Gridiron Club News
Bobby Butler of UNH Wins 58th Walter Brown Award
Hockey East Leading Scorer and Player of Year is Sixth Winner from UNH; Sacred Heart’s Nick Johnson and Yale’s Broc Little Finish Second and Third in Field of 16 Nominees
March 24, 2010 – GridironClub of Greater Boston president Ray Gallant announced today that University of New Hampshire senior forward Bobby Butler is winner of the 58th Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England.
A native of Marlboro, Massachusetts, Butler scored 27 goals and added 23 assists in 37 games to lead UNH to a 17-13-7 overall record and the Hockey East regular season title. He was named the league’s Player of the Year, was nominated for the 2010 Hockey Humanitarian Award, and is a finalist for the 2010 Hobey Baker Award.
Butler played most of the season on a line with juniors Phil DeSimone and Paul Thompson. He was tied for first place in Hockey East scoring with 21 goals and 20 assists and led the league in goals scored. Butler’s 27 goals in all games put him in a first place tie nationally in that category with Sacred Heart senior Nick Johnson, who finished runner-up to Butler in the Walter Brown Award voting.
“Bobby is a classic power forward with a great shot – reminds you of Cam Neely,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “But he was such a tremendous leader off the ice as well as on it. He’s an incredible role model for student athletes; he’s given a lot of his time to the community, mentoring kids and working with the Big Brother organization.”
Butler played for his father John at Marlboro High School and led his team to the Division III state championship. He also played for the Boston Junior Bruins before enrolling at UNH. He is the sixth New Hampshire player and the fifth since 2001 to win the Walter Brown Award, the oldest nationally recognized college hockey honor. The award was established in 1953 by the members of the Massachusetts Rangers, who were coached by Brown to the 1933 World Championship in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Their 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto National Sea Fleas gave America its first world title and was the first loss ever meted out to Canada in international play.
New Hampshire earned a third-place seeding in the 2010 NCAA East Regional quarterfinal series and faces Cornell on Friday, March 26 in Albany, NY.
Johnson, from Windsor, Connecticut, finished the season with 27 goals and 25 assists for 52 points in 38 games. Sacred Heart finished with a 21-13-4 overall record, placed second in the Atlantic Hockey League, and lost in the finals of the league playoffs to RIT.
Yale junior Broc Little, a resident of Rindge, New Hampshire, collected 26 goals and 14 assists for 40 points in 32 games for the Bulldogs and finished third in the voting. The 20-9-3 Bulldogs won the ECAC Hockey League regular season championship and face North Dakota in the NCAA Northeast Regional on Saturday, March 27 in Worcester, Mass.
“For the first time ever, the finalists for the Walter Brown Award represented three different college conferences,” noted committee chairman Tm Costello. “This is not a coincidence. It is an indicator of the high quality and rising competitive parity that we are seeing throughout Division One college hockey.”
The Gridiron Club will present the 58th Walter Brown Award to Butler at the New England Hockey Writers’ annual dinner in April.