Along with Thiessen, BostonUnviersity defenseman Matt Gilroy and BU forward Colin Wilson werenamed top-three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. It's the firsttime in the nine years of the current Hobey Baker Award format that allthree Hobey Hat Trick finalists came from one conference. Also onThursday it was announced that Northeastern's Greg Cronin was named NewEngland Coach of the Year and Joe Vitale was named New England's BestDefensive Forward.
This year's Hobey Baker Awardwinner will be announced Friday, April 10, from Verizon Center inWashington, D.C., during the NCAA Frozen Four. The 29th annualannouncement will be aired live on ESPNU at 7 p.m.
Thiessen led the Huskies to oneof the best seasons in program history, posting a 25-12-4 record, 2.12goals against average and .931 save percentage in 41 games.Northeastern tied the program record with 25 wins, finished second inthe Hockey East regular season for just the second time ever and madeits first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994. The Huskies' seasoncame to an end last Saturday with a 3-2 loss to Cornell in the NCAAMidwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thiessen played every minute innet in 2008-09. Going into the NCAA Tournament, he led the nation inminutes and saves. He finished the season with totals of 2495:44minutes and 1195 saves. No other goaltender had more than 1100 saves.His 2.12 goals against average ranked 12th in the nation and heaveraged 29.1 saves per game, which was more than any other goaltenderin the top 15 in GAA.
In 2008-09, Thiessen had threeshutouts, 16 games allowing one goal or less, and 24 games allowing twogoals or less. Northeastern was 19-1-4 in those games.
Thiessen set Northeastern'sseason records in every major category: wins (25), goals againstaverage (2.12), save percentage (.931), saves (1195), games (41) andminutes (2495:44). Thiessen is Northeastern's career leader in goalsagainst average (2.40), save percentage (.922) and shutouts (nine). Heranks second all-time in saves (3166) and third in games (111) andminutes (6661:23).
Thiessen joins Jim Fahey asNortheastern's only two Hobey Hat Trick finalists. Fahey, a defenseman,was a Hobey Hat Trick finalist in 2002 when he had 14 goals and 32assists for 46 points in 39 games. Sandy Beadle is Northeastern's onlyother Hobey Baker Award top-10 finalist (1981). Thiessen wasNortheastern's first-ever Hockey East Player of the Year and was alsothe Hockey East ITECH Goaltending Champion and received the Three StarsAward.
For more information about Thiessen, check Thiessen39.com.
