On Friday, University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey sophomore forward Max Plante will become 11th Bulldog to be honored as a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Finalist at the live presentation that will crown the eventual 2025-26 winner inside the Presidio Ballroom at the Park MGM Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show will take place from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT and will air live on the NHL Network.

Plante's new membership in one of college hockey's most exclusive clubs – a finalist for the college game's greatest honor – is one UMD men's hockey fans are very familiar with. Aside from the fact that Plante has now joined his father Derek Plante as just the second father-son Hobey Baker Finalist duo in award history, the younger Plante has already joined an elite group of Bulldog award finalists that reads like a who's who of UMD hockey..

The Bulldog program is synonymous with the Hobey Baker Memorial Award – and it's for good reason. UMD has had six total winners before the 2025-26 award will be announced Friday – two more than the next closest programs – Boston College, Harvard and the University of Minnesota all have four winners. 

Tom Kurvers, 1983-84 Recipient

The program's first finalist was also its first recipient – Tom Kurvers won the award – the fourth winner just four years into the award's existence. Kurvers earned the honor at the end of the 1983-84 season, the defenseman's senior year. A native of Minneapolis, Minn., Kurvers captained the Bulldogs to their first Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season and playoff titles that season and also secured a spot on both the NCAA All-American and All-WCHA First Team units. In 43 games with UMD over his Hobey campaign, Kurvers amassed 18 goals and 58 assists for 76 points – a 1.76 points per game average from the Bulldog blueline. That single-season point total still remains the eighth most in program history, and his 58 assists ranks as the highest seasons assist number by an UMD defenseman, and the second most assists in a single season among all skaters in program history.

Bill Watson, 1984-85 Recipient

The program put an early stamp on the award the following year when Bill Watson became UMD's second Hobey Baker winner – and the Bulldogs' second in as many seasons. The junior right winger from Pine Falls, Manitoba put together the most offensive single-season in Bulldog history with a blistering 109 points – then an NCAA record – in just 46 games. Not only did Watson set UMD's single season-point record, he set the single-season assist record (60) and posted the second most goals in a season – 49 – and all three marks still stand to this day. Named an All-American for a second-time and and All-WCHA First Team honoree, Watson was also selected the WCHA's Player of the Year after leading that circuit in scoring for a second straight season -- a Bulldog first.

Brett Hull, 1985-86 Finalist

The Bulldogs picked up their third-straight Hobey Baker Finalist in 1985-86 – one of two to earn the distinction that season. Brett Hull became UMD's first sophomore to become a finalist when he compiled 52 goals and 32 assists for a whopping 84 points in just 42 games for a 1.96 points per game average that season. Hull, born in Belleville, Ontario, was an All-WCHA First Team pick and established Bulldog single-season records that season which still for goals (52), hat tricks (seven), multiple-goal games (13), and power play goals (20) – all marks that still stand.

Norm Maciver, 1985-86 Finalist

UMD's second Hobey Baker Finalist in 1985-86 in Norm Maciver, a defenseman from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Maciver deftly patrolled the blue line for UMD a team that claimed back-to-back WCHA regular season and playoff championships, earned three-straight NCAA playoff berths, and became just the fourth Bulldog (at the time) to attain All-American distinction on more than one occasion (1984-85 and 1985-86). Also an All-WCHA First Team selection as senior, Maciver posted 62 points in 42 games with 11 goals and 51 assists over his Hobey Finalist campaign.

Derek Plante, 1992-93 Finalist

Derek Plante's blistering senior season in 1992-93 led the Cloquet, Minn. native to a Hobey Baker Finalist nod after a putting up the second-most points in a single-season and third most goals and assists. Plante was named a AHCA West First Team All-American, the USA Hockey Male Athlete of the Year and the WCHA Player of the Year in 1992-93 after pacing the NCAA in scoring with 36 goals and 56 assists for 92 points in just 37 games (for a school-record blistering 2.49 points per game average). The center also captained UMD to the 1992-93 WCHA regular season title and an NCAA Regional berth all while leading the Bulldogs in scoring for three consecutive seasons.

