Robert Morris University Men’s Hockey: Cody Wydo Named Hobey Baker Nominee
By Matt Gajtka
RMU junior forward Cody Wydo (right) has 14 goals this season, helping him get his name on the Hobey Baker Award ballot. (Photo: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
One of the most prolific goal-scorers in men’s college hockey plays for Robert Morris University. On Tuesday, he was nominated for one of the sport’s most prestigious prizes.
RMU junior forward Cody Wydo has been placed on the ballot for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award, which is awarded to the player adjudged to be the best in NCAA Division I. Wydo is one of 68 nationwide standouts on the interactive Hobey Baker ballot; fans can vote in the ongoing first phase, which will whittle the list of nominees to 10.
Wydo, a Michigan native, has 14 goals in 20 games, putting him in a fourth-place tie on the national leaderboard. He has 21 points this season, raising his career college total to 74, eighth-best in RMU program history. Wydo’s 48 career goals have him second on the Colonials’ all-time list, and he’s one of two players with two hat tricks this season.
Before agreeing to play for RMU coach Derek Schooley, Wydo was named the North American Hockey League’s forward of the year in 2010, as he accumulated 40 goals and 91 assists on the junior circuit.
The Hobey Baker will be slightly more of a challenge to claim, but Wydo can take pride in being one of 10 players from the Atlantic Hockey Association – and the lone Colonial – to make the ballot.
College hockey’s top prize was given out last April at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, when St. Cloud State’s Drew LeBlanc claimed it. Boston College junior Johnny Gaudreau has to be considered the favorite this time around, as he’s followed up his runner-up finish last year by leading D-I with 19 goals and 40 total points.
Gaudreau and Wydo could’ve squared off at December’s Three Rivers Classic, but host RMU fell in the tournament opener to Penn State, which in turn lost to national contender Boston College in the championship contest.
The Colonials (5-13-2, 5-6-2 AHA) return to action this weekend at 84 Lumber Arena for a pair of games against AHA foe American International College on Friday and Saturday. Wydo scored twice last Friday as RMU finished a four-game road trip with a 6-1 win at UConn.