Spencer Decker, Men’s Ice Hockey Beat Writer

Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey has never won the Hobey Baker Award, and after a first-year standout led the nation in points, that continues to be the case. Why?

Despite leading the nation in total points this season, Ethan Wyttenbach was not selected as one of the finalists for college hockey’s top individual honor. His omission comes as a notable development, as players who finish at the top of the national scoring race are often strong candidates for the award.

The previous winner, Michigan State University forward Isaac Howard, was fifth in the nation in points, and was just five behind the lead. The year prior, Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini was third in the nation when he won the award, and the University of Michigan’s Adam Fantilli led the nation in points when he won in 2023. There was an exception in 2022 when Minnesota State University goaltender Dryden McKay won the award, losing only four games all year.

“I think I earned the right to be in the top three,” said Wyttenbach. “It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t selected, but at the end of the day, it’s not gonna be something that I am gonna cry about and complain about. They picked three really good hockey players.”

The Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists were announced April 2. Those strong candidates consisted of Michigan senior forward T.J. Hughes, Denver junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp and the winner, University of Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Max Plante. Hughes finished with 57 points, and Plante slotted into third in the nation behind Hughes with 52 points. Pohlkamp finished in a tie for 24th in the nation in points as a defensemen with 39.

Who led the nation? Wyttenbach. In his first season, Wyttenbach finished with 59 points tying a program record, previously set by former Bobcat and current player for the San Jose Sharks, Collin Graf. Just like Wyttenbach, Graf was not chosen as a finalist for the award. 

Pohlkamp finished with 20 points fewer than Wyttenbach. As a defensemen, Pohlkamp was nowhere near the top of the list, but he was the highest scoring defenseman in the nation this year. However, the most points by a defenseman is 76, set in 1986 by University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Tom Kurvers. Cale Makar, a defenseman with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, scored 70 points in 75 games from 2017 to 2019.

“The year Boston College’s Jimmy Vesey won the award, people wanted to argue that Kyle Connor should have won it,” said Bleacher Report’s Jonny Lazarus.“ Kyle Connor had around 20 more points than Vesey did so it’s different.”

Lazarus played two seasons at Mercyhurst University and two at UMass. He has also known Wyttenbach for a long time and has skated with him as a friend from Long Island since he was 8 years old. Friendships aside, Lazarus expressed his frustration with the snub.

“When you’re leading in scoring for eight straight weeks and you lose a guy like Jeremy Wilmer, and to see him take over the way that he did, was unreal” Lazarus said.

Wyttenbach finished 19 points ahead of the next player on his team which was his other first-year forward Antonin Verreault. It shows how much he had to do with the offense. Michigan’s Hughes had just five more points than his teammate Michael Hage and the same can be said for Max Plante, who had one more point than his teammate and brother, Zam.

Lazarus asked why a player who led the entirety of the NCAA in points be omitted from the league’s award for the best player in the league? 

That reason is what differentiates teams in sports, conferences. There are six in Division I men’s ice hockey. The AHA, the Big Ten, the CCHA, the NCHC, the Hockey East and Quinnipiac’s conference, the ECAC. There are also currently five teams who have played as independents.

Lazarus said he thinks Wyttenbach did what he could in his role and played well out of conference as well.

“People want to knock the ECAC for the level of competition, but he did it against teams like Maine and Boston College and lots of out-of-conference teams [as well.]” Lazarus said.

Wyttenbach plays in the ECAC. Hughes plays in the Big Ten; Plante and Pohlkamp play in the NCHC. The ECAC has not had a Hobey Baker winner since Vesey, which was 10 years ago.

Wyttenbach believes the ECAC is a more physically demanding conference, and that if he played in a different conference, then his stats would have been a lot different.

“I think [the ECAC] is a lot harder than people anticipate,” said Wyttenbach. “I think I would have had more points in a different league. Playing hockey against the Big Ten, you have a lot of first round picks and it’s really run and gun. We played Boston University and it was honestly one of our easier games of the year. …  and that’s a roster filled with 20 NHL draft picks.”

Quinnipiac’s roster this season had some draft picks as well, but nowhere near what teams in the Hockey East have. The Bobcats have just six players. One of those being Wyttenbach, taken by the Calgary Flames in the fifth round of the 2025 NHL draft.

One of Quinnipiac’s rivals, Cornell, had six draft picks on its roster but teams like the Yale Bulldogs did not have a single one on its roster.

“The ECAC isn’t the most high-end with the most first-round draft picks, but when it comes to preparing yourself for the NHL, I think it’s really up there, and it’s definitely helping me a ton to get ready for that,” said Wyttenbach.

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold, who typically stays quiet about individual awards,  has said he thought Wyttenbach would make the top three.

“I thought Ethan was going to get in, to be honest with you,” Pecknold said on Spittin Chiclet’s podcast Game Notes. “I thought he was good enough to be there, but it’s hard to get in that final three. … He had a great season for us and he really took off after Christmas. I give him a lot of credit because he worked on his game. … Offensively, he’s so gifted and he does stuff that you just can’t teach and can’t even explain. … His shooting and passing is right where it needs to be every time.”

So after all of these great things said by the media, coaches and Wyttenbach himself, there’s no reason he shouldn’t have been considered. Lazarus spoke about playing in a stacked conference like the Hockey East and said there might be some bias involved in the voting.

“There are more weaker teams in the ECAC than there are in the Big Ten, Hockey East and NCHS but it’s tough. …The parity of competition differs so much from conference to conference. Even those teams still have quality hockey players and are hard to play against. Ethan still averaged a point and half per game.”

Even with Wyttenbach’s record-breaking season, his team fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, losing 5-0 to North Dakota.  

The good news for the Bobcats is that Wyttenbach will give it at least one more year before he makes the move to the big leagues. Wyttenbach comes back to a stacked Quinnipiac roster, and he will look to build off his season.

“I mean, we picked up some really good players from the portal, especially a really good goalie. Obviously, we’re gonna have a very good hockey team next year, and it’s really exciting to look forward to next season and kind of see how well we do,” said Wyttenbach.

Wyttenbach might not have received the Hobey Baker Award in 2026, but what does his sophomore season look like? 

Quinnipiac finished the season eighth in the United States College Hockey Organization poll, and will try to use that ranking as motivation to get better for next season, with some old and new faces at M&T Bank Arena for 2026-’27.