Chris Marinucci, 1993-94 Recipient

The Bulldog program earned its third Hobey Baker recipient a year late when Chris Marinucci collected the honor in 1993-94. In addition to earning the Hobey Baker, Marinucci, a product Grand Rapids, Minn., was named a AHCA West First Team All-American, WCHA Player of the Year, and USA Hockey College Player of the Year after he paced the WCHA in both scoring and goals as a senior team captain en route to also being named to the All-WCHA First Team. The left winger recorded 61 points in 38 games over his senior season on 30 goals and 31 assists, and collected more points (138) during his final two seasons than any other U.S. collegian over that span.

Junior Lessard, 2003-04 Recipient

In 2003-04, senior right winger Junior Lessard became UMD's fourth Hobey Baker recipient.  The native of Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec secured AHCA All-American recognition that winter and was selected the WCHA Player of the Year after pacing the nation in scoring (63 points), goals (32) and power play tallies (14). The NCAA Scoring Champion picked up 15 of those points during the 2003-04 postseason while helping lead UMD to its first NCAA Frozen Four berth in 19 years, where he also made the all-tournament teams at the 2004 NCAA Frozen Four and NCAA Midwest Regional. Lessard – both the USCHO.com and insidecollegehockey.com National Player of the Year in 2004 – had 63 points on 32 goals and 31 assists in 45 games – 1.40 points per game average.

Jack Connolly, 2010-11 Finalist, 2011-12 Recipient

Duluth, Minn. native Jack Connolly has the distinction of being UMD's only two-time Hobey Baker Finalist (2010-11, 2011-12), and the fifth Bulldog to take home college hockey's biggest honor when he claimed the award in 2011-12. The center – an assistant captain on the 2011 National Championship team, earned his second-straight AHCA First Team All-American nod and was named the 2012 WCHA Player of the Year, as well as a First Team All-WCHA selection (for a third-straight season). Named the USA Hockey and USCHO.com Player of the Year in 2012, Connolly recorded 20 goals and 40 assists for 60 points in 41 games his senior campaign. Connolly also became the first UMD student-athlete to receive the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award an award is presented annually to an NCAA I athlete based on achievement in the "Four C's" -- classroom, character, community and competition.

Scott Perunovich, 2019-20 Recipient

Scott Perunovich – UMD's second defenseman ever to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award and the most recent blueliner to have claimed it, became the Bulldog program's sixth winner after the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season. The Hibbing, Minn,. native concluded his junior year occupying the No. 2 spot on the NCAA defensemen scoring charts with a UMD-leading (and career-best) 40 points on six goals and 34 assist over just 34 games. Perunovich was a AHCA West First Team All-American and the 2019-20 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Player of the Year after pacing that circuit in scoring -- the first defenseman to ever to do it, as well as a three-time All-NCHC First Team pick that season.

Max Plante, 2025-26 Finalist

Plante is UMD's first finalist for the Hobey Baker since Perunovich claimed the award in 2019-20. A native of Hermantown, Minn., Plante was chosen the 2025-26 NCHC Player of the Year – just the second Bulldog ever to land the honor -- and the first honoree since Perunovich won the award. He also became UMD's first NCHC Forward of the Year and was named a All-NCHC First Team selection.

Plante finished the season with 52 points – the most by a Bulldog since 2011-12 – and his 26 goals – the second most in the NCAA to date – is the most since Mike Connolly put up 28 in 2010-11. One of just 28 players to have compiled 51 or more points in a single season in UMD program history (82 seasons,) Plante ranked third in the NCAA in total points (52), game-winning goals (6), eighth in power play goals (8) and points per game (1.30 ppg). 15 games this season Plante registered two or more points, including five with three or more. With a time on ice average of 21:50, Plante also owned a plus/minus rating of +19 and had his first career hat against the University of Omaha on Nov. 14.

Against teams in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, Plante had 15 points (6g, 9a) in 14 games, a 1.04 ppg, and that included three points in two NCAA Tournament games.


Plante will find out Friday whether or not he will lay claim to the seventh Hobey Baker Memorial Award in UMD program history, but one thing is certain -- just the third sophomore Bulldog ever to be up for the award has already made quite a legendary mark.