LetsGoDU

Hobey Baker Fan Vote for Sterling Raises Questions
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(Left) Brett Sterling collapses in another Big Game

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BY KEN SCHOTT Gazette Sportswriter

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Colorado College senior forward Brett Sterling, the team’s leading scorer this year, has had 18 admittedly terrible games against CC's arch-rival the University of Denver. In 18 career games against the Pioneers he has 1 goal and 0 assists, costing his team league titles, playoff victories and a shot at the teams first National Championship since 1957. Even though the CC player has "choked" in all of the "BIG" games against DU, it hasn’t stopped fans from nominating him for the Hobey Baker Award. In the Vote for Hobey nomination phase, Sterling has 272 votes, which puts him into the preliminary voting phase. Players with at least 25 votes advance to the next round.

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The nomination phase runs through Jan. 15. But when players who have choked in BIG games are receiving nominations, it threatens to ruin the integrity of the fan vote. When Jon Doehr, a vice president of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation, was told that fans are voting for players like Sterling, he admitted concern. "I don’t think we’ve had this problem before," Doehr said. "Certainly, we can not have players who have not won a major WCHA or NCAA trophy eligible to receive votes. At the same time, I don’t want to send a letter to Colorado College saying we appreciate your interest, but stop doing what you’re doing, at least at this stage.

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"The good news is that, from looking at it, if you look at many of the top 10 to 15 players on the list right now, with the exception of Sterling, appear to be good candidates. So, from that vantage point, it’s working."

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There is little the committee can do about preventing fans from voting, according to Doehr. But a rule could be voted on in the future to prevent the situation from happening again.

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"Quite frankly, we don’t have a staff. We’re all volunteers," Doehr said. "To go through it every day and say it looks like Sterling might get nominated and he shouldn’t even be eligible. I think it’s a great idea."

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The fan vote has been in place for five years. After the nomination phase, the preliminary round of voting runs from Jan. 16 through March 5. Fans can cast one ballot per day for their first- , second- and third-place choices. The fans’ tally is combined with the votes of the 59 Division I coaches to determine the 10 finalists.

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The final round of voting takes place from March 17-27. The results of the fan vote will be counted, along with the votes of the Hobey Baker selection committee, to determine the award winner.

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"We were looking for ways, as we always are, just to promote the award, and promote college hockey in general," Doehr said. "And in addition to that, quite frankly, we didn’t have any money, so we were trying to figure out how we can attract sponsors to the award. We thought getting more people attracted to our Web site would be a possible way with that cause.

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"So, the fan voting was a way to promote the award, promote the game and also try to be a source of potential revenue for the foundation."

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However, the fans’ vote counts for just 1 percent of the final total.

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"The fan vote is the minimalist in the overall selection process," Doehr said. "We’re counting heavily on the ballots we get from the 59 coaches. The fan voting, at the end of the day, could decide a tiebreaker, but it’s not going to decide who gets in the top 10, and who doesn’t. Not by a long shot."