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" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.michigandaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_8552.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.michigandaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_8552.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> TAMPA, Fla. — After leading the nation with 65 points, freshman forward Adam Fantilli is officially receiving his flowers.
After earning first team All-American status and Tim Taylor Rookie of the Year earlier in the day, the Hobey Baker Committee announced Friday that Fantilli has been awarded the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in college hockey. Fantilli is the third Michigan hockey team player to ever take home the award, following Brendan Morrison in 1997 and Kevin Porter in 2008. Fantilli is also just the third freshman to ever win the award in its history.
All season long, Fantilli dazzled, leading the Wolverines to a Big Ten Championship and a Frozen Four berth. He paced the nation with 30 goals, and ranked fifth in the country with 35 assists.
Always looking like the best player on the ice no matter who he faced, Michigan coach Brandon Naurato and the Wolverines called Fantilli for Hobey a no-brainer.
“He dominates games,” Naurato said March 29. “He’s the best player in college hockey.”
Beyond simple counting stats, Fantilli’s presence for Michigan is hard to fully quantify. The Wolverines went 25-9-3 with Fantilli in the lineup, and just 2-3 without him.
Despite his dominant play on the ice, arguments against Fantilli included knocks on his character, claiming that with a game misconduct penalty and a game disqualification against Michigan State in February, he didn’t live up to the Hobey’s high standards.
But those arguments weren’t enough for the Commitee. And because of it, he’ll return to Ann Arbor as the third Hobey Baker winner in program history.