminary stage last year, though Bruckler did make a push late last season with his impressive play to end the campaign. Despite his early season struggles this season Bruckler has again found himself as a fan favorite in the voting.

Fan voting in the preliminary stage currently has Bruckler as the highest ranked Badger, currently in 10th place, with 246 points. Fellow Badger “Hollywood” Earl is currently in 22nd place in the fan voting, garnering 145 points. No other Badger possesses more than 100 points in the fan vote.

Bruckler remains appreciative of the fans that have given him support with the fan vote this season, especially the support from his fellow students.

“For the individual awards it’s always an honor,” Bruckler said. “We have the greatest fans in the nation here. That just shows that they support their own guys and support their team and really are behind us no matter what.”

Make no mistake, Bruckler is quite pleased with his support, but he will also be the first to critique his play this season.

“A big goal that I set for myself before the season and it remains one of my biggest goals, is consistency. I just want to play well back to back from series to series and keep our team in the game with a chance to win,” Bruckler said.

Bruckler currently holds a 2.21 goals against average, 12 hundredths higher than last season’s 2.09 mark. But Bruckler saved his best performances for the end of last season. Bruckler tied a Badger’s single season record last year when he recorded four shutouts, all four of which came in his final nine starts. Thus far this season, Bruckler has amassed three shutouts with 10 contests remaining this season.
In the final month and a half of the season, Bruckler was veritable wall. He allowed a measly 1.6 goals per game in his final 10 contests, entering the WCHA playoffs as one of the hottest players in the country. Bruckler is hopeful he can emulate his last season success from last year this season.

“If you look at my line, it’s been pretty similar to last year. I started a little slow last year and then came on strong after Christmas. There was a little bit of a downfall there for a week or two. But I’m feeling the same, and I’m feeling really comfortable again and if that holds true then I like this stretch,” said Bruckler with a laugh.

However, Bruckler remains humble in the face of his individual accomplishments and awards. Instead Bruckler is focusing on the play of his team entering the final months of the season and focusing on a deep run into the post season.

“It’s a huge honor obviously, but like I said all that really counts right now is our team and for us to stay at the top of the league and keep improving to play our best hockey at the end of the year,” said Bruckler.