Jack Connolly's Hobey Journey Ends Today

Duluth may swell with pride late Friday afternoon, as the 2012 Hobey Baker Award presentation takes place at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

It's there that UMD senior center and team captain Jack Connolly will vie for the school's record-setting fifth Hobey award.

Connolly will already have his third All-American honor in his pocket, to go along with the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, three All-WCHA selections, the 2012 WCHA Player of the Year award, three WCHA All-Academic selections, the Premier Player of College Hockey award, and other well-deserved accolades too numerous to mention.

(Oh, and if all of that isn't enough, you can be virtually assured it's just a matter of time before Connolly's No. 12 is retired by UMD. I'm not saying I've been told it's going to happen, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's beyond likely.)

The Friday afternoon Hobey ceremony will air on NHL Network. If you don't have that channel, you can come watch it at my house watch it online at hobeybaker.com.

To get you warmed up, Amsoil Arena's Jeff Stark produced a cool Connolly tribute video a couple weeks ago.