ALBANY, N.Y. - Although it started with a crushing defeat, Ryan Miller’s weekend in upstate New York ended on a high note.
Less than 24 hours after the MSU sophomore goaltender and his Spartan teammates lost their Frozen Four contest to North Dakota, Miller won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s most outstanding player at the Empire State Plaza.
“This is a great honor, a great surprise,” Miller said after being announced as the winner Friday afternoon. “Just to be mentioned as a finalist would’ve been good enough for me. I don’t have the words in me right now to describe how I feel.”
The 6-foot-2, 161-pound East Lansing native won a close vote over two star senior forwards - North Dakota’s Jeff Panzer and Boston College’s Brian Gionta - who tied for second place. Gionta was a third-time finalist, Panzer was a second-time finalist and Miller was a first-time finalist.
Smiling proudly, Miller hoisted the 18-inch, 40-pound trophy in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Empire State Plaza. The 150 or so MSU fans in attendance sang the “Michigan State Fight Song” as the goaltender waded through a myriad of interviews and autograph requests.
Although the rest of the Spartans returned to East Lansing on Thursday night, MSU head coach Ron Mason stayed in Albany for the presentation. He had nothing but good things to say about his star netminder.
“All of you know his stats and you’ve heard all about him,” Mason said. “But I have the pleasure to work with him every day. I see the inside things that make him great. He’s got a great competitive determination, kindness and he’s got a mental toughness. He makes everyone on the team better.
“He really respects the game of hockey and because of that, I think he’ll treasure an award like this so deeply. It’s a hockey history award.”
Miller and Mason were definitely a little sullen Friday afternoon, because their national championship dreams had been dashed the day before.
MSU came into the weekend favored to win its first national title since 1986, but put together an uninspired effort in a 2-0 loss to the Fighting Sioux.
Mason had known about Miller’s Hobey victory since last Friday, but elected not to tell the team until after the North Dakota game.
“I want to give my deepest thank you to my teammates because I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for them,” Miller said. “While it’s one of the biggest thrills of my life, it was a little bittersweet finding out (Thursday).
“It was kind of like yeah, it’s great, but I don’t really get to share it with my team.”
The CCHA swept the two major awards announced Friday - Miller winning the Hobey and Nebraska-Omaha center Jason Cupp taking home the sixth annual Hockey Humanitarian Award.
Cupp also won the inaugural Mike and Marian Ilitch Humanitarian Award at last month’s CCHA Awards.
In winning the Hobey, Miller becomes the second Spartan and second goaltender to capture the award in its 21-year history.
His cousin, forward Kip Miller, earned it in his senior season at MSU in 1990.
Robb Stauber of Minnesota is the only other goalie to have taken home the trophy, doing so in 1988.
Miller dominated his position this year, leading the nation in four major statistical categories - goals against average (1.31), wins (31), shutouts (10) and saves percentage (.950), which broke the NCAA single-season record of .947.
He also bested the 70-year-old NCAA record for career shutouts with his 17th on Feb. 10 and then tacked on his 18th blanking in the CCHA Tournament championship game.
“I mean, he broke a 70-year-old record and did it in a year and a half and that says volumes,” Mason said. “It would be like somebody getting 250 points in one year or something like that. That probably really set him apart in the voters’ minds.”
James Jahnke can be reached at jahnkeja@msu.edu.
